Thursday, February 10, 2011

Small town America and the friendly neighborhood hoochie joint

Tassels

On the way home, I read an article in the free sheet Evening Standard about a new chain of strip/ lap dancing clubs that are aiming for a different, more 'up-market' clientele. The owner, Simon Warr, says he's setting out to be 'classy'. Generally, in my experience, if you have to use the word classy; it's not.

Warr's challenge is to change perceptions about what goes on inside his clubs. "I want people to have a good time. For women to feel they can come with their boyfriends and not be objectified. It's a fun, upbeat, safe environment. It's a highly charged atmosphere, and booze is important to us, but people will feel entertained. We want to sell an overall experience," he says.

Umm, yeah... And although booze is important to me, too - I can't imagine that I would find this particularly entertaining. But what really got me was this...

In America, lapdancing is mainstream. In some small towns, the local club might really be the best place to get a steak and a cocktail. "Often in the US there won't be a local pub. The club almost fulfils that role in some communities," says Warr.


Really? Really? OK, I know I was raised in the buckle of the Bible Belt...But I've never heard of a small town community where folks all head on down to the neighborhood lap dancing joint for a relaxing family evening of steaks, cocktails, nipple tassels and thumpa-thumpa hoochie music. Someone, please, correct me if I'm wrong.

4 comments:

Anglofille said...

Ha ha! The man is a pimp. Pimps are scum. They lie.

There is also a mythological America that exists within the British media. After the Giffords shooting, a presenter on BBC said that politicians in America are often gunned down, so Giffords being shot didn't surprise most Americans. I can only imagine if the America as presented by the British press were actually real. We could all kick back at the local lapdancing club before going on a shooting spree. Just another Saturday night.

Anonymous said...

WHAT is reality? Do we live in the same world? How can we share so much DNA in common????

Vol Abroad said...

"pimps lie" - trust you to cut it right down to the simple.. but yes, I think I was more shocked that the reporter swallowed it. Maybe he was distracted by the thongs.

genderist said...

Wow. I mean, yeah, sometimes The Hater and I look at each other and wonder where we should go - and our first choice is ALWAYS the local strip club. It's such a classy joint, too. They always wipe down the table before we're seated, and they have the cutest little high chairs for Baby (the stap looks like a little g-string!).