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REVIEW OF LITERATURE
An extensive search at libraries and on the Internet failed
to reveal research which related directly to the survey
questions. However, there was material that addressed some
of the same issues.
LICENSING
Licensing has been defined as "the granting by some competent
authority of a right or a permission to carry out a business
which would otherwise be illegal." (Council of State Governments,
1952).
A commonly-held view is that licensing is set up to benefit
the people who work in a field. Stigler (1971) offers
his "capture theory" which states that regulation is acquired
by an industry and is designed and operated for that industry.
However, Zhou (1993) notes that most existing case studies
focus only on those occupations which have a "powerful organizational
apparatus."
In contrast, few people would say that the topless dancers
of Houston were negotiating from strength when the city
considered licensing.
Zhou also notes that the traditional function of licensing
is to assure a certain level of professional skill.
Of course, the Houston City Council was not interested
in dancing skill when it passed its Sexually Oriented Business
ordinance. On the contrary, the law was created because
of a belief that "sexually oriented businesses provide enhanced
opportunities for employee participation in various forms
of criminal activities."
It might be argued that the SOB license is not an occupational
license in the usual sense. Rather, it is a license to control
behavior. Licensing for behavior is not new. After
all, you need a license before you can engage in the behavior
of driving a car.
However, there seem to be more and more people calling
for licenses to restrict behavior. For example, one
guest columnist for the Newsweek "My Turn" section
has proposed that all drinkers of alcohol be investigated
and licensed.
Jack C. Westman, professor of psychiatry at the University
of Wisconsin at Madison, has promulgated a plan for licensing
parents. He also argues that all public entertainment
should be restricted to the type suitable for children.
Anything else, he says, is "reverse ageism."
PRIVACY ISSUES
Many of the of dancers state that licensing will force
them to shed their privacy. Aside from the immediate concern
about stalkers and other unwanted visitors, there is a fear
that the license will become a permanent public record.
There may be some reason for concern if developments in
Washington State are repeated in Texas. According to The
Cook Report on the Internet, Washington leads the nation
in developing a statewide information base. In the long
run it unlikely that the information will be confined to
a single state:
What is being "leveraged" there is the Clinton-Gore push
for National Information Infrastructure (NII). NII is touted
in commercials by AT&T and others as being kind of warm
and friendly communications utopia. But the essence of NII
is often in the eye of the beholder. In fact, there is no
widely accepted definition of or goals for NII. Instead,
it is one of those terms with a definition specific to whomever
is talking about it at any given moment.
Washington State is creating a state agency network with interlinked
databases. The information will eventually become available
to businesses. The Cook Report predicts "a combination
of Brave New World, Blade Runner, and digital Singapore" transplanted
to the northwest by a "corporate and political technocratic"
elite.
David Linowes (1989) argues that there is a pattern of
problems in how the government, insurance companies, banks,
and credit reporting agencies collect and use personal information.
Linowes remarks:
Vast amounts of personal information are being amassed without
the person's knowledge, and preserved indefinitely to be
retrieved instantly.
The law on privacy, he contends, has lagged far behind technology.
Linowes gives examples to support the idea that neither individual
action nor statutory protection is enough to prevent abuse.
On the other hand, another political scientist, Steven
L. Nock (1993), argues that modern society is increasingly
made up of "anonymous actors" who demand their privacy.
Under those conditions, he believes, people must tolerate
"increased surveillance" in order to establish credibility
in new situations.
Karen Struening of Kalamazoo College (1995) argues for
a high degree of privacy in sexual matters. Writing
in the Political Research Quarterly, she uses John Stuart
Mill as the basis of for her philosophy.
Struening is an apologist for gay, lesbian, and feminist
life styles. In theory, she takes a broadly tolerant view
of all sex-related activities. Struening writes:
The right to privacy can and should be used to prevent the
prejudices and biases of the majority from curtailing the
freedom of individuals to experiment with modes of life
and to develop their faculties and capacities in accordance
with their own conception of the good.
Whether or not topless bars might contribute to someone's
"conception of the good" is not stated in the article.
METHODOLOGY
THE SURVEY FORM
The survey consists of eleven questions. The first three
questions asks the participants to assess the need for the
new law. The remaining eight questions asks them to evaluate
the effect that the law will have on employment. Each
of the questions have between three and five possible responses.
The form is two pages printed on a single sheet, front
and back. The survey begins with brief instructions and
some simple definitions. The participants are advised that
their answers are strictly confidential.
