By Lifestyle Editor Alaina Vieru

There's no denying that striptease culture has gone mainstream, with pole-dancing classes on offer at the gym and the burlesque trend booming thanks to belle du jour Dita Von Teese. While many women don't want their man going to a lap-dancing club on a regular basis, they see the odd stag do at a lap-dancing club harmless, if risqué fun. But is it so harmless?

Let's look at the body (ahem) of evidence...
It's a grey area, and made even greyer when you see that both arguments for and against lap-dancing clubs make valid points yet have holes.

Much of the issue boils down to a matter of opinion. There is evidence suggesting that lap-dancing clubs create ‘no-go' areas for women, which breed crime and rape. But this evidence comes from a report accused of being one-sided because it states: "Of course it would be wonderful if strip clubs could be eradicated tomorrow" (The Lilith and Eaves Housing For Women report).

This same report highlights the rise of rape in London's Camden since 1999, with evidence showing that lap-dancing clubs were responsible merely because they also existed in Camden. Not the strongest of links. Especially when you consider the report did not similarly link lap dancing clubs with Camden's crime rates since 1999. Why? Because crime rates didn't rise, they dropped.

Rape and its falling conviction rates is a serious issue that deserves more attention and debate than it currently receives. But blaming lap-dancing clubs for this without any factual evidence to back it up surely detracts from the real reasons behind the issue, which smacks to me of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

The naked truth
The claim that you can get a lap dance as easy as a latte came from a recent Channel 4 Dispatches documentary on lap-dancing, sparking off a heated debate.

Because lap-dancing clubs are in the same licensing category as pubs and cafes it's argued that they are loosely regulated, with clubs often breaking the rules about touching and sex, and should be subject to stricter licensing. Women's rights organisations support the move, claiming lap-dancing clubs are harmful to women, not only through their links to crime, but because they objectify them and widen the gender equality gap.

Policing morality?
Councils currently do have the power to enforce more rigid licensing rules, but many simply choose not to, according to the Lilith and Eaves report. This makes further licensing, unnecessary, timely and costly, says The Lap Dancing Association (LDA), which governs a third of the UK's establishments.

And while it's true that lap-dancing clubs, pubs, and cafes are licensed under the same act, lap-dancing clubs possess a specially tailored licence with specific conditions that the other venues do not.

It's argued that complaints made about lap-dancing clubs are merely moral complaints. Clubs open and stay open because they are responsible, regulated and well-run. The LDA maintains that many women who dance for them take pride in what they do and are financially independent. They firmly state that women have the right to do any job they want to do, and adult dancing should be no exception.

This doesn't mean that well-respected women's rights groups such as the Fawcett Society, Object, and Lilith and Eaves haven't raised valid concerns about lap-dancing clubs or women in general.

While feminism is about choice and equality, Ariel Levy, author of the brilliant, hugely readable Female Chauvinist Pigs raises similar questions about a "world where young women attend lap-dancing clubs as patrons... simulate sex...and adopt the Playboy bunny logo as a symbol of liberation...seeing their post-feminist antics as a short cut to cool."

What about the dancers?
Levy acknowledges that going to a lap-dancing club can be fun, friendly and girly experience, something I found when I judged the pole-dancing awards for the LDA as research for this feature, and also from my first experience at a lap-dancing club (the dancer and I chatted about university and swapped fashion tips).

While undoubtedly there are many women who go into the industry for the wrong reasons ("I wish my family loved me as much as you guys," was actually overheard by a male I know on a stag night) and they can encounter horrific experiences, there's also some women who genuinely enjoy what they do. They believe they are the ones pulling the wool over the men's eyes, not the other way around.

However, Levy also argues that "the rise of raunch culture, with a culture-wide obligation for women to look and act like porn stars...does not represent how far women have come...it only proves how far they have to go."

What do you think about lap-dancing clubs? Join our debate below.