Naked Truth
Strip Clubs, Democracy, and a Christian Right
Across America, strip clubs have come under attack by a politically aggressive segment of the Christian Right. Using plausible-sounding but factually untrue arguments about the harmful effects of strip clubs on their communities, the Christian Right has stoked public outrage and incited local and state governments to impose onerous restrictions on the clubs with the intent of dismantling the exotic dance industry. But an even larger agenda is at work, according to Judith Lynne Hanna. In Naked Truth, she builds a convincing case that the attack on exotic dance is part of the activist Christian Right’s “grand design” to supplant constitutional democracy in America with a Bible-based theocracy.
Hanna takes readers onstage, backstage, and into the community and courts to reveal the conflicts, charges, and realities that are playing out at the intersection of erotic fantasy, religion, politics, and law. She explains why exotic dance is a legitimate form of artistic communication and debunks the many myths and untruths that the Christian Right uses to fight strip clubs. Hanna also demonstrates that while the fight happens at the local level, it is part of a national campaign to regulate sexuality and punish those who do not adhere to Scripture-based moral values. Ultimately, she argues, the naked truth is that the separation of church and state is under siege and our civil liberties—free speech, women’s rights, and free enterprise—are at stake.
Naked Truth is a riveting combination of news stories, fascinating anecdote, articulate analysis, and lessons in our living Constitution…Whether you’re interested in stripping as an art form (with a long and complex history), as the focus of a long series of Constitutional cases (which Hanna describes in entertaining fashion), or as a case study in the rise of organized religious activism (Roe v Wade, anyone?), you’ll find this book an enjoyable, thought-provoking read.
Though her book has plenty of appendices and footnotes, it also has news stories and anecdotes, and descriptions of her testimonies in court. It is entertaining, but it is also a serious examination of how activists are trying to use sexual regulation in order to limit entertainment and enforce morality along church guidelines....Her bright, detailed, and engrossing book strongly supports free expression and shows that it makes no difference if that expression involves bodily movement, sexuality, or fantasy.
…offers a bold new argument…illuminate(s) the contours of an important but often-overlooked battle in American culture.
A leading dance scholar and critic who has served as an expert court witness in more than one hundred exotic dance cases nationwide, Judith Lynne Hanna is Affiliate Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. She has written hundreds of articles and numerous books, including To Dance Is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication; The Performer-Audience Connection; Dance, Sex, and Gender; Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress; and Partnering Dance and Education.
- Acknowledgements
- Prelude: Sparks Fly: Church and State Conflict
- Chapter 1: Scripture and Hostility to Exotic Dance
- Chapter 2: Fighting Exotic Dance: Call to War
- Chapter 3: Target of Attack: Striptease 101 or Seduction by the Devil
- Chapter 4: Nudity, Touch, and Sex: Marginal or Mainstream?
- Chapter 5: "Rottweilers" Lock Their Jaws: Bench Trials
- Chapter 6: Shooting Nude Crotches: Jury Trials
- Chapter 7: Exotic Dancers and Labor: Need to be Saved?
- Chapter 8: Christian Right Claims Club Crime: Where Are the Bodies?
- Chapter 9: Stripping Your First Amendment and More
- Appendices
1. Exotic Dance
2. Comparison
3. Exotic Dance Criteria for Serious Artistic Merit
4. Nudity in Exotic Dance
5. Messages of Physical Distance
6. Expressive Contact in Exotic Dance
7. Contact in Social Dance: Lap Dance Heritage
8. Exotic Dance Patrons
9. Judith Lynne Hanna's Exotic Dance Expert Witness Court Testimony
10. Jurisdictions that Attack Exotic Dance
11. Key Christian Right Political Activists and Revenue in the News, 1995–2010
12. Arsenal of a Segment of the Politically Active Christian Right
13. Reality and Myth: What Neighbors Say about Exotic Dance Clubs
14. Protection under the Constitution of the United States of America - References
- Index
