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This issue has a long and convoluted history with me and my friends in Orlando. But stay with me, because it gets deep.

I personally do not go to strip clubs. There are a few reasons:

• I don't like to encourage girls to strip - just like I don't like to buy porn, to encourage normal, otherwise possibly decent people to do that as their life's work.
• I am cheap.
• Most strip clubs are seedy, gross places. In your head you imagine Vegas, but once you see the boarded up windows, you should know better.
• I don't get anything out of it.

This last item is where I come into conflict with most other mid-to-late-20's males. For some reason, going to a strip club and having a fistful of $1s, while surrounded by sexually aroused males, does it for them. Not so for me.

At issue here is the fact that, the stripper isn't touching you. She will not be touching you (in most cases). She is there to show off, to tease you and the other hundred guys staring, to display what you want and cannot have - from her anyway. Look, but don't touch. Maybe some guys get off on the teasing, or maybe some guys are just that enthralled by a live, naked woman. I'm not - I get to be around them a lot.

And I'm not saying I'm some big stud or anything - but the average woman, in life, will get naked, given the right circumstances, or amount of time/effort. And that's with some kind of sex/touching going along with it. So why would I want to spend money on just the naked part, without any of the touching?

Sexual desire is, at its core, a physical need, like sleep, hunger, etc. Like any other, you can take it to higher levels - evolve, specialize, gain taste and proficiency - but at its core, it's a physical need, albeit a very specific one. So I equate it to another specific need - say, for instance, that I am hungry - not just hungry, but specifically craving, say, a donut.

I don't know about you, but when I want a donut, I don't go into Dunkin Donuts, pay $20 at the door, and then slowly take in the sights of all the gooey deliciousness of the donuts behind the counter. I don't tease myself with the thought of what could happen, if I had a donut in my hands.

I eat a damned donut.

So why guys would spend money, and endless hours, in a dark, stank club, just to get an eyeful of naked flesh, just doesn't make sense to me. A hooker almost makes more sense; despicable, disgusting, and all that, but at least you get something. The craving is satisfied, albeit without any emotional or lasting satisfaction.

I've had female friends, and girlfriends, that have either tried stripping, or become strippers, or been massively infatuated with the idea of stripping, as if flashing strangers were just below MTV pop tart on the stardom spectrum. I understand that women want to be looked at sexually and be the center of attention - but do you not realize the type of clientele that frequent these places? Does being stared at while naked, make you enviable and desireable, or just...more appealling than looking away, to men that can't get a woman? Meditate on that.

**Update - I guess I could see it more for bored, stale, married type guys, that want to be aroused by something different - and obviously don't know how to make their own relationship exciting after all the years. That's too bad. Somewhat more understandable, but still, sad.