Monday, January 2, 2012

Blog 9, The End

The semester is over and I feel like I have changed a lot. Now that I think about it this blog has really prepared me for college. It helped me with my research skills, because I had such a tough topic to find a reliable source for, so I really had to do a lot of research to find good information. Although it was tough I learned a lot, about stripping, and myself. I learned that if I procrastinate things get harder because i'm in a hurry but if I sit down and take my time and do it, it goes pretty fast. I did not really like this blog project just because it was difficult to find new and interesting information and topics to write about.  It would have been better if we could change topics or not did as many blogs. I would have also liked to read other peoples blogs more. We had to do the comments but I don't feel like people did it and it wasn't enough. It would have been nice to talk about everyones blog or been assigned one person to follow the whole time.
I think I did pretty well with each blog. They were not my best work but for only having a week for each one. It was kinda fun researching stripping because I didn't know anything about it, and it was very interesting seeing all the different opinions and point of views about it. Doing this blog really opened my eyes and changed my point of view about stripping.
I think this was a good project all in all. Kids wont like it because because it is tough and frustrating at times, but what in like isn't? When I think about all the trouble I had with trying to find information or a topic to write about, it is all training for life after high school. Also the blog at the end of each week was a tough deadline but after school there are going to be a lot of tough deadlines that we will all have to meet.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Blog 8, Book Blog

Angels of a Lower Flight, is a memoir of Susie Scott Kracacher's life. The main theme of the book is "One woman's mission to save a country, one child at a time." The book is written in flashback format but not all in chronological order. She started off talking about one of the fist time she visited Haiti. She goes in to very graphic detail of what she saw and what compelled her to make a difference in this country. She also talks about her childhood and her mother. She switches off with stories of her life and childhood and stories of Haiti. She jumps around but the story is very easy to follow.

The fist time Susie ever visited Haiti she was on a missionary trip for her church. Susie explains that she dislikes the word missionary. She says that it is inaccurate. "I had come to Haiti without a Christian agenda or connection to an organization, only the desire to make good on a promise I made to God when I was little." Pg. 5 She had come to Haiti to help in the hospitals and to help the children. She talks about one hospital she visited in particular. She explained it great detail the smells and the emotions she felt. She used such great description of the sights, sounds and smells that you felt like you were standing right next to her. It was very hard to read. She talks about this one mother that she saw with her baby. Susie spent most of the time at the hospital holding the little skeletal figure. The mother and the child were very sick, and at first the mother did not trust susie and would not let her pick up her daughter. As soon as the mother found out she was their to help the she let Susie hold her and out of exhaustion the mother went to sleep. Ti-Judith was the child's name and within the six hours Susie spent with her she built very strong feelings for her, as if she were her daughter. Susie had to leave the hospital, but planed to get medicine for the mother and Ti-Judith and bring it in the morning. The very next day when Susie and her guide Viximar come with the medicine TI-Judith was not in her crib, she had died in the night. Susie franticly looked for the little girl and was told she was put in the corpus room. The description of the corpus room almost made you want to vomit. The way the bodies were staked on top of each other the smell of the roughing bodies was just revolting. She searched through the room until she finally found the little girl. Susie took Ti-Judith form the room to give her a proper grave and barial. Susie explains how this first trip and bonding with Ti-Judith really changed her life, and God compelled her to start the orphanages in Haiti to save these children's lives. She then goes on in the later chapters and talks about the children she meets and the experiences she has at each orphanage.

Susie talkes about her mother and her childhood a lot. She grow up in a small rural Alabama town in the mid-1960's. She lived with her mother, father, two brothers, her two sisters and "the help" LaDora. Her mother was an undiagnosed schizophrenic, and had terrible rage problems. She would beat each of the children and even the father. Susie talked about how even the smallest thing would push their mother over the edge. At the very beginning of the chapter she talked about how much she wanted LaDora to adopted her. She loved the way she was so gentle with all the children and took great care of them. When her mothers outbreaks got so bad all the children would go to their grandparents house until she calmed down. Susie talks about, how much she loved her father and her grandparents they were not much help when it came to her mother, they could not stand up to her. She looked up to all her adult figures but Susie says the only person she really ever looked up to was her older sister, Tammy. Tammy would give Susie advice on how to deal with her parents. "'And if they know what your favorite thing is," Tammy added, "that's the first thing they take away. You gotta act like something else is what you like best. Then when they tell you they're taking it away, you gotta cry and act sad for at least a day."'Pg.23 Susie loved her mother but it was hard for her to love her when she was so sick.

