The legal status of striptease varies considerably among different countries and the various jurisdictions of the United States.
Striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "ex ...
is considered a form of
public nudity
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
and subject to changing legal and cultural attitudes on
moral
A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...
and
decency
Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...
grounds. Some countries do not have any restrictions on performances of striptease. In some countries, public nudity is outlawed directly, while in other countries it may be suppressed or regulated indirectly through devices such as restrictions on venues through planning laws, or licensing regulations, or liquor licensing and other restrictions.
National issues
Canada
There have been annual attempts to amend the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
The ''Immigration and Refugee Protection Act'' (''IRPA'') is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), that replaced the '' Immigration Act, ...
(IRPA), passed in 2001. The 2009 version of the bill (Bill C-45: An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act) had specific provisions related to tightening the issuance of Exotic Dancer Visas as a means to combat
human trafficking
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
.
In addition to Canada, the
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese governments had at one time special visa categories for 'entertainers' which enabled the trafficking of women for strip clubs and prostitution.
Cyprus
The former immigration chief in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
was found guilty in 2001 of accepting bribes to issue work permits to foreign women (from Ukraine) who worked as strippers in clubs, some of whom were forced into prostitution.
Iceland
In March 2010, Iceland outlawed striptease under a law made by the
Icelandic Parliament
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembl ...
(Alþingi).
It is now an offence for any business to profit from the nudity of its employees. No other European country has subsequently implemented a strip club ban. Strip clubs and nudity among their employees remains legal in most of Europe.
Around 15
strip club
A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other Erotic dancing, erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or Bar (establishment), bar style, and can also ...
s had been operating in Iceland in the late 1990s and early 2000s, mostly in and around
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
, and stripping was a multimillion-dollar business.
At that time nude dancing was regulated and stripping was generally considered to be illegal, although a small number of clubs had been given a legal exemption to feature striptease. Those exemptions were rescinded when the ban officially took effect on 31 July 2010
and Iceland's strip clubs all closed. A few "champagne clubs" subsequently opened in an old strip club district, providing a private area in the back where clients could purchase private time with a female worker. In 2015, a women's crisis center, Stígamót, campaigned against these clubs and accused them of trafficking and prostitution. The clubs were subsequently raided by the police and closed.
Siv Friðleifsdóttir
Siv Friðleifsdóttir (born 10 August 1962) (transliterated Siv Fridleifsdottir) is an Icelandic politician. Rarely used full name is Björg Siv Juhlin Friðleifsdóttir.
She is half-Norwegian and she partly grew up in Norway, where she spent al ...
of the Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
was the first presenter of the bill. Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir
Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir (born 31 July 1955) is an Icelandic politician with the Left-Green Movement. She was a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for Reykjavík constituencies from 1999. She didn't get re-elected in 2009. She was Mi ...
, the politician behind the bill, was concerned about alleged links with drugs and prostitution. She was also of the opinion that strip clubs violated women's rights.[ She said: "It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold". ]Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (; born 4 October 1942) is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 2009 to 2013. She became active in the trade union movement, serving as an officer.
Elected as an MP from 1978 to 2013, ...
, then Iceland's Prime Minister, said: "The Nordic countries
The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...
are leading the way on women's equality, recognizing women as equal citizens rather than commodities for sale". Another politician, Steinunn Valdís Óskarsdóttir, spoke in support of the ban, saying: "Women who work at strip clubs are in many cases the victims of human trafficking and other kinds of abuse" and "I have been working in this field for almost 15 years and not yet have I met one woman who dances at strip clubs because she wants to". Club operators dispute the notion that strippers are unwilling victims. They argue that Icelandic police have found no evidence of organised crime or prostitution at their clubs.[
The decision to pass the law was seen as a victory for ]anti-pornography feminists
Reasons for opposition to pornography include religious objections and feminist concerns (for specific sectors of feminism), as well as alleged harmful effects, such as pornography addiction. Pornography addiction is not a condition recognized ...
, and criticized by sex-positive feminists
Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom.
Sex-positive feminism ce ...
. In 2015 Stígamót made a presentation on the results of their activities in Iceland at a sideline event of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.[
]
United Kingdom
In the 1930s, when the Windmill Theatre
The Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London, was a variety and revue theatre best known for its nude ''tableaux vivants'', which began in 1932 and lasted until its reversion to a cinema in 1964. Many prominent British comedians of t ...
