Opposing striptopia

The embattled spaces of adult entertainment

Bibliographic Data

ID2393020
AuthorsP Hubbard (0000-0001-7504-5471, Loughborough University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume12
Issue6
Pages721-745
Publication date2009-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSexualities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-4607 • E-ISSN: 1461-7382
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1363460709346111
OpenAlexW2048429621
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited36

While adult entertainment venues offering striptease have proliferated in the UK, recent reforms have subjected them to more onerous and restrictive forms of licensing control. This article examines the justification for this re-regulation, noting that debates around the desirability of such venues have become increasingly framed in terms of gendered exploitation rather than sexual liberation and 'play'. Noting that such debates often conflate questions of public morality, criminality, nuisance and exploitation in unhelpful ways, this article argues that the reform of the licensing law was underpinned by possibly flawed assumptions about the gendered and sexed nature of adult entertainment. The article accordingly emphasizes the ability of the naked body to excite both desire and disgust, and challenges the assumption that commercial sex is always exploitative

Aesthetics · Art · Conflation · Criminology · Disgust · Entertainment · Epistemology · Law and economics · Morality · Political science · Public morality · Sociology · Transgender · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology