Strip Clubs and Legality in Canada

Love Bites

By Sasha

PEELER POINTERS

I am interested in attending a strip club in Toronto but would appreciate your advice on ones that are reputable. Can you also advise on the status of lap dancing? Can one only order one dance? How much are they typically? Do you tip? Can you leave after one or is there pressure to pay for another? I just don't know what the scene is now like. CURIOUS

Like so many quasi-progressive Canadian laws that govern sexual activity and commerce, the ones that pertain to lap dancing are discrepant and inconsistently applied. In Toronto, a bylaw exists that bans lap dancing because it prohibits, under the guise of Health and Safety, contact between dancer and client. Meanwhile, a Supreme Court of Canada decision holds that it does not offend community standards of tolerance for a customer to fondle a dancer's breasts and buttocks in the performance of a dance, so this basically renders the bylaw moot. So far, no club has been successfully convicted under the Toronto bylaw and it seems that lap dancing is permitted so long as there is no sexual contact – whatever the hell that means when someone's shining your knee with her labia.

To be honest, I was apoplectic when lap dancing came along (I was stripping at the time – it turned the clubs upside down), and sure enough, the trend has inspired the Marrakesh market atmosphere I predicted. Not only are the legal standards unevenly applied, so are the ones put forth by the employees, making the issue of a club's repute nebulous as well. (It could also mean a few things in the case of your question. By reputable do you mean the most bang for your buck or do you mean reputable in the swinger way, so "classy"?)

When I was working, there were definitely clubs where, across the board, the girls were giving what clients refer to as good mileage and then there were clubs where the motto was "you touch, you go." Now, who knows who's offering what where, since girls – while not necessarily permitted their own standards by the clubs – work by them anyway. One thing is certain: if you only want to spend $20 Ñthe price of a lap dance and, yes, you can certainly tip if you like, though it's not expected the way it is in restaurants – you're not going to get a whole lot of love.

As for clubs, I may have different reasons for liking them than you, but here are some that make my list:

Filmore's and Jilly's. There's a nice cross-section of friendly ladies in both these places and they tend to dance to music they like rather than what the club's atmosphere dictates. I'm not a big Stone Roses fan, but you can bet your ass I'm happy to hear them in a titty bar. And any girl who does her stage show to practically the entire first side of The Beatles' White Album is naturally going to get a tip from me. Filmore's will also continue celebrating its 25th anniversary till the end of March and, as such, is offering old-school table dances at old school prices, a nice option for insolvent Temple Grandin types. I also really like The House of Lancaster on the Queensway (the stage is awesome – girls descend to it Sunset Boulevard -style) and the Paradise on Bloor, where dancers arrive on and exit the stage via a hatch in the floor on hydraulics – a dramatic touch that fills me with envy every time I watch someone use it. Can you imagine having one at the base of your bed? Ta da! Both of these places have the variety of girls and laid-back environment I tend to like in a peeler bar.