Portland's Sex Industry Under Siege

There's only one good thing about rules, my friends, and that is the forbidden rush of adrenaline you enjoy when you break them. Unfortunately, City Hall, in cooperation with Oregon's answer to the Third Reich, the OLCC, is slapping rules and regulations on us faster than a premature ejaculation.

First there was the ordinance defining what an exotic entertainer could and could not do while performing. Originally, forbidden practices were described as follows: simulated sex shows, masturbation, simulated masturbation, and toy shows. So the original interpretation of what they were trying to take away from us only seemed to affect lingerie models. But they were only getting started. Soon after, Stars Cabaret was fined when an entertainer was accused of repeatedly spanking her ass in a masochistic manner, and in so doing was labeled as performing a simulated sex show. Now, I've seen plenty of girls slapping their asses on many stages. And in my experience, I never really got the impression that these ass-smacking babes were attempting to convince their audience of anything but the fact that we are supposed to be paying attention to them. There's nothing like the sound of a hard smack on a perfect ass. The OLCC has now created a fear factor within many clubs that are choosing to currently enforce policies such as no ass-smacking, no nipple-tweaking, and no fondling of any kind of the sacred pink taco.

But the newest ordinance taking a stab at the PDXXX sex industry will forbid exotic entertainers under the age of 21 to work in any clubs serving alcohol as of January 1st, 2003. This law will affect about 10% of the exotic entertainers in our fair city and 100% of all of you. 10% may seem like a small amount, but when that 10% is targeting the ripest, primest cuts of meat on the butcher block, that's about 10% too much, isn't it? Looking at this realistically, I have to admit that I might have a bit of acceptance to their intentions in regulating underage girls to be swallowed into an industry that often tends to consume innocence and youth like a midnight snack. But this is a country based on our freedom of expression, or at least it used to be.

For every girl this pending law might save, it will drive ten more into far more dire and possibly dangerous circumstances. Consider the underage dancers that are currently employed in the sex industry. Many of them have already given up years of their valuable youth as a dancer in our not-so-fair city. But come January 1st, it's all over for them, regardless of the clientele they have developed and the friends they have made, or the money on which they have come to depend. The things that the OLCC thinks they might be saving them from have already affected these ladies. Arguments claim that these women will be exposed to alcohol, drugs, and undesirable surroundings when they are at a very impressionable age. Very true, possibly, but then what is to stop these girls from taking on other positions within this industry such as a lingerie model, juice-bar dancer, or perhaps as an outcall escort? If these ladies choose to thrust their nubile young bodies into this industry, this current attempt at regulating what they do with their lives is merely a detour for them.

If you have anything valuable to contribute to this topic, feel free to pass it on to City Hall or the OLCC. Coming across like a pissed-off pedophile won't help the cause a bit, so consider your argument first. We're not just fighting for lap dances from schoolgirls here, Portland. With each ordinance, law, or new hair up Vera Katz's ass, we are losing more and more of the freedom that makes this country what it is. Take the power back.