12/18/2007 11:06:00 PM
Riverview talks strippers and 'Real Men'
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| The Riverview Center plans to change their billboard in front of The Office Gentlemen’s Club in Dubuque to start off their “Real Men” campaign. |
| | fyi | Who: Riverview Center Inc.
Where: Grand River Center
When: Monthly. Meeting times are flexible.
Contact: For more information call Josh Jasper at 888-707-8155, or send an email to ed@riverview
center.org
Who: Riverview Center Inc.
What: Workshop with Jackson Katz
Where: Grand River Center
When: April 16, 2008, 1 to 5 p.m.
Contact: For more information call Josh Jasper at 888-707-8155, or send an email to ed@riverview
center.org
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by Cid Standifer
cstandifer@galgazette.com
The opening of The Office, a strip club in Dubuque, has sparked a wave of controversy about whether the establishment will damage the atmosphere of the town. But the Riverview Center is more concerned about the people who work there.
Josh Jasper, the Riverview Center's executive director, has sent a letter to The Office offering the center's services in creating a violence prevention training program for female employees.
And the evidence says they'll need it. Most strip clubs, including The Office, have bouncers to fend off clients while women are on the stage, but studies have shown that it doesn't always help, either during the show or after it's over.
In 1999, researcher Kelly Holsopple did free-form interviews with over 40 strippers from various American cities and towns, and conducted a 26-question survey with 18. Of those surveyed, Holsopple found that all of them had been physically assaulted during their career as a stripper.
The subjects were asked to give examples of things that customers had done to them while on stage. They said that men had yanked their hair, arms or ankles; sprayed beer, flicked lit cigarettes, or spit at them; pelted them with ice, coins, trash, condoms, room keys, pornography and golf balls; bit, licked, slapped, punched and pinched them; and ripped or tried to tear off their costumes.
While customers are not supposed to touch them, many said that this rule was consistently violated, and some were asked to perform on runways so narrow that they could not get out of a client's reach.
Three of those surveyed had been raped, 12 were followed to their car by clients after work multiple times, and nine were followed all the way home. All reported verbal and sexual abuse, and over a third said they were called "bitch" or "pussy" at least once a day. 100 percent of the women reported being propositioned for prostitution, and seeing many of the same kinds of abuse happen to other women.
The study says that almost none of the perpetrators of these acts faced any consequences. In fact, in a separate study by Jody Raphael and Deborah Shapiro that included 43 exotic dancers, a third of those who were raped said that the rapists were police officers.
Most of the women in Holsopple's study also reported economic exploitation by club managers and owners. Clubs usually classified strippers as "independent contractors," and thus gave them no benefits, made them unable to unionize, did not pay for social security, and even charged strippers for permission to perform at the club. Women made only the tips they earned, putting pressure on them to perform more explicit sexual acts for their customers, and leading many to prostitution. Dancers could be fined by club owners for trivial rule violations like touching the club's mirrors, using phones without permission, or "talking back" to clients or employees.
As one woman quoted by Holsopple said, "I spent my entire young adulthood being abused. It is hard to undo all this." Several echoed one woman's sentiment: "Don't do it. Once you do it, it is hard to get out."
'It's a small town'
The Office owner Paula Bodish said that she has not received any communication from the Riverview Center, but when asked whether she would be amenable to the center's offer to help protect employees, she asked, "Protect them from what?" In response to an explanation that studies had found high levels of violence against strippers, she said, "I don't believe that," and declined an offer to have Holsopple's study sent to her.
"This is a small town. It's not like Miami or something," she added.
The Riverview Center is also concerned how the strip club environment can affect the men who spend time there.
Part of the problem with strip clubs, says Jasper, is that they actively encourage men to think of women as sexual objects. Men might think that it's harmless fun with their friends, but if they fail to think critically about their mindsets, they may start to subject women in their everyday lives to the same treatment they give strippers.
