Police give Grab-N-Go bikini coffee stands free advertising by charging baristas with unlawful stripping

Via Buzzfeed

Having scantily clad women serve drive through coffee in the middle of winter is apparently a thing in the State of Washington. Grab-N-Go is one of these things, offering "entertainment with surprisingly superb tasting espresso".

Last Wednesday, Grab-N-Go made the local news in Everett, Washington, for the arrest of three baristas for "exhibition and exposure". According to police, the women (one of whom is only 16) were offering customers even more exposed views of their bodies for cash.

This isn't the first time women at the coffee stand chain have been accused of crossing the line between exploiting their sexuality to sell coffee and actual sex work. In 2009, five different baristas were charged with stripping, allowing customers to touch them, and "whip cream shows".

In a bizarre case, the owner of the chain, Bill Wheeler, went missing in Las Vegas a few months later. His family fought over the business and his son, Bill D. Wheeler Jr., eventually took over.

Like his father before him, Bill Jr. denies any wrongdoing. He told local media that he enforces strict policies for his six baristas, including no drug use, no flashing, and no personal visitors at the stands.

"They have to be dressed a certain way," he said. "Their crotch has to be covered up. They can't expose their areolas." 

On his company Facebook page, however, he was a little more defiant:

We feel this incident is a publicity stunt by the Everett PD for unjustifiable reasons. 

Our policy and procedures strictly state any employee engaging in lewd or inappropriate behavior will be terminated. We also have a zero tolerance policy for drug's as well. 

As always when it comes to any government agency question everything. 
We also thank all of our customers for there support and the Everett policy [police?] department for the free press in yet another waste of our tax payers money.

Free press, indeed. The article went international within a couple of days. Do a Google News search for "Grab-N-Go" and you'll get a bunch of mainstream media hits with headlines like "Busty Baristas Busted" with lots and lots of pictures.

It's a sleazy business operator's dream. Nobody can resist a story about sex, especially when young women are involved. (Yes, I know I am part of the problem here, no matter what I think my intentions are.)

But you have to wonder how much the owner of the business is responsible for the actions of the employees, policy or not, when he promotes his business like this:

Via Facebook

And sells merch like this:

Via Grab-N-Go

Sleazy or not, the Grab-N-Go owner may have a point about the timing of the arrests being a bit of a conspiracy. According to the Seattle Times, the 2009 arrests came on the same day as a public hearing was scheduled on a proposed update to Everett's lewd-conduct ordinance "which would declare drive-up windows a public place, making it illegal for someone to expose their breasts and genitals." While it's understandable that citizens don't want to accidentally see live sex shows at public coffee stands, the obsessive American War On Breasts seems to be complicating the issue.

Via Facebook

The current Everett Municipal Code actually mentions drive-through windows specifically. I'm exerpting it at length because it's kind of interesting.


A.    A “lewd act” is:

1.    An exposure of one’s genitals, anus, or any portion of the areola or nipple of the female breast; or

2.    The touching, caressing or fondling of the genitals or female breasts; or

3.    Masturbation; or

4.    Sexual conduct.

B.    “Public place” means an area generally visible to public view, and includes streets, sidewalks, bridges, alleys, plazas, parks, driveways, parking lots, automobiles (whether moving or not), and buildings open to the general public, including those which serve food or drink or provide entertainment, and the doorways and entrances to buildings or dwellings and the grounds enclosing them, and businesses contained in structures which can serve customers who remain in their vehicles, by means of a drive-up window.

C.    “Sexual conduct” means sexual intercourse or any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person done for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire of either party, whether such persons are the same or opposite sex.

