Iceland, which banned prostitution last year, does the same for strip clubs. Tracy Clark-Flory furrows her brow:
What most impresses the Guardian's Julie Bindel is that "the Nordic state is the first country in the world to ban stripping and lapdancing for feminist, rather than religious, reasons." There is no question that Iceland has impressive feminist cred -- nearly half of its lawmakers are ladies -- but, forgive me, I'm hesitant to announce it the word's most "feminist" and "female-friendly" country in response to a law prohibiting women from voluntarily taking off their clothes for money. It may not be a religiously motivated move, but it sure is a dogmatic one.
Jill Filipovic also has misgivings:
Stripping, for better or worse, is one of the better-paid jobs that low-skilled (and hey, sometimes high-skilled) female workers can get.
And no, it’s not a sustainable career, and it’s a job that traffics in discrimination it’s primarily for the young, the thin, the able-bodied, etc, and once you don’t fit into that framework it’s no longer an option. But it does offer paid work that can be significantly less unpleasant than a lot of other jobs. [...] I’d be willing to bet that most strippers strip because it pays pretty well. Removing that option, even if it does send A Message, doesn’t seem like a great victory to me.