# Why don't strip clubs have to be equal opportunity employers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2013, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251 "2013-06-30T08:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251/21 "2013-07-01T01:41:07Z")
the Monty amendment was added to the law. ---
**Author:** ![ryanl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b487fb/32.png) [@ryanl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryanl)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251/22 "2013-07-01T04:02:11Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > They not only have to be female, but reasonably fit & attractive females at that. Have any fatties or uggos tried suing a strip club based on this? Ugly is not a protected class. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251/23 "2013-07-01T04:28:35Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Incorrect. The Hooters case settled and never established a rule of law. They did not “succeed” in their defense by any measure, because the case never got there. The dispute there was whether or not they were more an “entertainment” facility proffering big-boobed girls, or more a restaurant. Customer preference is never a defense, customer preference is never a BFOQ\*. A BFOQ goes to the inherent nature of the business. IIRC, male applicant(s) filed complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and a bureaucratic decision was made in their (applicants) favor. Whatever settlement they made happened after that, but before it got to court. In the meantime, Hooters did a rather successful (in some circles anyway) public relations campaign of ridiculing the bureaucrats, with [this advertisement](http://www.e-manonline.com/images/entry/hootersguy.jpg) that was widely published. Here’s a pic of [the full-page ad](http://farm1.staticflickr.com/217/460525242_24e311bedb_z.jpg?zz=1) including all the text. (ETA: Notice, in this picture the sign in his hand says “Washington Get a Grip”) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251/24 "2013-07-01T04:29:02Z")
Similar [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=673437) last year. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251/25 "2013-07-01T17:01:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This what I’ve heard also. The strippers don’t work for the club. They’re legally designated as self-employed performers and the club is the venue. Plus in many venues (and usually this will be common to those in the same determined geographic market), the dancers actually have to pay an up-front “house fee”, or pony up a minimum dollar amount in “tip outs” to perform, so, depending on the going rates for that market she could \*lose \*money on a slow night. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251/26 "2013-07-01T18:59:38Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > It’s very established that race and gender can both be BFOQs in the entertainment industry, For example, if you are hiring an actor to play Malcolm X, you do not have to audition white actors at all. You can advertise “black actors only” and it’s absolutely cool. Similarly, a strip club offers a display of womanflesh for hire, that’s their business, so they don’t have to change their business entirely in order to hire men. IIRC, the Rockettes once tried to defend their all-white lineup by saying, _honest, we’re just going for perfectly-synchronized mirror images, here; same reason we don’t want 'em too tall, or too short; we don’t even want white women with suntans that could distract from the sheer lookalike uniformity of those eye-high kicks._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-strip-clubs-have-to-be-equal-opportunity-employers/662251.md?page=1)