D.    For purposes of this chapter, any activity is obscene:

1.    Which the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find, when considered as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; and

2.    Which explicitly depicts or describes patently offensive representations or descriptions of:

a.    Ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated; or

b.    Masturbation, fellatio, cunnilingus, bestiality, excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals or genital area; or

c.    Violent or destructive sexual acts including but not limited to human or animal mutilation, dismemberment, rape or torture; and

3.    Which, when considered as a whole, and in the context in which it is used, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. For purposes of this chapter, an activity is dramatic if the activity is of, relating to, devoted to, or concerned specifically or professionally with current drama or the contemporary theater.

10.24.020 Lewd conduct.
A.    A person is guilty of lewd conduct if he or she intentionally performs any lewd act in a public place or under circumstances where such act is likely to be observed by any member of the public. The act of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk is not lewd conduct.


I'm no lawyer, but I'm assuming the parts I bolded are why the baristas are being charged under "Soliciting for a lewd act": Every person who solicits another to engage in a lewd act in a public place shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

If I had a business like this, I suppose I'd feel targeted too. (Not to mention feeling like I really needed a shower.)

But then again, considering the target market, you just can't buy this kind of publicity:

Women strip for Christmas toy donations, but one charity refuses to accept them

Via CBC

CBC reports that Ottawa "Gentlemen's Club" Barefax is letting its performers accept toy donations as payment for table dances.

It's hardly the first time this kind of charity drive has happened. The Admiral Theatre, in Chicago, has been doing it for years. But what was interesting about this story was the question of whether strippers are morally acceptable benefactors to kids.

The Debra Dynes Family House, which provides support to low-income families in Ottawa, pulled out of the program after being contacted by a reporter. The CBC article states that the Ottawa Salvation Army did not reply to questions about their involvement. (The Sally Ann runs the biggest local toy drive, Toy Mountain.)

But what is the real problem here? It might be the uncomfortable connection it makes between the sex industry and young children. Or perhaps its a distaste for the perceived exploitation of the stripping business. Or they might just be grossed out by the idea of the toys having been handled by naked women and the men who pay them to give informal gynaecology classes.

While the PR opportunity for the club is obvious, I think the individual dancers really do just want to help kids. Many of them, inevitably, are moms themselves. And offstage, they are just members of the community who want to feel the spirit of Christmas.

A Barefax dancer with the stage name Melina told the CBC, "When they asked me to do this I thought it was a really good idea because there’s a lot of children who have nothing. Just because it’s a strip club doesn’t mean that we’re mean people and we can’t do any good."

Here's the CBC TV report:

Fitness studio offers pole dancing lessons for children

via The Province

Studio owner Kristy Craig, certified fitness and aerobics instructor and member of the Pole Fitness Association, told The Province, “My existing students were asking about it for their children. They were saying, ‘My daughter plays on my pole at home all the time, I’d love her to actually learn how to do things property and not hurt herself.’”

She insists that pole dancing, when treated as a fitness routine, has nothing to do with stripping for money.

“For competitions they actually have rules and regulations that there can be nothing sexual, or any article of clothing removed, and in some you aren’t allowed to wear high heels. The sexuality is being taken out of it. It’s highlighting the gymnastic, athletic and circus acrobatics aspect.”

Plus, if those little girls (and boys) want a future in exotic entertainment, they have a great head start.

Tip via Globe and Mail

Strip club industry to Canadians: "We are coming for your daughters!"

Via Wikimedia Commons

The Adult Entertainment Association of Canada recently announced a "six-point action plan" to fight against the federal government's new moratorium on issuing visas or extensions for foreign exotic dancers working in Canada's "ballet" clubs. They plan on organizing the dancers; seeking Canadian husbands to marry those whose visas are expiring; filing refugee claims, and working with civil servants. (What?)

But another point in the plan  is the one that may get the most attention from average Canadians: If they can't bring in foreigners, they will invite your daughters to do the job.

Association director Tim Lambrinos told QMI Agency that recruiters from strip clubs will try to attract students by attending job fairs at high schools, colleges and universities in Toronto and surrounding areas. "We are already doing some outreach work in some areas," he said. "We will be taking a strippers' dance pole with us to the schools."