Now what does saving Haiti's children and schizophrenic mothers have todo with strippers? It does't, except for one drove Susie to becoming a play boy bunny and the other took her away form that. Susie does not blame her mother for her becoming a Bunny but she does admit that having such a controlled childhood and not feeling beautiful drove her towards it. She says that being a bunny she was in total control of her life. She chose how much the camera saw and she felt beautiful. Susie also says that she still did not feel "happy." She loved what she did but something was missing. When she met her husband Joe they went to Haiti together and she says that God, Joe and the people of Haiti made her realize her real passion in life and that was to help these kids. Reading this book after doing all the research I realized that parents really do have a lot of impact of the path their children take. People think that strippers all have daddy problems but a lot of them have mommy problems as well. Reading this book did not really give me any more information on stripping but it really opened my eyes to how powerful one person can be. Susie had a dream and she made that happen and now hounders of lives have been saved.
Susie now lives in Aspen, Colorado with her husband Joe. They don't have any children of their own, but have hounders in Haiti. They spend four months of the year down in Haiti working with the children, and saving a country one child at a time.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Blog 7. Sign's

If you look at a strip club sign, any where in the U.S. you can see a plain rhetoric. In any sign the speaker is the company or store, advertise what they are selling. In the case of a strip club the club owner is trying to sell admission to view beautiful woman. When people advertise for something they try to specify the content of the advertisement to a specific audience. It also depends of what they are trying to sell. Strip clubs audience is usually men so using words or pictures a man will go if he sees an nude girl anywhere. Strip club signs are generally colorful and flashy, many of them have a neon silhouette of a dancer, or the words "Nude Girls" or "Strip Club." The subject in any strip club sign is obvious, the girls. When you are looking at rhetoric you can use textual rhetoric and visual rhetoric, obviously a sign is visual rhetoric. It is easy to distinguish the speaker the audience and the subject in a sign, rather than in a speech or an article.
The goal of any advertisement sign the goal is to get people in to your business. A strip clubs goal is to get men in to the club, witch is not hard. The medium in a sign is obviously writing and the actual sign. The tone can change though. The tone is often inviting, and up beat trying to get people intrigued, and that is exactly what club signs do. They are bright and flashy so people (men) see them. They are also simple and straight to the point. Visual rhetoric is very plan to see and pick up. In a speech or persuasive artical you need to go deeper than just what do you see. When you look at a sign for a business it is easy to see the rhetoric.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Blog 6, Why strip?

If you had the choice and you were in the position, would you become a stripper? Woman become strippers for many different reasons. Money is a huge common factor. Many of these woman have families to pay for, they want this and that, and many of them know that they can make more stripping than they can as a secretary. Strip dancers are not uneducated, a majority of them have degrees, so its not like they can't get a different job. These girls like what they do, and are passionate for what they do. 
Many girls start stripping when they are 18 and just starting college and need to pay there way through school. "Seriously, strippers make a ton of bank. In straight cash. I think it is a fair assumption they make well beyond minimum wage, and I would not be surprised if a hot stripper makes close to $1,000 a week".(Gloom) If these young woman are not paying their way through college, they may have a family they need to take care of. Family, is not only a child many, have parents that are sick and can no longer support themselves. In the horrible economic times people are doing what ever it takes to support their families. Stripping is an easy job to get and it pays well.
Other than money, stripping is easy. You get to ware sexy close and dance. Stripping is also a great form of exercise. If the girl uses a pole she needs to have the arm strength to hold yourself up and pull yourself up on the pole. You have a great body image and are encouraged to maintain that image. If woman do not want to become a stripper many woman take stripping classes to get in shape and strip off the weight. The highlight of these classes is not the taking off your close part, its the pole dancing part. "'I was just stunned by what incredible shape I was in. I was like a lean, feminine machine.'"(Kohn, David)
Good money and good exercise.There are many reasons for people to start stripping and there are many reasons for people to never consider stripping. All it really comes down to is your moral being and the circumstance someone may be in. People are having a hard time getting by these days and would so almost anything to keep their head above water, stripping is just one option that has been proven to make a lot oh quick cash.



