Is there a link between strip clubs and prostitution?

17 comments

• FONDL

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  19 years ago

  Yoda, you just confirmed what I've been trying to say. Organized crime is probably involved in the ownership of some strip clubs (I've been to Providence clubs that had that feel to them.) I'm guessing that organized crime is also involved in running some escort services. That constitutes a link between strip clubs and prostitution, and that's all I've been trying to say. BTW, the massage parlors around here always seem to be getting shut down but I've never heard of any of the escort services having that problem, which suggests to me that the later are much better organized and positioned with regard to political contacts and lawyers than are the former.
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  FONDL: I'm really only familiar with Boston and Providence-two cities wich seem to have diametricaly opposed views on strip clubs and what is allowed to go on in them. In any event, the headlines don't lie. There was a bust just recently at a massage parlor in Providence and a few months back in Boston. No strip club in either city has been sighted in the news for illegal activity even though it goes on in many. There have been rumors of OC involvement for years in both Boston and Providece clubs. OC uses places like a strip club as a legitimate business front. Why would they want to mess that up? There may in fact be clubs that operate cladestine escort services. Anything is possible. Do you honestly think I or anyone else would post it here if we knew of one?
• JC2003

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  19 years ago

  You could argue that strip clubs are a form of prostitution. Heck, the next thread after this is "Best HJ's ever." Semantics aside, there is a link between the two -- not so much here in the US but moreso abroad where clubs are places to find prostitutes.
• FONDL

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  19 years ago

  Yoda, your area must be very different than the areas that I'm familiar with. I've never heard of any escort businesses going through what you described. I do know that many of the same ones have been adverstising for many years. And I do know of strip clubs that have been shut down for providing illegal services. At least in the areas that I'm familiar with the risk of strip clubs vs. escort services getting shut down appears to be about the same. In either case it appears to be pretty rare. And I've never seen a listing of customers of either business in the papers. I seriously doubt that many samller clubs that are locally owned get involved in the escort business. But when you talk about the larger clubs in areas where there is likely to be some association with organized crime, I'd be really surprised if there isn't some affiliation between strip clubs and escort agencies. I was just wondering if anyone knows of any such affiliations as a fact?
• TopGunGlen

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  19 years ago

  I would imagine that yes, sometimes there is a crossover business at times, all very hush hush, hopefully. But an obvious link would be utter stupidity for the club owner. Besides, they make plenty with the legal stripping stuff.
• FONDL

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  19 years ago

  Yoda, I gues I don't see the distinction that you're trying to make. Seems to me that both activities claim that they don't do anything illegal and if anyone is caught doing so it's the girl's fault alone, she violated the rules. Every ad I've ever seen for and escort service clearly states that they don't condone any illegal activities. Personally I think there's a lot of similarities between the two businesses, and I'm sure that they compete with each other quite a bit for many of the same customers. And some of the same girls.
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  FONDL: That's a wonderfull business model but again, we are talking about an illegal activity vs. a legal one. A busy strip club can bring in millions of dollars a year. Why would an owner mess with that? Escorts services are VERY easy to come by. I see know real advantage to trying to combine the two. The vast majority of dancers are not escorts and most escorts don't want to be dancers. With the exception of the hard-core extras gilrs, I honestly don't think the two trades have all that much in common.
• FONDL

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  19 years ago

  Seems to me that's pretty easy to avoid, just set them up as two separate businesses. Maybe even two different owners of record but who cooperate to their mutual benefit. Does anybody really know who owns some of these places anyway, especially the big chains? That would be interesting to know.
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  Like what? If your talking about high contact or extras, in most cases your right, they don't care. If a girl gets caught by a cop giving a blow job in a private booth the management will claim ignorance and fire the dancer. End of story. If evidence of club management's involvement in escort services comes to light, the club can't claim ignorance and can get shut down or have it's liquor or entertainment license suspended.
• FONDL

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  19 years ago

  Yes but so are a lot of the other activities going on in clubs but they don't seem to care.
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  FONDL: You seem to keep forgetting the primary motivating factor that a strip club would have for staying out of the escort business: It's illegal.
• FONDL

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  19 years ago

  Of course the escort ads often contain a lot of BS. But did you ever notice that in the photos of girls on the escort web sites they're almost always wearing stripper shoes and outfits? I wonder why. I wonder what percentage of escorts start out as strippers? I bet it's pretty low.
  
  But I guess the thing that puzzles me the most is that clubs obviously know that some of their girls have extra things going on the side but the club isn't making any effort to get a piece of the action. This seems to be at odds with the greed that clubs exhibit in every other area. Inconsistencies bother me, they disturb my sense of how the world works.
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  FONDL: I've seen that sort of thing too. As far as "formal" relationships. I don't know of any in my area. BTW, just because an escort advertises that she is a dancer doesn't mean the club is condoning it. Of course, strip club managers are very good at "playing dumb"
• FONDL

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  19 years ago

  Not all clubs feel that way. I've seen lots of ads in places such as CityPaper for escorts who claim to be dancers. I remember one in particular where the girl even said where she was dancing. I've also seen dancers setting up "dates" for after closing time and nobody seemed to care. And I can remember a place not too long ago where the girls would duck outside during working hours and meet customers in their cars in the parking lot. I'm guessing that there's a lot more of that kind of stuff going on than most of us realize. But I was really asking about formal relationships between clubs and escorting, I wonder how common that is? In other words, are some clubs just fronts for more lucrative activities?
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  As far as out-and out affiliations go, I don't know of any first hand but I've heard rumors over the years about a bartender here or a bouncer there who tries to recruit girls to from the club to escort regular customers. It seems to me the escort indusrty is thriving without any strip club affiliations. Obviously, one trade is legal and the other is not. Most clubs go out of their way to disscourage girls from seeing customers OTC. Even a rumor of trafficing in prostitution can bring unwanted attention to a club. Still, the rumors always persist.
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  FONDL: To some degree all of them do. Pimps show up in SC's all the time trying to recruit girls.
• Yoda

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  19 years ago

  FONDL: Obviously both businesses compete for some of the same customers, and some of the same girls. In the past several months there have been 4 or 5 stories in te local news about brothels and/or escorting agencies being busted in the Boston area. No strip clubs have been busted for illegal activity though they do get news coverage occasionally just as shock value for television news. It doesn't matter what the disclaimer in an add for an escort service say. When the cops bust up a prostitution ring they take the escorts cell phones as evidence and trace the calls made onthe phone back to whomever the girl is working for. Sure, a good lawyer will probably get you off but those stories never make the newspapers, the arrests and names of those involved do. I ask you again, why would a legitimate business making great money get involved with this? Yes, some illegal avtivities do go on on strip clubs. We all know this. Looking the other way while a dancer gives a guy a blow job in a private booth is not the same as running an escort service, that is, finding and sending a girl clients and taking a percentage of what she charges for sex.
  
  The majority of dancers are in business to provide a fantasy. Escorts are in business to provide sex.