> From: Julia Thompson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > On Mon, 29 Nov 2004, Andrew Paul wrote: > > > I get the feeling we are all being armchair experts here. It would be > > best if we listened to one who had some experience in such matters. I > > have no doubt there are women (and perhaps men) who are pushed into > > prostitution, either by force, or by economic necessity. Equally, there > > are some who choose it, of their own free will. Perhaps if we all > > chipped in $5, we could book an hour or two for discussions with someone > > who knew :) > > Here's a transcript of an inteview on CNN. Should I invite Ms. Maker to > read the discussion in the archives and throw in her $0.02 if she is so > inclined? (Interview to give folks an idea of who she is as much as > anything else, don't know if she would qualify as the expert you want, but > she's the most likely candidate I know. Unless you want someone who has > worked at a waitress in a strip club, and I'm not sure if she even has > e-mail, and it would take me a few days to get in touch with that person.) > > Julia >
Heh, I am probably walking on thin ice, but she may prefer that we chip in the two cents, and rather a lot of them. Actually, you reminded me, I ended up playing pool with a girl who was a lap dancer in Las Vegas. She was from Boston, and seemed more than happy with her lot in life. In fact, she was so keen on her work (it was her night off, and we were in a non-strip club) that she kept taking breaks to go and dance around this pole in the middle of her room and ahh, flash her tits at all and sundry. Sure worked as a strategy for putting me off my pool. With these things, I don't think we can generalize. In tend to find that about most moral issues. And I guess peoples take changes from day to day even. How many things in our lives are that simple that we can answer yes or no, definitively, for all time. I am sure Ms Makers input would be interesting though, a Marxist take on pole dancing :), I bet she would fit right in! Andrew > > http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/06/acd.01.html > > (COMMERCIAL BREAK) > > COOPER: Across the country the number of new voters registered has > surprised > election officials. What surprised us is just how some of those voters are > actually being registered. We've all seen celebrities trying to get out > the > vote but we've never seen strippers doing it as well. That's right. Some > 800, we should call them adult clubs in the U.S., have launched voter > registration efforts. One club last week in Austin, Texas, Audrey Maker > organized an event called Burlesque The Vote. She joins us now fully > clothed. Thanks for being with us. > > How did you get this idea? > > AUDREY MAKER, PRODUCER, BURLESQUE THE VOTE: I have been organizing > burlesque > shows for the last two years. Burlesque is what middle class people like > to > call stripping. I know that you like to use the word for TV. But burlesque > is where we don't actually get naked. > > MAKER: A fair amount of clothes. Fair enough. And it seemed to be a really > good way to get people together to celebrate. And I needed to do something > about this election. So I decided that requiring registration, voter > registration cards at the door was a great way to get people to come to a > show and.., > > COOPER: So they had to have voter registration cards to get in. And then > if > they didn't, you actually had election officials there who would register > them? > > MAKER: We had deputy registrars ready to register them to vote. It was the > day before the deadline. So, it was one of the last places they could do > that in town. > > COOPER: Was it tough convincing deputy registrars to come down and do > this? > > MAKER: No. I became a deputy registrar myself and other people that were > friends of mine also did. It was very easy to do it. And they were happy > to > it. They were happy to get out the vote any way they can. > > COOPER: How many people do you think you registered? > > MAKER: We officially registered 72 voters. I registered 25 on my own > before > the show. But that was about half the audience, or a little bit less than > half the audience. > > COOPER: And I won't call the strippers -- the burlesque performers, did > they -- were they registered as well? MAKER: Yes. Absolutely. > > COOPER: Do more Republicans or Democrats you think enjoy burlesque? It's a > loaded question. > > MAKER: I think that if you are pro sex, it's up to you what you think you > should do with your vote. It was totally nonpartisan on my behalf, > although > I do live in Austin, Texas, which is a place where liberals tend to > congregate. So it's likely that they were more on the Democratic side. But > not because of burlesque as a whole, but because of where I live. > > COOPER: You sort of have been very active really since college. It was a > college professor who got you inspired to sort of do whatever you could. > > MAKER: Yes, yes. I was in a class, Harry Cleavers (ph) -- we called it > rock > block of economics. It was Marxist economics and international crisis. And > my friend Susan was also in that class. And we were talking about why > sexuality had been so commodified. And how we could try to you know, > benefit > that used sexuality as an artistic format. > > COOPER: A lot of adult clubs around the country are doing it. Perhaps not > informed you were doing it, but Burlesque the Vote, I'm glad it was a > success. Audrey, thanks for being with us. > > MAKER: Thank you. > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
