Considered to have more strip clubs per capita than any other U.S. city, itâ?TMs also populated with businesses that use sex to sell their â?©products
By Malori Maloney
About one month ago, Portland employees of Lush, an international soap and cosmetic company, donned nothing but aprons and stood outside their Northwest 23rd Avenue location. â?©The reason? To promote products with minimum packaging.â?©Portland sells sex and you donâ?TMt need to flip to the back pages of the Mercury to find the evidence. â?©UP philosophy professor Jeff Gauthier says Portland is reputed to be home to more strip clubs per capita than any other U.S. city. According to the Ultimate Strip Club List, an online database of strip clubs, Portland boasts 59. â?©Compare that with Seattle, which has six, or the state of Nevada, which has 43, according to the same directory.â?©Portlandâ?TMs strip clubs infiltrate UPâ?TMs insular community; the annual non-school-sanctioned pub crawl traditionally begins at the Dancinâ?TM Bare on Interstate Boulevard, less than three miles from campus, said senior Jake Benz. â?©What is it about Portland that allows so many sex-based businesses to thrive? â?©Part of the answer may lie in the fact that the Oregon Constitution contains a freedom-of-speech clause that classifies stripping as a form of symbolic speech, which means more lax regulations for strip clubs.â?©Ã¢?oeIn this state any person can write, print, read, say, show or sell anything to a consenting adult even though that expression may be generally or universally â?~obscene,â?TMâ?? Judge Robert C. Jones said in a 1987 decision regarding free speech. â?©The ruling did not make prostitution legal. Unlike many other states, including Washington, Oregon allows for fully nude dancing .â?©Ã¢?oeOregon has liberal policies on freedom of speech and freedom of sexual expression that make it difficult to regulate these establishments,â?? psychology professor Martin Monto said. The sex industry is one of Montoâ?TMs areas of expertise.â?©Since the 1987 ruling, strip clubs and stores selling explicit or â?oeadultâ?? materials have grown in number all over the state, but particularly in Portland. â?©William Steele, a fifth-year UP student who said he plans to do his psychology thesis on attitudes toward pornography, said that a market would thrive virtually anywhere with the flexible First Amendment laws that Oregon has. â?©Ã¢?©Interesting parallelsâ?©Ã¢?©In a city known for its liberal progressivism, the abundance of strip clubs may at first appear counterintuitive, but Oregonâ?TMs free speech clause and Portlandâ?TMs profusion of strip clubs actually go hand in hand.â?©Ã¢?oeWhile it would be a sin against Portland liberal chic to suggest that womenâ?TMs place is in the home or that women donâ?TMt have a right to equal pay, it is equally unfashionable to be too concerned about treating women as commodities in the sex market,â?? said Gauthier, who is currently on sabbatical, but normally advises UPâ?TMs Feminist Discussion Group. â?©Ã¢?oeHistorically, the sexual commodification of women has not been seriously challenged by liberal politics.â??â?©In Portland, sex as a marketing tool goes beyond the beaten path. In February, Casa Diablo, a vegan strip club opened in Portlandâ?TMs Northwest industrial district. The club has received much publicity, frequently regarding whether veganism can be reconciled with stripping without running into hypocrisy.â?©Ã¢?oeWe put the meat on the pole, not on the plate,â?? owner Johnny Diablo said in a Feb. 11 Fox 12 interview. Diablo also said that his goal is to â?oesave as many creatures from pain and suffering as possible.â?? â?©Some people may question whether using sex appeal to sell an idea is justifiable.â?©Ã¢?oeIf your goal is to â?~save as many creatures from pain and suffering as possible,â?TM then itâ?TMs strange to be describing your employees as â?~meat,â?TMâ?? the philosophy professor said.â?©Casa Diablo has been for sale since March and remains open for business under Johnny Diabloâ?TMs ownership.â?©Outside the realm of strip clubs, Portland has examples of sex as a commodity. Salem-based Bikini Coffee, where bikini-wearing baristas serve coffee, opened a location in downtown Portland last July.â?©Ã¢?oeThe fact that such an idea could take hold in a â?~liberalâ?TM city in the US in the 21st century says a lot about how far we havenâ?TMt come,â?? Gauthier said. â?oeAn undressed womanâ?TMs sexual appeal to heterosexual men is now a direct condition for employment as a barista.â??â?©Gauthier isnâ?TMt the only one to object to the notion of businesses like Bikini Coffee; in August, protestors held signs that decrying sexism. â?©Nevertheless, the café has been successful and has plans to open new locations in the U.S. and abroad. â?©Gauthier said perhaps the most notable quality of the marketing of sex in Portland (or most anywhere) is the unequal distribution of the sexes in the roles of patrons and performers at strip clubs, customers and employees at businesses like Bikini Coffee and others.â?©Ã¢?oeMaybe if men and women were all buying and selling their sexuality from and to one another indifferently everything would be great, a big libertarian sexual market,â?? he said. â?©Ã¢?oeThat, of course, is not how it is.â??â?©
