September 23, 2005

Hurricane Rita hits: Adult Entertainers, Single Mothers Disproportionally Affected

Things were just about getting back to normal in New Orleans. The lushes were out in force, transvestyte hookers were trickling back into the city, and a strip club had reopened to service the needs of armies of insurance adjusters and lonely FEMA workers. There were even rumors of a new Girls Gone Wild: Hurricane Victims edition about to begin production work. Alas, it will all have to wait. Damn you Rita! Damn you to hell!!!

If you want to see the picture accompanying this story, better check out Riehl World View--and yes, that picture actually was part of a news story. Because journalists are after the important scoops. Notice that both the Reuters story and the pic that Dan Riehl have is of the same stripper. Why do I have the feeling that one Reuters reporter is a very satisfied customer? Reuters :

In a sign that things may be returning to normal in New Orleans, strip shows are back in the city's famous French Quarter.

Erotic dancers and strippers are entertaining crowds of police, firefighters and military personnel instead of the usual audiences of drunken conventioneers and tourists in Bourbon Street's Deja Vu club, which reopened this week.

It's the first strip joint to resume business, three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck in the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States.

"It's nice to get back to work, and all these men need some entertainment," Dawn Beasley, 27, a dancer at the club, said on Tuesday night. "They haven't seen anybody but their buddies for two weeks."

The crowd hooted and hollered as women peeled off their tops and gyrated, as customers tucked tips into their G-strings.

But don't you worry. FEMA cards are accepted for lap dances. Via QandO this Times Online story entitled Vote Republican for Free Lap Dances. I knew there was a reason I voted for that guy!:
Interviewed by a reporter for the local TV station, Abby over at Baby Dolls said she had seen many clients using their debit cards. She had nothing but praise for this exercise in government largesse. “A lot of customers have been coming in from Louisiana and they’ve been real happy about the $1.75 beers and they’re really nice.” It was only fair, she added that they should get a little publicly funded help. “You lost your whole house, then, why not?” she said. “You might want some beer in a strip club. There are a lot of guys out there that like to do that.”
With the mandatory evacuation of Houston's adult entertainment establishment, what will thousands of single mothers do to feed their children? Just one more way in which in Bush's America, single mothers are once again affected more deeply by natural disasters. ;-)

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 02:16 PM | |