Posted on 05/27/2007 9:30:01 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
OMAHA, Neb. -- A University of Nebraska-Omaha student took a job recently as a stripper for class credit.
Jenny Heineman, a sociology student, said she wanted to bring sex workers out of the dark, so she felt she had to enter their world. Her thesis, "Gender and Work: An Ethnography of a Midwest Strip Club," got her a B and she graduated this spring with high honors.
By day, she works at Blue Line Coffee Shop, selling cappuccino and scones.
As a sociology student studying in Europe, the 22-year-old said she became interested in another line of work.
"I was taking a course in sexuality and culture, and I got introduced to the underground culture of sex work and became very interested in the rights of sex workers," Heineman said.
That included prostitutes, call girls and strippers.
"Upon returning to the states, my curiosity and my desire to work with these women led me to get a job," she said.
By night, Heineman danced at The 20s Club.
"I probably go up on stage four times in an five-hour shift, and I'm constantly thinking, 'Please don't fall,'" Heineman said. "The rest of the time is spent mingling with customers and doing dances for customers at tables," she said.
She said she has learned to strut her stuff in 5-inch heels.
Her experience with customers and her fellow workers was guided and graded by professor Shireen Rajaram.
"I think it's a very worthwhile topic for us to look at," Rajaram said.
Rajaram applauded her student's courage. She said only through this kind of first-hand account can sociologists identify real issues and dispel stereotypes.
"I mean, it's a huge industry and so it's important for us as socio-anthropologists to shed light on the issues, especially the social injustices," Rajaram said.
Heineman said the biggest injustice is the stigma placed on her fellow dancers.
"A lot of these women are doing this to support their families. Several of them are single mothers. They work very hard at a job that can be quite tiresome," Heineman said.
If nothing more, she said she hopes to raise awareness of inequities and earn them the respect she thinks they deserve.
"Get to know your local stripper -- that's the message we should end on, yeah," Heineman said.
This crap has been done before, recall all the noise about students making sex videos for class credit and even doing it in front of the class, etc. etc.
Academic prurience has become a tired old joke.
Professor or pimp?
For a second I thought the United Nations maintain an own university.
We need to see her picture to determine if this grade was justified.
Must resist urge to comment on what Rajaram wants to look at...
Her parents must be so proud.
Here’s a suggestion for her if she truly wants to do something courageous. Do a thesis on how mainly low income men are separated from their money and leaves them sexually frustrated, by a shoddy industry that preys on their natural weaknesses. Many of these girls are working four hours a day and taking home more money than their customers make in a week.
Who’s taking advantage of whom?
It’s impossible to form an opinion without a picture.
“sex workers come out of the shadows”?
Are they also illegal aliens, too. We hear that from the amnesty crowd “let them come out of the shadows” (illegals)
Now that she’s gained valuable career experience, she needs to move to Las Vegas...where she can make ten times as much money as she ever would with a sociology degree. ;)
She got a B in the class
I heard she was weak in fellatio-simulation, but did well in “ectasy-faking” [sic]
I’m still amazed that soebody hasn’t come up with telling our kids to get AIDS, so the “world” will quickly find a cure.
Red states are becoming as bad as blue states...starting with Texas, Colorado, Virginia, Iowa, and now Nebraska. Red States better start waking up or we are even in bigger trouble in the future.
She is in the video provided at link. Redhead.
I’ve got news for you, in many cases rural red states are worse than places like NYC, SF etc. because there are few competing businesses that can match the pay of the local sex industry.
She’s cute w/tats-don’t know if i’d shell out $$ for a lap dance though:(
“I became a stripper to research my masters thesis and all I got was this T-shirt and a lousy B.”
More Than Three Dozen Arrested In Omaha Prostitution Sting
Vice Squad Conducts Thursday Night Operation
OMAHA, Neb. -- More than three dozen arrests were made Thursday night during an operation by the Omaha Police Special Operations Unit Vice Squad.
According to police, the arrests were made between 7:45 and 11 p.m., with help from officers of the Northeast Precinct.
Twenty-one soliciting prostitution arrests, three pandering arrests, four lewd conduct arrests, seven possession of drug equipment arrests, one soliciting a ride arrest, one misdemeanor warrant arrest and two soliciting lewd conduct arrests were made.
Even if her own motives were clinical, those who chose stripping as a profession DO deserve stigma. ...
If nothing more, she said she hopes to raise awareness of inequities and earn them the respect she thinks they deserve.
... So her efforts to "earn them respect" will go no further than her class project.
And with that degree in Sociology, she's just earned more money than she'll ever make in her life.
Ain’t that the truth. You always hear feminists and other self-righteous types complain about how strip joints “exploit women”. If anybody is being exploited, it’s the customers. The girls at some of the more upscale places here in Minneapolis make six figures a year.
Not all of the men leave sexually frustrated...