Works Cited
Kohn, David. "Stripping Off The Weight - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. CBS. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/26/48hours/main530884.shtml>.
"Reasons to Become a Stripper by MGG | What Gloom, What Gloom." What Gloom, What Gloom | It Is a Kerouac Reference. 14 Mar. 2008. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://whatgloom.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/reasons-to-become-a-stripper-by-mgg/>. 


The CBS site I used is a credible source because it is a well know station and web site. The other one is not very credible source because it was someones blog and their personal opinion. It is not bad to get someone else opinion because what they say is not always wrong.   

Friday, November 11, 2011

Blog 5, Is stripping morally wrong?

Dancing is an art form. It is a form of expression that exists within all cultures and through all known history. Dancing styles vary widely do to differences in cultures and socioeconomic states within each of those cultures. Like any art form, dancing may be regarded differently by individuals, but should not be judged by society as a whole. Strip dancing is one type of dance that is criticized and viewed as being morally sinful. Why is stripping seen as such a bad action? Why is dancing sinful when your a stripper but not a ballerina? The body is nothing to be ashamed about, it is a beautiful thing. God made us the way we are for a reason. Strippers are just expressing themselves through dance, they may be naked but no other sinful act is happening. Strip dancing is not a sin, but the actions and culture that surround it are.
Many people think that it is fine for a woman to get money but they feel that stripping is the wrong way to get it. Stripping is not prostitution. The dancers are not having intercourse with the men that come to the clubs. People often judge what and who they don't understand. The girls are not forsaken devil women who hate their mothers. Many girls dance to pay their way through college, or to support their families. Plenty of these women are married with children or have a boyfriend, a handful of these girls are happy with what they are doing and feel good about themselves. “I am the most unapologetic stripper in the world. I love what I do. I’ll scream it from the rooftops because I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with women being topless or even nude. Stripping is freedom. It’s full-fledged freedom. I am an independent contractor and I schedule my work shifts, giving me time to write and go to school full time.”(Caitlin Thomas) Girls like Caitlin Thomas feel empowered on stage and get a thrill form owning the stage. Not to mention that the girl on stage has complete control. In most other occupation woman to not have that much control over anything, that sense of power really makes woman feel strong. How can people judge somebody that is doing what they love, and not harming anyone? Piety may have something to do with it.
People might look at the girl on stage and characterize her due to stereotypes. They think “this poor girl must have been abused as a child” or “she must have daddy problems” or even “she has terrible self-confidences and this is the only way she can feel good about herself.” “There are women all over the place who have been through these issues. Some feel they work through these issues with stripping as it allows them to control their sexual situations and feel strengthened by that control. They take back that control and own it. Every woman has a different story and has diverse reasons for being on the pole.”(Caitlin Thomas) A general statement that strippers heir all the time is “how could a women objectify herself like that?” “You say objectification? Look around, film, music, ads in magazines — all we do is objectify women.” (Caitlin Thomas)  If stripping is just one more way we objectify woman than who is really at fault? The Bible tells us to not judge. The lord does not judge. These girls are not sinning, they are not going against the 7th commandment, they are not committing adultery. The dancers are just using the beauty of their bodies that god gave them.
Stripping itself may not me a sin, but the activity that surrounds it is. Lust is a sin. Stripping is a appealing to men and some woman. If people didn’t like it, it wouldn’t be a huge industry. “Stripping, besides porn, is the biggest gateway to lust on this planet.”(Study the truth) “Lusting, in God our father’s eyes, is just like having sex. Jesus lets us know this in Matthew 5:28 That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Study the truth)
All in all, stripping is not a sin but lust is. The girls that dance have to deal with judgment and criticisms because of stereotypes. “I also find it extremely unbalanced that the customers aren’t judged at all. Interesting, eh?” (Catlin Thomas) If the customer is lusting over the woman on stage than he is sinning and isn’t that punishment enough? Society is influenced massively by ignorance. What people do not understand they judge witch can be said for both stripping and religion. The girls are simply dancing.




