The 'you' in my title does not refer to you, specifically.  (Unless, of course, you really hate strippers.)  It refers to people in general who use strippers as their go-to textbook example of bad people.

A guy friend of mine, (who is himself a textbook example of many irresponsible and lazy habits,) hates strippers.  So what? He's a raging sexist and is afraid of women.  He flatly denies both, but he exhibits all the signs.  

When I was in theatre school, my professor of History of Dramatic Literature told us this cautionary tale: "I once had a student who hated Chekov. Her specific words were 'Chekov sucks!' And do you know what happened to her? She became a stripper!"  (Which made me determined to put on a good show of appreciating Chekov, even though I hate reading his work.  It's fine on stage, but I have a hard time following it and picking up on the subtext...anyway.)

Whether the story is true or not isn't the point; the point is it's bad to be a stripper.  And, yeah, I can see how, for any aspiring actor, the idea of never getting any closer to the biz than being a stripper sounds dreadful.  And okay, if I had a daughter I wouldn't want her to become a stripper.  Or at least, I wouldn't want that to be her highest career ambition.  I dunno, we'll check back on that when I actually have kids.

And yeah, we all know many women who become strippers were abused as children, BUT: that does not mean that it is wrong or sick somehow for a woman to be a stripper.  That does not mean it only happens as a result of something else going wrong, as my friend would have us believe, and I know he's not the only one. 

In conversation once, when I asked why he thought it was so wrong for women to be strippers, he answered by asking me, "Well, would you do it?"

"No." I said, "but that doesn't mean it's wrong.  I also will never eat a banana, drink coffee or wear a Gap tee-shirt. So what?"

After a long and worthless argument, which I won't repeat, because it was stupid and lame, his final position was: 

A. Strippers are bad because they deceive men out of their hard-earned money.  (Oh, right, because all men are that stupid.)

B.  They'll sleep with anyone. (You wish!)

C. It's unnatural for women to behave that way.

As if he were some authority on what's natural for women to do.  Right.

When I asked if it was natural for men to want to watch women strip, he said of course it was, and he said it without irony.  Oy vey.  So in essence, this guy believes that men have this basic need to watch women strip, but women must never indulge that need, because to do so is unnatural and bad.  Interestingly, this is also a guy who believes all women should have the right to choose (abortion).  That's his only step in the direction of feminism. Weird, huh?

So fine, he's lame, whatever.  What bothers me more than his stupid opinion, though, is the fact that his stupid opinion bothers me.  And not just his opinion on this matter. Anyone who has the same opinion as him on this matter. Why?

I myself do not know anyone (to my knowledge, anyway) who strips or has stripped professionally.  I've only ever been to a strip club once and it was actually very amusing.  I certainly wouldn't want to be a stripper (despite Barbie games of yore),   and I'm not saying I think it's a great and noble art or anything, although there certainly can be an art to it, and some women seem to really love it.  It's a job.  Sometimes it's a career. 

So why am I offended at this guy's opinion?  Why do I take his remarks personally?  I guess because it isn't just about strippers; it's about women in general.  He thinks it is wrong for any woman to show her sexuality that way; a view that is hardly unique, although it sure feels like it should be outdated by now.

What it comes down to is, bigotry.  It's bigotry.

But what's weird is, this view isn't widely recognized as bigotry.  It's still acceptable.  People like to hide behind other reasons when they talk down about strippers: the likelihood of drug abuse, promiscuity, serving the patriarchy, whatever.  But I think it still comes down to a knee-jerk reaction to women being openly sexual.  Otherwise, you're assuming all strippers are exactly the same.

Like any other job, it differs from person to person.  Not all strippers were abused in childhood. Not all strippers do it because they need the money for drugs.  Not all of them like it.  Not all of them don't.  Which many people don't seem to be willing to accept. " No, strippers aren't people too, they're different.  They don't really have lives like the rest of us."

In fact, to a certain degree I think many people still view strippers through a lens much like the one they use to view criminals, such as rapists: it's more comfortable, for some of us, to believe that they belong to some group other than humanity.