Do people really have sex in strip clubs? (L.A. anti-lap dance ordinance)

In My Humble Opinion
1

The Los Angeles City Council recently passed (and the Mayor signed) an ordinance banning lap dancing in strip clubs. Also, dancers have to stay 10 feet away from patrons while performing, patrons may not directly tip dancers, and there can be no VIP rooms or partitions of any kind in public areas (except the bathroom).

The pols say this is necessary to prevent prostitution and cite instances of “annoyed neighbors” seeing people having sex on their front lawns. The dancers and club owners say the ordinance will kill their business and their livelihood. Apparently the big money is in “full contact” nude lap dances (openly advertised). One strip club even held a protest rally against the ordinance.

I saw some rather disreputable-looking signature gatherers at Cal State L.A., circulating a petition to overturn the ordinance. They freely said that they had been hired by a consortium of strip club owners, and I signed their petition – I don’t think anyone has a right to tell consenting adults what to do. However, I think they may have trouble getting the votes of all those “soccer moms.”

Some historical context: in the early to mid 90’s, there was no such thing as a lap dance in L.A. – that was a New York/Times Square phenomenon we sometimes heard about – maybe Florida too. There were only a handful of strip clubs in L.A., all entertainment was strictly visual, and touching was absolutely VERBOTEN, although tips could be tucked into a G-string (very carefully, to avoid actual touching). In the mid-90’s, lap dancing was introduced, and, judging by the ads in the back pages of the LA WEEKLY, there was an EXPLOSION in the number of strip clubs – I think I heard there are over 40 within city limits alone. In the late 90’s, topless and then fully nude lap dances were introduced, in only a few places at first, but now it is very common (although not universal). This was about the time strip clubs became “fashionable,” with more female customers and with some guys even bringing their dates with them. The business became overtly sexual, featuring visiting porn stars and even “girl-girl” shows. (And yes, I know all this partly from going to strip clubs myself and partly from zbone.com and other sites.) Very lucrative indeed.

I do remember, at the time of the big “explosion”, a dancer complaining that she was not making a living because she was not willing to do the new stuff. “If some girls do it, we all have to do it or we don’t make money.” I have to wonder how much the population of dancers changed in this period, not just because of the usual age attrition but because of personal limits, e.g. “the new girls are total whores.”

In any case, it seems that this new ordinance merely wants to roll back the social mores to the early 90’s, when there was indeed no touching and no VIP room. The dancers and club owners opposed to the change may lose a lot of money, but they have only been making all this money this way for the last five years or so. The main difference from 10 years ago is no g-string tips, and that’s about it.

So, here’s my question for you all: Is the City Council right? Does anybody ever actually have sex in a strip club? Or, perhaps, use a strip club as a “meeting ground” for going somewhere else to have sex immediately afterwards?

Some basic ground rules: even if you want to share an experience you had, it is probably better not to call attention to yourself that way. Instead, it might be better to talk about it in the third person, as if it happened to someone you know. Plus, that will cut down on any unnecessary explicitness. Also, very important! NO MENTIONING the names of specific clubs or dancers. Even if you don’t mind setting someone up for a bust, it is NOT appropriate to use this thread to swap info on “where to get some.” The mods would be all over us like that.

My own take: although I have heard some people brag about sexual experiences in a strip club, I think it is either very rare or a very well-kept secret.

So, there you have it. Is the City Council factually right in its assessment, or do they just plain have the wrong idea? Innocent adult entertainment, or hidden prostitution?

2

I’m just astounded to hear that lap dancing wasn’t introduced in L.A. until the mid-nineties. They had it in San Francisco by the late eighties, at least.

(My flatmate there at the time was a stripper and occasional lap dancer, that’s how.)

3

You mean Houston was way ahead of San Francisco and L.A.? We had lap dancing by 1980.

The trrade changes. Massage parlors were big stuff in the '70s. Later, in the '90s, there were tanning salons.

4

Myself, I find it hard to disagree with this new law. Then again, I’m biased; the idea of a lady all over me who has recently been all over G-d-knows-how-many guys creeps me out.

I’m fine with the fact that my strip-joint experience is/will be limited to looking, a few beers, and the odd game of pool (with those ridiculous bar rules).

5

Meh. If someone wants to try to bust me based on a post on a message board they are welcome to do so. If anyone’s that desperate to try and find some they can probably figure out what bars I’m talking about anyway with a quick Google.

I’ve never been to a “strip club” but I do go to strip shows in local bars. I have never had sex at the bar (well, not with one of the strippers anyway) but I have had lap dances, some of which included, shall we say, full body contact. The dancer wore a cape that shielded us from prying eyes (and the camera the bar set up in the back room to keep patrons on their best behaviour). The bar once hosted a private nude show at which the dancers (who rented the bar for the night) engaged in similar full body contact. The owner got a warning from the local PD that even if the show was private, a repeat performance would result in a pulled liquor license. Apparently Milwaukee has less stringent ordinances because a bar there regularly features nude shows. Some of the dancers who work this circuit “escort” and others don’t. I’ve been drunk and horny enough a few times to inquire as to prices but have never actually set up a session with any of them.

So, anyways, yeah, I’m sure that at least one person in the history of lap dances in Los Angeles has ended up having sex with a dancer for money after meeting at the show. I’m equally sure that the majority of strip club patrons in L.A. haven’t and that the majority of the women who work there don’t turn tricks. It’s a stupid law, a solution in search of a problem.