Works Cited
"A Dollar for All Strippers." Study the Truth. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. <http://truthbydefault.com/dollar-for-the-strippers/>. 

 Thomas, By: Caitlin. "Opinion: Stripping Gets Bad Rep, Is Actually Liberating and Powerful | The Nevada Sagebrush." The Nevada Sagebrush - The Student Newspaper of the University of Nevada, Reno. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. <http://nevadasagebrush.com/blog/2011/03/28/opinion-stripping-gets-bad-rep-is-actually-liberating-and-powerful/>.

A Dollar for all strippers is not a credible source it was a blog or a twitter cite but I felt that he guy writhing had some very strong opinions against stripping. He also talked about the bible and how stripping and everything around it is a sin. This was a cite that was the opposite of the message of what I was trying to say but I felt that he had good points. The news paper article from Caitlin Thomas was a good justification for strippers. She knew what she was talking about because it was all personal. She was speaking form experience. 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Blog 4. Who attends strip clubs most?

When I first posted my poll, I though well for sure everyone would say straight men attend strip clubs, and the majority of the class did, but when I posted the question I was debating with myself on if straight men or gay men attended strip clubs more. According to my research the class was right straight men to attend strip clubs more, but straight women do as well. In many of my seaches I found headlines like "I want to go to a strip club with my boyfriend" and "Is it a good idea to take my girlfriend to a strip club?" The most interesting one I found was "Why strip clubs are good for your marriage." When I read this I was set back, and thought how could this ever be a good thing but as I read more I found that this was all about trust. "My wife knows she has nothing to worry about and neither so most woman. She knows that I would not blow her trust by paying a scantily clad woman $500 to take my pasty, fat married a**into some back room for an hour. No good can come of that."(Cleary, Mike) You can not expect all men to be this way. In that story the Mike Cleary says that he and his wife have been married 16 years and don't have a great realationship with each other. To make this work it all depends on the status of your realationship. Some women don't every wont their husband or boyfriend to go to a strip club ever in their lives. Others join their husbands and boyfriends and find going to the strip clubs gives a boost to their sex life. (about.com) I think that the fantasy of being with the other woman is intriguing, but the men know that they can't be with those woman so they realize what they already have is the best thing in the world. Im sure that the wife's and girlfriends feel self conches seeing this beautiful, skinny woman, but at the end of the night she is the one that is going home with a man who loves her. All of the research I did came to one conciliation, if you set rules as a couple and follow those rules a strip club is a harmless environment.
This is a clip form a movie that many people know that is showing a couple going to a strip club together. They are not there for pleaser but it is still funny

As a class the poll was very accurate but I also wanted to look into gay men, because you see it on TV and you heir about it all the time. It is a stereotype but is it a true stereotype? When I did research on gay men going to strip clubs I could not find statistics or a good cite that said anything about gay men attending strip clubs. The only thing that I found that led me to believe that the stereotype is true is I found many addresses to gay clubs. There are many cites that are "gay travel" cites that help gay and lesbians navigate through a city. I think if a gay man or a lesbian woman did attend a gay bar it would be more for the purpose of meeting other homosexuals, not to see the dancers. This also makes since to me because I think it would be hard to meet other homosexuals in a big city or really anywhere.

Over all straight men attend strip clubs most frequently. Straight woman will go with their boyfriend or husband. They will also get a male stripper for a bachelorette party. Gay men go to gay bars but not for the same reason. I did not find to much about lesbian women, but I did read that they will attend a normal strip club because it is attractive to them, which only makes since. As I was doing my research I was shocked at what I found about the couples going together, but I underused why a couple would. This made me think I hope it makes you think also.


