Are you a man who cares about animals but thinks it is fine to treat women like one? Then Caso Diablo is the place for you. The world's first vegan strip club, in Portland, Oregon – a hippyish town in the US that prides itself as the most vegan-friendly in the country – serves up meat- and diary-free chilli cheese fries, chocolate/strawberry cheesecake and mushroom burgers along with the naked women.
The owner, Johnny Diablo, describes himself as an "ethical vegan", and claims that half of the dancers are vegetarian or vegan. The place is sleazy, without even the veneer of a "gentlemen's club": bar staff are topless, while the dancers take absolutely everything off and are instructed to sit on customers' laps. The naked women draw the men in, says Diablo, which, in turn, means they will learn to love vegan food.
Treating women like meat and eating it often go together, for example at Hooters, an American-run chain that operates in 39 US states and a number of other countries including the UK, serves up burgers, wings and steaks, as well as young waitresses wearing very little.
But as the sex industry has proliferated in recent years, using women's bodies to promote vegetarianism and veganism has become more commonplace. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) is notorious for its misogynistic tactics. A porn site, peta.xxx, is due to be launched later this year, much to the disgust of feminists. In Caso Diablo, non-human animals are afforded more respect than the strippers. A sign over the bar reads, "Please do not wear fur, feathers, silk, wool or leather on the stage. Thank you – the animals."
On the west coast, there are a number of cults that use attractive young women to draw in converts, or to raise money. I won't bore you, but I have a funny story involving one of those gals, an airport, and a streak of SS a mile wide and a mile deep.