Lapdancers tear a strip off protesters
LAP dancers staged their own protest against campaigners who claim a new strip club will exploit its workers.
The Sin Strip Club opens next week in Kirkcaldy.
Forty members of the Women Together in Fife group gathered to protest against the club in the Town Square, opposite the Hunter Street club.
A small group of lap dancers stood across the road to support the opening of Sin, waving placards proclaiming freedom of choice.
Among them was 19-year-old Abbi Gallagher, of Auchtertool, who intends to use her earnings as a dancer to pay off her student loan.
She said: “If a woman wants to get naked for money, it’s her choice.”
Women Together in Fife’s founder Marie Penman said Scottish Government guidance classified stripping as a form of violence against women and girls.
She claimed selfemployed dancers would have no employment rights and no guaranteed income and also cited research in Glasgow, which heard those in the industry were often paid by customers in 20 pence pieces.
She said: “That’s not a job, that’s slave labour. We don’t want it in Kirkcaldy. Fife Council should be making a stand against this.
“You don’t get a guaranteed salary, you get whatever money is shoved at you or stuffed in your underwear at the end of the night.
“Women are worth more than that.
“They shouldn’t be getting paid in small change by drunk, leering men.”
Club owner Mario Caira said he was disappointed there was such a furore.
He said: “There has to be more people could direct their anger towards than a lap dancing venue opening in Kirkcaldy.
“We are providing entertainment and a venue which, ultimately, people will choose whether to use or not, whether to work in or not.”