Works Cited
Cleary, Mike. "Why Strip Clubs Are Good For Marriage | YourTango." Smart Talk About Love | YourTango. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. <http://www.yourtango.com/200913788/strip-clubs-help-my-marriage/page/2>.
"Strip Clubs - Would You Let Your Husband Go to the Strip Club?" Newlyweds. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. <http://newlyweds.about.com/u/ua/lovesex/Strip-Clubs-Would-You-Let-Your-Husband-Go-To-The-Strip-Club.htm>.


I had a very hard time finding a good credible cite for the research I was finding. I thought that Newlyweds from about.com was a good credible cite because people now the cite and are familiar with it. The YourTango cite is kind of pushing it but I feel that this is also okay because it is a story that this man is telling and there is an author. This man was not ashamed of his story and not afraid to out his name on it so I think that is must be good.


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Blog 3, Stripping today.

"While your up there I don't want you going to any strip clubs" " Honey it's Napa Valley, I don't even think there are strip clubs in wine country" "Well I'm sure if there is Phil will sniff one out, and just think the poor girl that is up there half naked and dry humping the F***ing stage thats somebody's daughter up there."- The Hangover
Stripping is viewed differently by people. Some people, like the lady in The Hangover, see strip clubs as dirty places and the girls are dirty woman that are putting sham on their families. Others see strip clubs as a fun place to go with your buddies for a bachelor party and just every once and a while. Some may go to a club on a regular basses to relive stress and watch beautiful woman. No matter witch way you look at a strip club or a stripper there are goods and bad's and some truths and some false to each opinion.

Woman seem to be more anti-strip club than men. They view them as dark places were perverted men go to gouache at naked woman. Many woman say that the girls the work at the club are "victims" and "being degraded by men."(Yahoo) Men objectify woman when they are in these venerable positions. Woman are not objects and the is why many woman sympathies with the girls that strip. It is not only the men that woman don't like about strip clubs they also don't like the woman that work at them. The main misconception about strippers is a girl who had a horrible child hood and has bad self-esteem and the only way she can feel good about herself is if she is reveling her to herself. Woman also hate the idea of their sugnifigent others going to these clubs. The idea of their husbends not getting there plesere form them is enough to make these woman crazy, and judge what they don't know anything about.(Yahoo)

The other side to the stripping against is the pro side. Many people see stripping as a form of great entertainment. A strip bar is a great place to go with friends to have some harmless fun for a birthday or a bachelor party. "These woman are making good money and are making the choice to work there" (Yahoo) There are many reasons for going to a Gentlemen's club but, the number one reason men go to strip clubs is because there's a 100% chance they will see a naked women. Men love women's bodies and no straight man would deny it.(AskMen) At cubs the more they see, the better. The don't need to ask, beg, or pay (except at the door and donations if they want). It helps take the stress off men to see these beautiful woman. Men often fantasize about women, at a Gentlemen's club they can see beautiful women and have secret affair with no strings attached. (AskMen) Just look, no touch. "Though most men accept the fact that they don't have a Barbie look-alike as a partner, they can still dream. By seeing women of equivalent beauty that are completely nude and seemingly vulnerable (even though most strippers are in complete control of what they do), going to a strip joint allows them to get closer to that fantasy."(AskMen) 
In general men are the mane attendance to strip clubs but women also will attend male strip clubs and get strippers for a party like a bachelorette party. All in all there are two sides to every story, you can decide what you think. 

Works Cited 
Laredo, Mike. "Why Are so Many Women against Strip Clubs? - Yahoo! Answers NZ." Yahoo! Answers - Ask Questions & Get Answers On Any Topic! Yahoo, 2010. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100810014046AAXylYz>. 

"Why Do Men Love Strip Clubs?" AskMen. Pythian Remite DBA, 1996. Web. 2011. <http://www.askmen.com/dating/vanessa/vanessa7.html>.