Houston Has Tough Strip Club Laws
Houston won a big case against allowing regulation of the local strip clubs.
Houston’s war on kinky sex whatnots just achieved another victory. According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, the city can ban strip clubs from operating “within 1,500 feet of any school, day care center, church or park.” That’s a pain, but it’s something that can be overcome. Just move the club to a less child-intensive or religious-y area. And the businesses have to be 1,000 feet from each other, so Houston’s famed Strip Club Row* is probably going to change it’s name. But that’s surmountable too. The thing that’s going to break the backs (or poles) of these strippin’ clubs is that the dancers have to stay 3 feet away from the patrons.
Seriously? Evidently, this has been in effect for some time but why even go to a strip club if they have to stay 3 feet away? It’s like going to a casino that only lets you gamble on the outcome of movies or novelizations of movies, sure it’s kind of fun if you’re drunk enough but mostly a waste of time.
A story that we’ve been checking in on from time to time is about a Houston suburb’s ban of at home sex clubs. The Cherry Pit has been targeted by the town’s ruling body for a while. And the 5th Court Of Appeals recently ruled that Texas has to allow sex toy shops to operate. So, if you’re keeping score at home, that’s 2 losses and 1 victory for the forces of corruption and turpitude. Good luck getting another Super Bowl, Houston. Those sinners are probably better off in Dallas or, God forbid, Austin.
*Note: There is no Strip Club Row in Houston.
**Note: Will Ferrell should take a break from sports movies for a minute and make a comedy about a guy saving a strip club left to him by his estranged father. Maybe a puritanical councilman (played by Ben Stiller) could keep moving churches, daycare centers, and schools near his club and later revealed to be a sex maniac. Hmmm?
Read more from the Houston Chronicle about the regulation of strip clubs in Houston…
Discussion
Women who work in the clubs are required to wear a license.
Do people who want to exercise free speech have to wear a license? Is it a license that denotes that a woman is a professional dancer as opposed to an unlicensed non professional stripper for fun?
Red light district? Not in Houston. That would tarnish the buckle on the Bible Belt.
But no one really cares about the impact of working in this profession on women. I have taught college students who dance and while they make a lot of money, much of it is going up their arms or to their pimps. It is a sad state of affairs for women and the thugs that own the clubs. It is a violent life. If the women could buy their own clubs and keep the men in the business from feeding off of them, it might improve, but it is exploitive and not about the freedom of dancing naked. It is ugly, brutal, and completely unsafe.