It’s a disgusting illusion though...
One of my friends confided in me recently he blew $2,000 on strippers in the last 6 months. For an illusion. He needed a piece of euipment for his business desperately. The equipment only cost $1,500.
He is done with it and asked me to help keep him accountable.
About as useful as the other material in these programs (perhaps more useful), which generate worthlessly degreed whinebots - often at taxpayer expense.
It's now a crime to try and bum a ride off somebody?
Her mother must be so proud. /s
A modern collegiate bisexual, her myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=10859330
Kill the humanities.
There was a young man in my unit in Germany who maxed out his credit cards in the brothels.
He also had an eating disorder. He was renown for his ability to eat a double whopper in under 30 seconds without taking a breath.
He was discharged, partially for behavior stemming from several alcohol related incidents.
So very sad. He had a God shaped hole inside of him. He tried to fill it with everything except God.
22 postsz and not ONE picture????
"Do you know what this is? It's the world's smallest violin, playing just for them."
"These ladies aren't starvin to death. They make minimum wage. When I worked for minimum wage, I wasn't lucky enough to have a job that society deemed tipworthy."
"Hey, I'm very sorry that the government taxes their tips. That's f$%^ed up. But that ain't my fault. It would appear that they're just one of the many groups the government f^%&s in the #$# on a regular basis. You show me a paper says the government shouldn't do that, I'll sign it. Put it to a vote, I'll vote for it. But what I won't do is play ball."
"And this non- college bullshit you're telling me, I got two words for that: "Learn to f^%&in type." Cause if you're expecting me to help out with the rent, you're in for a big f^%$in surprise."
More proof that sociology is a pseudoscience.
I spent a lot of time trying to fill that hole with other crap myself.
Those days are over. Thank God!
I'm kinda proud of the B my professor gave me at GA Southern, for a paper called 'The Advantages of the Semiauotomatic Pistol in American Law Enforcement'. Back about 1992, when I was trying to get into that profession.
Of course, this was for an English class, and my professor was Dr. Abiodun Goke-Pariola, from Kenya.
Great guy.
"The goal of the author's writing is to thus better understand the initial confusions between sex work and feminism." A lofty goal, but I didn't see much in support of it. I note she used the word "power" 25 times.
Notable quote: "This is similar in sediment to Diablo Cody's Candy Girl." Sediment, sentiment . . . same thing.
A 'B' is pretty low for a student in grad school, in sociology. I've seen posters on a grad student forum that were inconsolable because they got a B+. If she's headed for a PhD, that B may come back to haunt her.
And, as someone posted above, it's been done before. In one instance, the young woman going underground in the sex business wound up dead (saw it on tv). See also, Dancing for Dollars and Paying for Love: The Relationships between Exotic Dancers and Their Regulars by Danielle R. Egan. Same crap. So much for being a women's studies/soc major.
While sex workers should be studied, and many sociologists and anthropologists are participant observers in the communities they study, I'm not sure having young women work as strippers makes much of a contribution.
And she only got a B?
However, her observations on how to ascertain the amount of twenties in a bankroll were fascinating.
Mom and Dad must be so proud.
I'd give her a C. What exactly do "sociologists" do anyway? Other than teach other "sociologists"...
Maybe she was talking about Mud-Wrestling Night.
American women have lost their minds. They have been lost since the early 60’s when they started eating birth control pills.
And who says the American Academy is in decline???
Allan Bloom readers - take a chill pill!
That is interesting and true. I did not think of the financial aspect of it but you are right.
I can imagine the weeks of research behind that quote!
The video is also unimpressive, but Professor Rajaram has a few lines calling Jenny's 'work' ...."very, very worthwhile".....
When all else fails, "just damn"
Not THAT kind of ride. It had something to do with the goat she had on a leash, and....
Exactly! Look at how much they charge for a beer and a lap dance!
Er, not that I would know anything about that.
At the nudie bar where you can look at a thigh and blacken an eye at the nudie bar at the nudie bar where they show you their butt and their trap stays shut at the nudie bar at the nudie bar where you can`t touch a breast but you can cave in a chest at the nudie bar at the nudie bar where the girlies dance in their underpants at the nudie bar at the nudie bar where the music stinks and they water the drinks the nudie bar at the nudie bar where the beer gives you gas but the bundy`s KICK ASS the nudie bar at the nudie bar where Christmas is nice And lap dances are half price at the nudie bar at the nudie bar where you drink down the shooters and unwrap the hooters at the nudie bar at the nudie bar where egg nog`s are plenty and the girls are all 20 at the nudie bar at the nudie bar where there`s a cop at the door and a Kennedy on the floor at the nudie bar
“We need to see her picture to determine if this grade was justified.’
Based on the fact she got hired, and that there aren’t many ugly strippers, I vote NOT GUILTY.
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