THE SURVEY SAMPLE
The survey was conducted at a medium-sized club in the
eastern half of the city. The club is typical in many
ways. Located in a blue collar area, it is neither a so-called
"upscale" club nor is it the proverbial "dive."
One Internet enthusiast devotes a web site to reviews of
topless bars. He gave the target club a rating of "5" on
a scale of 1 to 10.
It is generally considered the leading club for its area
of the city. Rarely mentioned on the TV news, its name is
well-known among people in the industry. It has operated
under the same name and at the same location since 1985.
The current location was established to comply with the
original Sexually Oriented Business ordinance. It was operated
by the original owner until it was sold in 1995.
By the standards of the industry, the bar has been a very
stable operation. Many staff members and dancers have worked
in the club for many years. When the business was sold,
there was none of the staff churning which frequently occurs
in clubs.
THE SURVEY PROCESS
I conducted the survey continually between March 22, 1997,
and April 21, 1997. The survey was available on three
nights of each week. However, not all
of the dancers who worked could be interviewed on any given
night.
It was a long and painstaking process which required that
each dancer be interrupted amid other activity. For the
most part, the surveys were given before or after a dancer
went on stage.
A cumulative list of participants was kept near the stage.
This was to avoid duplication and the awkward situation
of asking the same person twice.
You can never say for certain which dancers will work during
any given period. The dancers are contractors, not
actual employees. Traditionally, they move from club to
club with ease. Although some may stay for a long time at
a given club, there are always others who are not really
committed to it. They can and do change clubs without notice.
Also, dancers who normally work at a particular club may
simply quit working for a few weeks. Moreover, the ones
who do work every week pick and choose which nights they
will show up for work.
For all these reasons, the roster of dancers is always
fluid from night to night. That was the main reason for
taking a full month to complete the survey. If the survey
had been given only on one or two nights, only about half
as many people would have completed it. The objective was
to have 100 per cent of the club's dancers participate.
A total of 42 different dancers worked on at least one
of the nights when the survey was presented. Out of those
dancers, 37 completed the survey in its final form. Two
others completed the pilot but did not complete the final
form of the survey. Only three did not complete either survey
form.
LIMITATIONS AND WEAKNESSES IN THE SAMPLE
The club targeted for the survey may not be able to adequately
represent all of the clubs of Houston. The so-called
upscale clubs feature more dancers and employ more big money
earners. Their dancers also tend to be more experienced.
They may also be more educated on the average. In any case,
a more comprehensive study would demand a stratified sample
of the major in clubs in various parts of the city.
Current estimates are that there are between 4,000 and
5,000 dancers working at any given time. If that is true,
then the current study represents just under 1% of that
total.
Out of the targeted sample, there were probably a
few dancers who missed the survey because they never worked
on a night when it was given. Some dancers are hired and
only work one night.
Even with these limitations, it is reasonable to assume
that at least 90 per cent of the sample completed the survey.
PILOT STUDY
The Pilot study occurred on the night of March 22, 1997.
The original intent was to conduct the study itself--not
a pilot. However, it soon became clear that the survey form
needed further revision. I suspended the survey after eight
participants had completed the form.
The first question included a long quote taken directly
from the Sexually Oriented Business ordinance. The phraseology
seemed to cover too much territory to be easily understood:
The preamble to the SOB law states that the ordinance is
needed because "sexually oriented businesses can exert dehumanizing
influences on churches, schools, and day care centers, can
have negative effects on property values, can contribute
to increased criminal activities in the surrounding areas."
Which phrase below describes the effect that clubs
have on a neighborhood?
/ Very negative
/ Somewhat negative
/ Somewhat positive
/ Very positive
Also, it was not possible to know which item on the list
was generating a response in a participant. Was the
participant reacting to the alleged effect on "criminal
activities" or the effect on churches? The quotation is
a laundry list of the alleged effects on an area.
The question was split into two questions. Question no.
1 covers churches, schools, and day care centers; question
2 covers "criminal activities." The issue of "property values"
was eliminated.
That change caused the old question number 2 to become
question number 3. Question three was rewritten and
simplified.
The original question no. 11, the sole question covering
demographics was eliminated because of lack of space.
The remaining questions were retained in the final questionnaire
with minor revisions.
The revised form went into use on March 29.
DATA PROCESSING
I compiled the data and entered it into a Microsoft Excel
document. Each question received its own Excel spreadsheet.
Excel Charts were created to illustrate the results of
each of the eleven questions. Each chart was linked to a
spreadsheet for a particular question. As I entered additional
data into a spreadsheet, the change appeared in both the
spreadsheet and its corresponding chart.
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