I have been trying to track down what QMI claims is a draft copy of the flyer that AEAC is planning to woo the teens with, but to no avail. Here's how they describe it:

QMI Agency has obtained a draft copy of the flyer to be circulated to high school students. It advises them that they can earn tuition fees while working as an "exotic dance entertainer" and that no sex with customers is permitted. 

"If you are visually appealing and comfortable with your naked body and are comfortable about taking all your clothes off," the flyer states. "You can be working right now as an exotic dancer and earn your tuition fees for university or college." 

Students are told they must be "comfortable ... onstage at a club and disrobing," and are guaranteed that "no actual sex or sex acts (will) occur." 

It warns them that they will have to provide private dances, or table dances, in dark lounge areas and part-time, full-time or seasonal jobs are available.

While it is unlikely that Mr. Lambrinos and his stripper pole will be attending career day in your child's school anytime soon, this obvious PR move might backfire as it makes people think of how women are treated in the legal sex industry.

Timea Nagy (via CNEWS)

The visa ban is a result of increasing public unease with the spectre of human trafficking. Hungarian immigrant Timea Nagy, at age 19, was tricked into entering a life of stripping and prostitution in Canada. She was abducted and abused before escaping. She later founded the human trafficking rescue organization, Walk With Me. She applauded the visa ban as a way to get women out of the life.

Caroline and Nicola (via Canoe)

On the other side, QMI interviewed two women from Hungary who are currently working in strip clubs, and feel betrayed by the change in their status.  "I am very disappointed and afraid of what may happen to me in the future," said 28-year-old Caroline. Nicola, 25, added "My visa is almost expired and I am very scared. I am very shattered that I may no longer be able to work and help my family back home."

And here's the problem: we created the demand for these performers, and in many cases turned a blind eye to how they got here and what they endure behind closed doors. But once confronted with the problem, we take it out on those same performers by kicking them out of the country. Either way, we as a society are treating foreign women as disposable commodities.

Which leads back to the "we are coming for your daughters" ploy. Ironically, it reminds me of the "Somebody's Daughter" Christian anti-porn campaign from a few years ago. I wonder if it will make people think more about the women onstage and in the champagne rooms as actual people deserving of empathy and respect, not just paid-for boobs and pudenda. But my more cynical side tells me that people will opt for the more convenient route of just sending the foreigners home and forgetting about the whole thing.

Related: Exotic Dancing Industry in Ontario: Health and Safety (pdf)

Sin tax on strip clubs to fund rape kits

Via Google Image Search

Here's one for you to think about: Houston's city council has passed a new tax on strip clubs within the city, adding a fee of $5 per patron to their cover charge.

The author of the ordinance, Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, put the motion forward as a way to subsidize the processing of the city's massive backlog of rape kits for sexual assault victims.

“We have to do something to help the 4,000-plus women, children and men who have been sexually assaulted,” said Councilwoman Cohen. “I think we’ve waited long enough.”

The victims certainly have waited too long for justice that has been delayed due to tight law enforcement budgets. But the tax also makes an official link between the above-ground sex industry and sexual assault, which is troubling for some (especially those who make money from it).

According to the Houston Chron:

A study Cohen relies upon to make the link states: “Are sexually-oriented-businesses, alcohol, and the victimization and perpetration of sexual violence against women connected? An exhaustive review of the literature says yes.” 

Several paragraphs later, though, the same study states: “However, no study has authoritatively linked alcohol, sexually-oriented-businesses, and the perpetration of sexual violence.”

Sin taxes are popular and profitable tools of social engineering when it comes to vices like cigarettes and alcohol. But whether you like them or not, do you think that consumers of legal sexual entertainment should be legally compelled to adjust their karma by paying to help sexual assault victims?


The Texas rape kit issue is a government funding issue. Last year, at the State level, Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, introduced a bill that would require a police department to submit a rape kit to a crime lab within at least 10 days, and complete the DNA analysis no later than 90 days after the sexual assault was reported. But it has since been stalled by police departments' inability and/or reluctance to do the inventories that would inform the legislators.