, London, began to present nude shows, British law prohibited performers moving whilst in a state of nudity. To get around that rule, models appeared naked in stationary tableaux vivants
A (; often shortened to ; plural: ), French for "living picture", is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrica ...
. To keep within the law, sometimes devices were used which rotated the models without them moving themselves. Fan dance
In the West, a fan dance (i.e., a dance performed with fans) may be an erotic dance performance, traditionally by a woman, but not exclusively. Beyond eroticism it is a form of musical interpretation. The performer, sometimes entirely nude o ...
s were another device used to keep performances within the law. These allowed a naked dancer's body to be concealed by her fans or those of her attendants, until the end of an act, when she posed naked for a brief interval whilst standing stock still, and the lights went out or the curtain dropped to allow her to leave the stage. The Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...
’s rules prohibiting moving nude dancers did not apply to private members club, a loophole exploited by the “Raymond Revuebar
The Raymond Revuebar (1958–2004) was a theatre and strip club at 11 Walker's Court (now the location of The Box Soho nightclub), in the centre of London's Soho district. For many years, it was the only venue in London that offered full-fronta ...
” in Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, London at the start of the 1960s. Changes in the law in that decade brought about a boom of strip clubs in Soho, with "fully nude" dancing and audience participation.
A 2003 United Kingdom study reported statistics which said that in the London Borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...
the number of rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
s increased by 50% and indecent assaults by 57% after four lap dancing venues opened. According to the ''Lilith Report on Lap Dancing and Striptease in the Borough of Camden'', these statistics were calculated from information published by the Metropolitan police relating to the years 1998-99 and 2001–02. The percentages however were incorrectly calculated and Metropolitan police provided the UK Guardian newspaper with the following figures: 72 rapes and 162 indecent assaults in the borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
in 1998–99, and 96 rapes and 251 indecent assaults in 2001–02; a 33% increase in rape and a 55% increase in indecent assault. The overall crime rate decreased over the same period. However, in 2011 Brooke Magnanti
Brooke Magnanti (born 5 November 1975) is an American-born naturalised British former research scientist, blogger, and writer, who, until her identity was revealed in November 2009, was known by the pen name Belle de Jour. While completing her ...
published a statistical re-analysis criticizing the Lilith report for its lack of incidence rate calculation, lack of control population, and using results from too short of a time period.
The authors of ''Government Regulation of "Adult" Businesses Through Zoning and Anti-Nudity Ordinances: Debunking the Legal Myth of Negative Secondary Effects'', a meta-analysis of 110 studies looking at the impact of strip clubs and other adult businesses, have concluded that the studies that favored prohibiting exotic dancing suffered from research flaws, and that in the papers that did not contain fatal flaws, there was no correlation between adult-oriented business and any crime. Ethnographic work also supports the conclusion that there is no relationship between adult entertainment and crime.
The UK has seen a recent legislative trend leading to a more conservative treatment of striptease, in contrast to many areas in Europe and the US which have more liberal sexual attitudes. In 2009, the United Kingdom passed the Policing and Crime Act following government concerns about an increase in the number of striptease venues in the country. The act defines "sexual entertainment venues" as those venues in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
& Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
(and later Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
) which have been licensed for the performance of nudity
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to ...
for profit where the primary intention of the entertainment is sexual gratification
Orgasm (from Greek , ; "excitement, swelling") or sexual climax is the sudden discharge of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, resulting in rhythmic, involuntary muscular contractions in the pelvic region charac ...
or titillation. Most of the venues licensed in this way are lap dance or gentleman's clubs specialising in female striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "ex ...
for an assumed male audience, but some offer more general sexual entertainment, burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. , or male striptease. Any strip club where live entertainment takes place more than 11 times a year must now apply for a license from its local authorities. Such clubs are routinely opposed by those who feel that these 'lower the tone' of particular neighbourhoods, and the introduction of licensing legislation under the 2009 Policing and Crime Act (in England and Wales) and the 2015 Air Weapons and Licensing Act (Scotland) has reduced the number of relevant premises to fewer than 200 across the UK, significantly down on the 350 or so existing in the early 2000s. The reasons for licence refusal vary, but usually it is on grounds of the club being in an inappropriate locality.
The London Borough of Hackney
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
council used the Act to introduce a "nil" policy on adult entertainment in early 2011. However, the council's own consultation found that over 75% of the people in Shoreditch
Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area.
In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...