6

“There is no sex in the champagne room”

Just my $0.02

However, after a night at the club, there can be copious sex with the SO.

7

“Do people really have sex in strip clubs?”

In L.A.? I wish.

Now, San Francisco, on the other hand… :smiley:

8

how can people tell you how to spend it, and how it can be spent. Moreover, how can someone tell how far they must distance themselves from a lapdance. Did they average tongue lengths? Its a lapdance, its Private, I paid for it! Its consensual, and as the new Governor of California stated “Eating ain’t Cheating”

10

If it won’t cause trouble with the mods, and since you never actually did anything–I’ve always been curious: How much? (And give us a year so we can adjust for inflation, if you please.)

11

Well, I had a guy in my cab once who asked a street hooker, “How much?”

She replied, “Oh, I don’t know…$20, $10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Whatcha got?”

Not a club, though.

12

I was quoted everything from $150/hour to $500/hour. This was within the last 18 months so presumably prices have not changed. Of course all prices are for the escort’s time only, and anything that might have happened during that time would have been between consenting adults.

13

From tclouie’s post:

I couldn’t read this without being reminded of a quote from a James Ellroy novel by a strip-club owner bemoaning the “arms race” in his neighborhood: “If the club across the street has naked strippers measuring customers’ dicks, we’ve got to have naked strippers measuring customers’ dicks!”

14

It depends on your definition of sex. You’ll pretty much never get intercourse in a strip club.

But, depending on the particular club, you can very easily achieve release. In any number of ways.

Um…or so I’ve heard.

15

This is HIGHLY significant!!!
Tipping in strip clubs depends very much on the dancer being able to put the patron in the position where he feels that he has to tip, that he has to tip well as a display of manliness, and that she knows him and is awaiting a tip from him specifically as an individual. For this to be effective it has to be IMMEDIATE and DIRECT. When the patron is ten feet away in a crowd he is afforded an anonimity that reduces his personal accountability for tipping. Also, when it is not immediate the patron has time to actually think not with his hard-on but with his brain and consider just how much cash he has and how much (if any) he wants to spend on a tip. Without direct tipping a patron could very easily go through the evening spending nothing more than his cover charge and drink minimum.

These dancers work for tips!!!
This ordinance will GREATLY hurt the livlihood of every stripper in L.A.!!!
These are not bad people and do not deserve to be punished for trying to make a living! Many of them are supporting families and many of them have very few other options to make a living wage.

It would be very sad if any of the dancers who are not currently engaging in prostitution end up being driven to prostitution because of this puritan, elitist, insensitive law.

16

Well, I do sympathize with that. On my last trip to a club, shortly after the ordinance passed, a dancer told me, “What am I supposed to do – go into porn???”

17

According to Zbone, it’s 6 feet, not 10 feet. Please excuse the inaccurate info. Also, the railing has to be 30 inches high, club permits have to be renewed annually, and state-certified security guards must be on duty.

18

In Philly the girls used to sit on your lap, topless. You could umm…feel their breasts with your hands but some wouldn’t let you, some would. In other states you can’t even touch them.

19

A few years ago, I and three friends headed down to Atlanta to catch a Braves game; while leaving the stadium, a stranger came up to me and handed me several free passes to a local strip club. We stopped by there later that evening; I’ve been to a decent number of strip clubs in the past, but never had I (or any of my friends) been to a club that was as clearly "high class’ as this one. It’s been awhile, but as I recall, there were at least two stages, in addition to several “pedestals” just large enough for one lady to perform on at a time. There was second floor “balcony” type area, ringing most of the room, with rooms labeled 1 through 20. As soon as we walked in, a host was telling us, “These rooms on the second floor are $200 each–your choice of ladies”. Yes, ladies, not just lady.

We only hung around for one beer–the place was more expensive than any of us cared to afford. But there was little doubt in any of our minds that there was more going on behind the scenes than was immediately apparent.

I’ll go ahead and tell you the name of the place, too; I’m not trying to get any establishment busted or anything–fact is, this place was busted a year or two after we visited, anyway, so that’s beside the point. It doesn’t exist anymore, so I’m not tipping off anyone on “where to get some”. It was The Gold Club, which became well known for prostitution (catering to sports stars in particular) and money laundering.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/15/gold.club.trial/

(By the way, I’m not trying to make any point with this post, I’m not saying this is at all common for strip clubs, or that there should be regulations against them, as in LA. For the record, I have no problems with adults doing what they choose to do along these lines (I’m referring here to stripping and prostitution, not the money laundering and credit card fraud also associated with this particular club). I just thought it was kind of a cool story to share :D).

20

Yes people have sex in strip clubs, sometimes for free sometimes not. I have personally seen friends hook up with strippers and have sex in the bathroom (for free), pay for it, and this one time some poor confused girl on her first day on the job was giving bjs instead of private dances because she thought that was what everyone did.

21

The “Seventh Veil” in Hollywood had a reputation for some illicit activities in the late 90s. The “Lap Room” was a place where the dancers would give special attention to clients, specializing in couples.

It was a very weird place. They did not serve alcohol, so people brought in their own stuff with a nod and a wink from the operators. The atmosphere was beyond creepy, everyone seemed very high and I felt something terrible was about to happen from the moment I set foot in the joint. Not my idea of fun.