Councilman C.O. Bradford also called the nexus into question. He said that according to Houston Police Department, apartment complexes are the most common location for sexual assaults, and that sexually oriented businesses are 10th.

Still, said Bradford, a former police chief: “Victims have waited too long.”

Indeed they have. But is this what they were waiting for? Or did they want their government to pay to fix the problem?

Via Texas Tribune

Tip via Consumerist
Related: Houston Strip Club Accused Of Racism

Vince Neil turns to stripping to make ends meet

Hurl, hurl, hurl.

The former Mötley Crüe frontman is actually the owner of a strip club, aptly named "Girls, Girls, Girls."

And he makes really, really, bad ads for it:



"And why didn't he use the song in the ad?", you might ask. It was actually written by his bandmates, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee. He probably didn't have the budget for it.

How the mighty (hairdos) have fallen...

Via Buzzfeed

F'd Ad Fridays: Effing hilarious media placement

Via Adland and Copyranter

These photos of strippers at work are not what you'd expect

If I were to think of a word for photographer Alicia Vera's portraits of exotic dancers at a San Francisco "gentlemen's club," it would be "stripped." And indeed, that's what she calls her essay.

Women's sexuality stripped of its dignity. Men's sexuality stripped of its joy. The softcore side of sex work stripped of any excitement whatsoever.

Women giving up fake intimacy for paltry tips, men giving up money for fake attention.

But like a good, objective eye, Alicia does not judge. She just watches.

Great, heartbreaking, and even inspiring work. Whether you frequent these establishments or not, it will be hard to unsee these images.

See the rest at her portfolio site.

Tip via The Photo Brigade.

Toys for tots, tits, tatts

With Christmas within arm's reach, all kinds of marketers are trying to get a piece of the spirit. It sometimes leads to odd couplings.

Chicago's Admiral Theater, which despite the classy name is actually a strip club, is offering to exchange one free lap dance for a donation of a toy for charity.

Aren't all lap dances for the "needy"?

In Memphis, Tattoo artist Jay Guzman is offering free tatts for a toy donation to his favourite Christian cause.

Huffington Post says that when customers bring in a toy worth $25 or more, Monday through Wednesday, they can get a tattoo or piercing of comparable price in exchange. Guzman said in an interview, "Everybody associates tattoo artists with being criminals, bikers, degenerates — and I'm a believing Christian and I believe what better way to be Christ-like than by giving back."

It's a good point. Strip clubs, tattoo parlours... if Jesus the man were here right now, that's exactly where he would do his ministry: among the very people his more hypocritical followers despise.

"Alibis" fragrances cover the smell of baby powder, desperation

Copyranter posted this rather clever campaign for Mavericks, a South African strip club.

From the Mavericks blog:

"Mavericks Revue Bar, Cape Town’s premier Gentlemen’s Club, is extending its entertainment brand with a range of fragrances entitled ‘Alibis’, aimed at prividing gentlemen with ‘Alibis’ for a range of day to day situations.

The fragrances, aimed primarily at men are entitled:

‘My Car Broke Down’ with the scent of fuel, burnt rubber, grease and steel
‘We Were Out Sailing’ with the scent of fresh ocean spray, sea salt, aqua and cotton rope
‘I Was Working Late’ with the scent of coffee, wool suits, cigarettes and ink

All are available exclusively to purchase at Mavericks Revue Bar in Cape Town and will retail at ZAR 295 [$36.50 USD]."

I was rather surprised that the products are actually for sale. You'd think you could achieve the same marketing effect for the club without shelling out for risky novelty product development.

I can't really complain about the sexism or ethics of these ads, because those things kind of come with the territory in this entertainment category. But I do wonder if Alibis also makes a Tide-to-go-type glitter and skid mark remover for men's clothing.