(where most of Hackney's existing clubs were located) opposed the ban. Police noted that crime and antisocial behaviour around the existing clubs was extremely low compared to late-night bars. Trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
s estimated that up to 450 jobs could be lost and the TUC argued that dancers who worked in the existing establishments should be better protected instead.
United States
Many U.S. jurisdictions have various laws related to striptease, public nudity and related issues. For example, the "six foot rule" in some jurisdictions requires stripper
A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event.
M ...
s to maintain a six-foot distance from customers while performing topless or nude. This rule does not apply when in a bikini or other work outfit, but is indicative of the level of scrutiny prevailing in some jurisdictions on dancer-customer interaction. Other rules forbid "full nudity". In some parts of the United States, laws forbid exposure of female nipples, but does not apply if a stripper wears pasties
Pasties (singular pasty or pastie) are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They originated as part of burlesque shows, providing a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. T ...
.
Social attitudes
A relatively liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
social climate keeps many jurisdictions in the United States from passing stricter legislation against strip clubs, or from enforcing it fully. However, in recent years, many cities, such as New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, have enacted ordinances prohibiting "adult entertainment" businesses from within a certain distance of houses, schools and churches, and perhaps each other. Often, a distance of nearly half-a-mile is stipulated, which ensure that new strip clubs can not open in many major cities. Courts have generally upheld these zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
laws.
Decency regulations
Many United States jurisdictions have laws pertaining to striptease or public nudity. In some parts of the United States, laws forbid exposure of female nipples, but does not apply if a stripper wears pasties
Pasties (singular pasty or pastie) are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They originated as part of burlesque shows, providing a commercial form of bare-breasted entertainment. T ...
. In early 2010, the city of Detroit banned fully exposed breasts in its strip clubs, following the example of Houston which began enforcing a similar ordinance of 2008. The city council has since softened the rules eliminating the requirement for pasties but kept other restrictions.
Topless and fully nude clubs
In several parts of the United States, local laws classify strip clubs as either ''topless'' or ''all/fully nude''. Dancers in topless
Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness.
Expose ...
clubs can expose their breasts, but not their genitals
A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...
. Topless dancers typically perform in a G-string
A G-string is a type of thong, a narrow piece of fabric, leather, or satin that covers or holds the genitals, passes between the buttocks, and is attached to a waistband around the hips. A G-string can be worn both by men and by women. It may al ...
and, depending on local laws, may be required to wear pasties covering their nipples. ''Fully nude'' clubs may be subject to additional requirements such as restrictions on alcohol sales or ''no-touch rules'' between customers and dancers.
To get around these rules two "separate" bars—one topless and one fully nude—may open adjacent to one another. In a small number of states and jurisdictions, where it is legal for alcohol to be consumed but not for alcohol to be sold, some clubs allow customers to bring their own beverages. These are known as BYOB
BYOB or BYO is an initialism and acronym concerning alcohol that means "bring your own bottle" or "bring your own booze" or "bring your own beer".
BYOB is stated on an invitation to indicate that the host will not be providing alcohol and that ...
clubs.
Independent contractors
In the U.S., striptease dancers are generally classified as independent contractor
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
s. While a few smaller strip clubs may pay a weekly wage, for the most part all of a dancer's income is derived from tips and other fees they collect from customers. In most clubs, dancers have to pay a "stage fee" or "house fee" to work a given shift. In addition, most clubs take a percentage of each private dance. It is customary—and often required in the United States—for dancers to also pay a "tip out", which is money (either a set fee or a percentage of money earned) paid to staff members of clubs, such as DJs, house moms, make-up artist
A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions inc ...
s, server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
s, bartender
A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but a ...
s, and bouncer
A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or ...
s, at the end of their shift.
Touching of strippers
Touching of strippers is illegal in many states. However, some dancers and some clubs condone touching of dancers during private dances. This touching often includes the fondling of breasts, buttocks, and in rare cases vulvae. In some locales, dancers may give a customer a " lap dance", whereby the dancer grinds against the customer's crotch while he is fully clothed in an attempt to arouse him/her.
One of the more notorious local ordinances is San Diego Municipal Code 33.3610, specific and strict in response to allegations of corruption among local officials which included contacts in the nude entertainment industry. Among its provisions is the "six foot rule", copied by other municipalities in requiring that dancers maintain a distance while performing topless or nude. While in their bikini or other work outfit this rule is not in effect, but is indicative of the level of scrutiny prevailing in some regions on dancer-customer interaction.
