Strip Club Named Beef Londo Ontario
More than a week after the province slammed the door shut on Ontario strip clubs, women who work in the industry say the closure unfairly targets them without any public health evidence.
"No one was expecting a shut down. It just happened, I was at work, and I was told they were going to be shutting everything down," said Samantha Knox, who works at one of London's strip clubs, Solid Gold.
"There is zero evidence that shutting us down will reduce the spread of Covid-19."
The shutdown, on Sept. 25, threw thousands of women in the province out of work.
After initially being closed in March, Ontario's strip clubs re-opened in July, along with other businesses.
Employees and patrons had their IDs scanned before coming into the club, in case contact tracing was needed, Knox said. Temperatures were taken, and masks had to be worn at all times except when patrons were sitting at a table or when dancers were on stage.
Industry reeling after abrupt shutdown
Strict physical distancing rules meant that even VIP dances had to be done six feet apart, Knox said.
During that time, Knox said she was only able to make a third of the money she would have made pre-pandemic. Still, she has other work that keeps money coming in, but other women do not.
"The first shut-down was expected. It was challenging but everything shut down equally. No one was singled out for being the bad guy," said Kat Daniels, another London dancer. "I want to earn my own money. Taking handouts or accepting help makes me feel uncomfortable, and I like what I do. It makes me feel empowered."
Those running and working in London's strip clubs expected the province to reduce hours, as they did other bars and restaurants on Sept. 25, not shut down their industry completely.
"The general air was one of sadness, when we found out. It was anger. It was unfairness," Daniels said. "We're used to being discriminated against for doing what we do, but just the way it was put forth, that we're the only ones that were shut down, made it worse."
The region's medical officer of health says there is risk of the virus spreading any time you have people gathering indoors.
"The government is making a policy decision based on their values. That's what they were elected to do," Dr. Chris Mackie told CBC News. "I don't think there is any other way to make decisions, other than based on values. There are implicit values in all public health decisions."
Many of the women who work in London's strip clubs support families.
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"A lot of people look down on us, without considering the humans that we are," Daniels said. "They've shut us down without thinking to ask how it has impacted me. It's the tone or the temperature of society as a whole for our industry. But we are humans with lives and dreams."
A woman named Lexi, who didn't want her last name used, also works at one of London's strip clubs.
She told CBC News she's had to ask her parents for money since the clubs shut down.
"Working nights allowed me to be home during the day for my kids," she said. "The fact that we had no notice, that we didn't know this was coming, it's infuriating. We busted our asses to make sure we followed every protocol, we did everything we could to minimize the danger."
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/strip-clubs-shut-down-ontario-1.5748383
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