Eh?
They've been stripping in the back rooms of pubs for a lot longer than "a few years".
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:06, 1 reply, 12 years ago)

especially in Islington.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:07, Reply)

About ten years ago a mate did a tour of strip nights in london pubs
he'd found a newsgroup with full listings and was determined to do all of them. Bearing in mind that he is a proper filthy welsh scrubber, he managed about forty and then became too depressed to carry on. One that he took me along to the poor girl had to turn on a fluorescent bathroom strip light and press 'play' on a knackered ghetto blaster before getting her blart and bangers out. Grim grim grim.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:11, Reply)

i've only ever seen one stripper
at a party when i was at uni. the girl was about 1 year older than the birthday boy, and clearly doing it to pay rent or something depressing. her tits sagged at the age of 20, she had cellulite all over her arse, and the birthday boy was so baby-faced that it looked as if she were raping her own child.

it was seriously depressing!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:14, Reply)

But if you smear it with a micron-thin veneer of irony or pretend that it is "burlesque" then it magically becomes empowering.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:16, Reply)

serious answer is serious
i think for some women it probably is. the two girls last night were early 20's, both had amazing bodies, and were clearly happy to be marauding round the pub showing them off. but most of my friends, even the ones with spectacular figures, wouldn't do it for anything!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:19, Reply)

in this case, "clearly happy" almost certainly equals "skull-crushingly insecure" you realise?

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:21, Reply)

i wouldn't judge them unless i knew them
and why they did it.

i am surprised at you, darling. very shocked and surprised.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:25, Reply)

what, in assuming that a large majority of women that claim that stripping is "empowering"
are actually massively insecure? I thought that was pretty much universally accepted.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:27, Reply)

oh i don't know
i've never really paid any attention to the empowerment thing. to me, if you want to get your kit off, do it. if you want to keep it on, do it.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:28, Reply)

Right. But my question was about what distinguishes those well-to-do girls from the working class girls who've been puckering their twats at punters in seedy pubs for the last fifty years?

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:22, Reply)

watching fat tattoed chavs push their unwilling 16 year old sons
through doors in the Amsterdam red light district is considerably more depressing for humanity in general, believe me.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:19, Reply)

right of passage innit

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:19, Reply)

surely a right of passage would be to let the poor fucker actually pull someone
rather than being scarred for life thinking sex is some dull mechanical thing with some cold, glazed-eyed machine?

bonus points for a "like your mum?" line here.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:23, Reply)

minus points for spelling
"rite of passage"

i think a "right of passage" is what you pay for in those places...
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:27, Reply)

I was just copying stunned, miss.
s'not my fault.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:29, Reply)

Quite rite.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:29, Reply)

Hahaha.
Been there. Done that.
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:15, Reply)

I saw your mum in Ye Old Axe on Hackney Rd last night.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:18, Reply)

No one cares about your new part time job as jizz mopper upper.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:19, Reply)

Yeah ... it isn't good, is it?
I ended up in one round the back of Kings Cross after an afternoon in the Church .. it might have been called the Eagle but I was about 12 red stripe down so fuck knows. Even then it was horrible, with extra surreal points for it being sunday and daylight outside in October. Still, y'know. Served beer.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:15, Reply)

I'm a big fan of vagina
but faced with one that's been basted with cheap coconut butter and presented on a blanket on a pool table surrounded by woodbine-scented navvies it suddenly becomes less than arousing.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:19, Reply)

never a truer word spoken.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:20, Reply)

although woodbines GMTRFH.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:24, Reply)

They are my favourite.
It's real, none of this stage malarkey.
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:20, Reply)

No. See. If it was "real" then you'd be enjoying the view in the early stages of having sex with somebody.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:23, Reply)

What?
By that rationale the only sexual transactions we can have as human beings are ones we are actually involved in? Which, blatantly, isn't the case.

What is it, if it's not "real"?
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:37, Reply)

They are depressing and unpleasant places without exception.

I know this because I have been to all of them.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 15 Feb 2012, 10:16, Reply)