Status of underage dancers
In July 2009, it was discovered that, in addition to not having a prostitution law ( prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009), Rhode Island also does not have a law to stop underage girls from being exotic dancers. The Mayor of Providence, David Cicilline
David Nicola Cicilline (; born July 15, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 36th mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, the first openly ...
signed an executive order, effective July 31, prohibiting the city Board of Licenses from issuing adult entertainment licenses to establishments that employ minors. The club owners also made a pledge to not employ underage girls.
Court cases
In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled in '' Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc.'' that nudity in itself is not "expressive conduct" (or "symbolic speech") entitled to free speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...
protection of the First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. It also ruled that topless or nude dancing may be expressive but that a state may nevertheless outlaw public nudity (i.e., not the dance itself) on the basis of furthering public's interest in maintaining morality and order.
In 2000, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its finding in '' Erie v. Pap's A. M.'' ruling that nude dancing was expressive conduct "marginally" protected by the First Amendment, but that it could be regulated to limit the " secondary effects", such as crime.
Prostitution in strip clubs
Rules governing strip clubs and the overall adult entertainment industry
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...
vary around the world, and formats sometimes are combined under a single roof or complex. For example, in Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...
, the Nana Entertainment Plaza is a large four-floor compound with over 40 bars. Most of the bars are go-go bars where girls dance in various stages of nudity. They are not formal brothels, since customers must negotiate with the female workers for services up to and including sex without an intermediary. The Zona Norte
Zona Norte (officially ''Colonia Zona Norte'', "North Zone (neighborhood)") is an official neighborhood, as well as a red light district located in Tijuana, Mexico. It is among the largest red-light districts in North America known for its brot ...
red light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...
in has a number of legal brothels which are modeled on strip clubs and feature U.S.-style striptease performed by its prostitutes
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
. Zurich, Switzerland also has legalized prostitution, and its strip clubs throughout the city offer sex among their services. Differing from Zurich brothels, sex services in the strip clubs are typically performed off site. Eastern European strip clubs have a similar model. A "sex zone" in Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
which is only 0.34 square kilometers had approximately 3,500 sex facilities as of 1999. These included strip theaters, peep shows, "soaplands," "lover's banks," porno shops, telephone clubs
, an abbreviation for , are telephone-based dating services originating in Japan.
In the original incarnation of the telephone club, popular in the mid-1990s, a male client would pay a fee to enter a booth with a phone. The phone would then ring ...
, karaoke bars
A is a type of karaoke establishment commonly found in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the United States and Canada. It originated in Japan, and is now popular worldwide, particularly in Asia. Karaoke boxes consist of multiple rooms contai ...
, clubs and more all offering adult entertainment services. Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
red light districts contain go-go bars and strip clubs tightly concentrated with other types of businesses and each other similar to the U.S. In Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, a city governed by very strict cultural norms and laws, there are several India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n strip clubs offering at least partial-nudity. Newspaper reports indicate that customers can occasionally purchase sex in some American strip clubs. Both the U.S. municipalities of Detroit, Michigan and Houston, Texas were reputed to have rampant occurrences of illicit activity including prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
linked to its striptease establishments within their city limits. Prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
is illegal in all states except in some rural counties in Nevada. Prostitution in Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
was outlawed in 2009.
See also
* Operation G-Sting Operation G-Sting, also called Strippergate, and referencing the G-String costume often worn by strippers and showgirls, was an FBI investigation into bribes and unreported campaign contributions taken by Clark County Commissioners in Clark County, ...
, FBI probe into bribes and unreported campaign contributions taken by Clark County Commissioners in Clark County, Nevada and commissioners in San Diego, California.
* Prostitution in Nevada
Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in all but 7 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Seven counties have at least one active brothel, wh ...
* Prostitution in Rhode Island Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Republican Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Prostitution was legal in Rhode Island between 1980 a ...
* Strippergate (Seattle), Two separate government scandals and criminal investigations on the West Coast both involving strip clubs and organized crime.
* Las Vegas Dancers Alliance
The Las Vegas Dancers Alliance was an organization of adult entertainment workers in Las Vegas founded in 2002 by Andrea Hackett in response to regulations adopted by Clark County, Nevada that criminalized lap dances. It grew to include 1,000 mem ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legal Status Of Striptease
Law of the United States
Strip clubs