“Bar Month” at OnMilwaukee.com – brought to you by Absolut, Avion, Fireball, Pama, Red Stag and 2 Gingers – is back for another round! The whole month of February, we’re serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs – including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews, the results of our Best of Bars poll and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!

As Downtown Milwaukee considers its first new strip club in a long time, I thought it would be fun to clear the air about some of the stereotypes strip clubs and strippers tend to have. Granted, there are stereotypes for a reason, right?

Of course, but stereotypes are nothing other than elements of a subculture. Every large society has different cultures, every culture has subcultures and so on. There are good and bad elements in every subculture. Strip clubs and strippers are no different, but people should not shun them as a whole. Especially considering how much we as a society let slide by that is much more damaging to our morale.

But I digress; in this blog I will only be dissecting the leading stereotypes about strip clubs and strippers. I was a dancer in Milwaukee and nationally for six years – I think it’s important for the general public to have some understanding of the strip club culture if they’re going to be neighbors. It’s also important for people to take a look at the big picture before jumping on the judgmental train. Which is another thing, we as a society enjoy doing.

1. Strip clubs promote sex, drugs and crime

This is always something I found humorous. Similar to how every Italian is in the mob, or every Middle Eastern Indian owns a 7-11. To say strip clubs don’t promote sex would be ridiculous, but they don’t do the type of “promotion” that many pissed off housewives and girlfriends seem to visualize. Strippers promote the idea of sensuality. If they were screwing every guy in there they wouldn’t make any money. It’s basic economics, really. And lets face it, there’s more oral sex happening in the Oval Office than a dance booth.

As for promoting drugs and crime, this is just dead wrong. Many clubs steer clear of drugs and have very strict rules for their employees using drugs. Strip club owners have enough to deal with keeping up with health codes, liquor licensees, the multiple employees, and not getting fined for all of the above to try to do anything but run a law-abiding establishment. How many congressmen got busted for cocaine last year, again? Isn’t J.P. Morgan Chase paying billions of dollars in fines for being apart of a classic Ponzi scheme? How many prescription drug commercials are on in a day? Assuming strip clubs promote more sex, drugs and crime than the people we elected, the people we entrust our money with, and our media to uphold a higher standard of integrity would just be hypocritical.

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