Riverview has been engaged in a billboard campaign throughout the tri-state area for the past two years, and as luck would have it, one of their advertisements is located in front of The Office . The billboards all currently say, "Rape will not be tolerated here," but the center has decided to change the message on this board to "REAL MEN know objectifying some women hurts ALL women."
When asked for her response to the planned billboard, Bodish told the Gazette to contact her lawyer and promptly terminated the interview. We were unable to reach the club's legal counsel.
Jasper says the Riverview Center is not trying to put the club out of business.
"It's more about engaging men to become critical thinkers," he said, "and basically ask men to think about how their actions perpetuate violence."
"What this campaign is going to be doing really is examining what manhood is, and redefining masculinity."
Jasper explained that the billboard is the first step in a new direction for the center, which traditionally, like most rape prevention and victim advocacy centers, has focused on teaching women how to protect themselves.
The new campaign is about attacking sexual violence at the source. "It's men's violence against women," he said, "not just violence against women."
"In order to effectively prevent future violence against women, you have to engage men," he added.
Study of college students
According to the Department of Justice, 97.8 percent of sexual assaults are committed by men. In a 1988 study of over 6,000 college students by psychologist Mary Koss, 25 percent of the men surveyed reported that they had committed sexual assault, while eight percent had committed rape.
In a 1996 study by Julie Osland, Marguerite Fitch, and Edmond Willis, 34 percent of 159 male students surveyed at a church-affiliated liberal arts college self-reported that they might force a woman to have sex. In a separate 1987 study, 49 percent of the men surveyed said that they were at least somewhat likely to force a woman to perform sexual acts against her will.
Jasper believes that a large part of men's inclination to assault women stems from how they are encouraged to behave as men. He uses the metaphor of a box that young boys are trained to fit into. In Jasper's talks with school groups, young men will say that they're supposed to be tough and emotionless.
"When you're outside of that box, the discussion tends to what are you then called. You're a sissy. You're a fag. You're a queer. You hear words that are homophobic or very derogatory toward women," Jasper said. In effect, boys are taught that the manly thing to do is look down on women and objectify them.
He finds the same trend in grown men, though often after decades of fitting the masculine mold, they're more reticent than children. "There's a lot of defense mechanisms that take place in response," Jasper said.
But he thinks that this a reversible trend, in part because men have a stake in the safety of women.
Estimates of what percentage of American women have been sexually assaulted over the course of their lifetimes range from 25 percent to over 50 percent. Jasper quoted a study that one of every three women are sexually assaulted before they reach the age of 18.
"Imagine how many daughters, how many mothers, how many wives that is to men," he said.
And he has faith that there are many men out there who already want to help stop sexual violence.
"The Riverview Center is not saying that all men are violent, that all men are rapists, Jasper said. "We know there are men who want to do more."
"I think in my experience talking to men, I'm confident that there are a lot of men who want to help this movement, but they don't know how."
Macho paradox
Jasper hopes that the Riverview Center will be able to tell men, "OK, here are the tools, here are the resources, and some of the steps are simple in having the courage to look inward."
To that end, the center is doing more than just putting up billboards. They already have a men's discussion group that meets about once every month, depending on the schedules of the members. So far the group is small.
There are only about five members from around Jo Daviess and Carroll counties. But Jasper hopes it will grow.
The center is also hosting a workshop by Jackson Katz, author of "The Macho Paradox." The workshop will be on April 16, 2008, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Grand River Center. It's free of charge, and Jasper hopes they can get 1,000 people to attend.
Katz will present attendees with a variety of tactics they can implement in their homes, schools, and businesses to make it clear that violence and harassment will not be tolerated.
"I would love to see every superintendant, principal, teacher and counselor at the training, along with the parents," Jasper said.
Education can't stop at the school doors. Jasper said they need to make sure that boys are learning the same things about respect for women and intolerance for violence at home, or wherever they go.
"It can no longer be the Riverview Center's or Choices' responsibility to prevent violence in our community," he said. "It has to be the whole community."
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