Exotic dancing ("strip clubs") is a visible, profitable and growing form of adult entertainment in the United States (Frank, 2003). Despite their popularity, these establishments have extremely bad image, much worse than many other forms of legal adult entertainment such as casinos and male magazines. One particular example is the almost immediate association between strip clubs and criminal activity. However, as discussed in this paper, the relations between strip clubs and higher crime rates are not based on hard evidence, and are arguably even utterly incorrect.
The adult entertainment industry faces legal restrictions, which pose more limitations on such establishments than others. For example, many cities, counties and states prohibit running a sex-related “adult” business within certain proximity from e.g. schools, churches or even residence houses, assuming negative secondary effects on the surrounding neighborhood (Linz, Land, Williams, Ezell, & Paul, 2004). However, more than a few indications show that these restrictions on one’s freedom to do business are not based on any sufficient knowledge, and thus do not serve any greater public interest.
