the anti sex left

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 6:08 AM -0700 10/22/02, Daniel Davies wrote:
>In my line of business, and given my social circle, I am often invited to
>strip clubs.  I never go.  Mainly because
>
>a) the darling Tess would leave me and
>b) I do kind of think that there's something ethically dodgy about it.
>
>Presumably, this is an example of "anti-sex" thinking, and given that I'm,
>broadly speaking, a man of the left, it's probably specifically anti-sex
>leftism.
>
>Is it the case then, that there is something in Judith Butler or some
>similar which would constitute a high-minded, principled defence of my
>going to strip clubs?  It would be pretty nifty if there was.  And it's not
>even necessarily an academic question.
>
>Although I personally think it's a pretty fucked-up way to spend an
>evening, one does get those nihilistic days when you can sort of see the
>appeal of hanging around in a darkened boozer with a few mates, watching a
>woman ten years younger than myself crawl around in order to ask for a ten
>pound note in exchange for a view of her labia.  Therefore, having some
>sort of sincere-sounding argument from leftwing or feminist principles to
>the effect that this was a perfectly fine and even slightly radical thing
>to do would be most useful to me.  It would have to be pretty logically
>watertight to convince the dear girl (in fact, I don't really see myself
>wanting to test out any such argument in a live combat situation).  But I'm
>willing to be convinced.
>
>So, come on, pro-sex left, I'm a potential convert here.  Why is it that
>there's nothing wrong with my spending my evenings in strip clubs?

There are no such things as "the pro-sex left" and "the anti-sex 
left."  That said, what any stripper wants to know is if you are a 
big tipper and pleasant customer who refrains from boorish behavior. 
Being a stockbroker and man of the left, presumably you make a more 
desirable patron who tips better than any of the LBO-talkers noisily 
calling themselves "pro-sex leftists," who probably make less than a 
tenth of what you earn but try to compensate pecuniary disadvantage 
by high-minded arguments.
-- 
Yoshie

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