Stripping down

Students expose attitudes toward area strip clubs

By Sarah Rubin

Daily Arts Writer

So it's a chilly Friday night and there is not much to do in Ann Arbor. Luckily, Dejá Vu is having "Exotic Celebrities" just few miles away in Ypsilanti. Ypsilanti (and yes, for you out-of-staters, the Y is pronounced like an I) is not only home to the lovely EMU campus but it also has one of the few full- nudity strip clubs in the area. "Nudie bars" like this one are popular; however, they can disconcert those who attend them, as well as those who do not.

LSA sophomore Jake Lessem disagrees with the premise of strip clubs like Dejá Vu. "Is the idea of a beautiful woman dancing around naked appealing? Of course," he said. "But they're being paid to stand up there, impersonal commodities. That's not appealing."

Moe Worsley, a LSA sophomore, thinks that men head to Deja Vu because "they want to see what they can't have. It sort of fulfills our fantasies."

Chris, a clerk in the Dejá Vu boutique/gift shop who asked that his last name not be used, said about 65 percent of the club's clientele is college students. Considering that the cover is $11-12, and that beverages and other ... purchases are not included, this could amount to a huge extraction from the menial budget, or lack thereof, that most college students succumb to.

Despite the cost, young customers are drawn to the no-strings attached atmosphere. "We live in a society where relationships are supposed to be monogamous," Chris said. "There's a prevalent fear of cheating. In a place like this, the concept of cheating is taken away because there is no romantic interaction between the girls that work here and the customers that come in."

He said that theme night and amateur night are both popular. "When you really come down to it, the bare root of the situation is lust," Chris said.

Freshman Mike Kuncewich said he believes hormones increase male interest in strip clubs. "Guys have a lot of sexual tension," he said. "If there's a guy who doesn't get all the sex that he wants, then why not go? Testosterone causes a need for that."

LSA freshman Cynthia Kurzwell concurs. "You can't blame guys for doing what their hormones cause them to do," she said.

Kinesiology sophomore Antron Hughes said that he has been to what's commonly referred to as "The Vu" a couple of times. His friends go there "because they're bored, horny or just desperate," Hughes said. "Everybody should get a chance to go."

Hughes recalls the "funniest thing ever at 'The Vu' was when a boyfriend brought his girlfriend in for a couples lap dance - some people are just so sick."

At Dejá Vu, customers have the option of a topless lap-dance ($10), nudie lap-dance ($20), or a trip to the "Fantasy Booth" (prices vary). Here the men can live out their wildest inhibitions with a mere sheet of plexi-glass separating them from a naked woman.

The temptations of strip clubs don't worry LSA freshman Tiffany Wade. She has a different perspective; she said strip clubs present no competition for her when it comes to her boyfriend's attention. "Wherever he goes to get whatever he wants, as long as he comes back and gives it to me, then I don't care," she laughed.

It seems that the people who really know what's going on are the strippers. These girls, whose ages range from 18 to 30, can expect to make at least $100 a night, with a record earning of $1,400. An estimated 30 of the 41 dancers at Dejá Vu are currently attending college.

Chris points out that, "When you're working in a place like this, you realize that places like this shouldn't have to exist. Nudity and sexuality are now deemed as being dirty, something only a deviant would enjoy. I think that's strange. ... When it comes down to it, everyone is in search of some titillation, you know, excitement," Chris said.

Others disagree that strip clubs should be viewed as acceptable. "They're not moral, but it's not our job to dictate what is," Hughes said.

The public is legally allowed into clubs at age 18. Some view it as a rite of passage for an 18-year-old boy to get a lap dance. LSA freshman Ben Whetsell said, "I guess it'd be fun for a night out, but as a regular thing, it might become a little sketchy." But, he added, "Everyone should be in a strip club once before they die."

Most girls have no problem with strip clubs as businesses as long as they don't have to be associated with them. "They're perfectly fine," Kurzwell said. "Strippers perform a service. Guys or girls watch ... It's not anything I'd want my daughter to do, but it's good money."

LSA freshman Noel Egnatios said that she agrees that strip clubs serve as "a good source of revenue." Egnacio also views trips to strip clubs as a bonding experience for men. "It's like drinking. It's considered bad and they wanna do something that makes them feel cool. They don't mean to objectify women. It just happens in the process."

Standing up for the opposing side, LSA freshman Vivek Shande points out that the clubs "only serve to perpetuate the desires in men that drive them to go in the first place. Men that go there don't know that there is more to women than their bodies."

LSA freshman Brady McCollough takes American culture into consideration. "Society has made gender the way it is, makes women's bodies more important. Men covet their bodies. It doesn't mean that when I go a strip club, I feel good about myself."

Perhaps McCollough sums up the debate with his reminiscence about an overly personal Dejá Vu experience. He said, "The reason you go to a strip club is because you're looking for an object, a body. She wasn't. She became Stacy. After that I didn't want to go back."