Re-Configuring the Margins: Tracing the Regulatory Context of Ottawa Strip Clubs, 1974–2000

Abstract

RésuméEn s'inspirant de la littérature sur la gouvernementalité, cette étude cherche à saisir la re-configuration du travail en marge du marché et de la moralité. En suivant l'évolution des clubs de «strip tease» à Ottawa de 1974 jusqu'en 2000, les auteurs expliquent comment des transformations du contexte discursif et des processus économique, légal et social de la modernité avancée re-constituent l'industrie et ses travailleuses. Les transformations d'une structure du travail organisée à partir du divertissement puis du service s'accompagnent d'une succession de stratégies de régulation incluant la contamination morale, la planification urbaine et la gestion de la santé. Les auteurs montrent que des questions de moralité, de responsabilité et de risque jouent dans le cadre de paramètres normatifs posés par les tribunaux. Dans ces débats et sous l'influence du néo-libéralisme, les travailleuses sont progressivement constituées comme des sujets éthiques auto-régulés. Or dans les marges, la «liberté» que confère ce statut n'en est pas moins contrainte et organisée par les discours et pratiques du droit, de la communauté et du travail.

Licensed or Licentious? Examining Regulatory Discussions of Stripping in Ontario

“…The debut of lap dancing in the 1990s introduced touching between dancers and patrons, provoking heated debates among industry stakeholders and communities across Ontario as well as regulatory efforts to eradicate it. As lap dancing spread, dancers were transformed from waged performers to independent contractors who earn their income almost solely by soliciting customers for lap dances (Bruckert and Dufresne 2002). Together, these changes rendered strippers’ work not only financially unstable but also legally precarious.…”

“…Predating Ottawa’s no-touch provisions by one year, Toronto’s bylaws also prohibited all physical contact until 2013, when (as we will see) they were slightly narrowed. Although Toronto, Ottawa, and other municipalities in Ontario justified their prohibition of touching on the basis of health risks, Bruckert and Dufresne (2002) argue the bylaws derived from a discourse of morality (see also Bruckert 2002; Lewis 2000).…”

“…Moral suspicion is also visible in other Adult Entertainment Parlour (AEP) bylaws that facilitate surveillance of dancers and patrons (Bruckert and Dufresne 2002). In Ottawa, club floor plans must be approved by municipal and police officials (Ottawa bylaw 2002-189), and Toronto’s bylaws required (from 1996 to 2013) that private dances be performed in an area within view of the stage ( Toronto Municipal Code 2010).…”

Away from prying eyes? The urban geographies of `adult entertainment'

“…Anecdotal evidence also suggests that dancers in some upscale lap-dancing clubs (where they actually pay to dance) struggle to survive on tips, and may resort to prostitution to augment their meagre earnings. Forms of regulation may also be experienced as highly restrictive, with Bruckert and Dufresne (2002) noting proactive 'sting' operations have been increasingly been adopted by Canadian police to ensure dancers are not transgressing the prohibition of touching during dancing, despite dancers' claims that such bans seriously compromise their earning potential.…”

Revealing contemporary constructions of femininity: Expression and sexuality in strip club legislation

“…Sociological research on erotic dance and legislation tends to focus on the reproduction of morality in laws, particularly as it punishes working women (Bruckert and Dufresne, 2002;Hanna, 1998Hanna, , 1999Hanna, , 2005Lewis, 1999). Scholars such as Frank (2002) and Leipe-Levinson (2002) assert that strip club regulations reify the good girl/bad girl dichotomy to the economic and legal detriment of the 'bad girl'.…”