Companies urged not to support lap-dancing

AN organisation working to help women in prostitution is recruiting the support of major Irish companies in its campaign against lap-dancing clubs.

The Ruhama organisation is asking firms to voluntarily pledge not to choose lap-dancing clubs as venues for corporate entertainment during nights out for clients, customers or staff.

The novel initiative was launched earlier this summer through direct contact with the companies, and details of the campaign’s progress to date will be released today.

Ruhama has long criticised lap-dancing clubs as just another means of sexually exploiting women, despite club operators’ insistence that the girls employed are exotic dancers who earn good money and do not have physical contact with customers.

Ruhama maintains that many women in lap-dancing venues are not there by choice and are not well rewarded. The organisation says the preference for foreign women makes many lap-dancers vulnerable to abuse as they are moved around by club operators and are not aware of their rights.

Numerous lap-dancing clubs have opened and closed in Ireland over the past five or six years, the most high-profile being Stringfellows, which closed its first Dublin venue last month after just five months in operation.