Rosamund Urwin, You Strip Journalism Of Its Dignity
Rosamund Urwin, writing for The London Evening Standard, was sent on assignment to visit Secrets’ Covent Garden club, or rather, as she refers to it, “Tits R Us.” The article begins with a clear bias: “The clubs that strip women of their dignity.” Immediately, Urwin seems determined to give her article credibility by describing herself as a “strident feminist.” Oddly enough, I believe I am a strident feminist too. It would bemuse me to hear her explanation of what a feminist is, because after reading her piece, I suspect it would contrast starkly with my own.
Her article is based upon one and a half ventures into strip clubs. Urwin laments that the first excursion seemed too “sanitised,” and therefore focuses on the latter mission, which she then proceeds to tear into. She describes two dancers as “both attractive and funny,” and asks their reasons for stripping. When the strippers reply that one is singularly supporting her child and another used her earnings to buy an apartment, Urwin finds fault in this too: “Essentially then, they were fixing two social ills: the ludicrous cost of housing and absent fathers. That doesn’t sound very empowering.”
There are a million implausible moments. The scene in which Vivian and Edward run into Kit’s pimp is Crocodile Dundee levels of ridiculous, and the white knight climbing up the fire escape ending is utter dreck. But frankly, I don’t care about the standard criticisms of Pretty Woman. It’s less sexist than My Fair Lady and yet no version of “Pygmalion,” including that classic musical, takes as much flak as this one. And that makes me suspicious. Beyond the obvious pleasures of songs like “King of Wishful Thinking” and insane late ’80s women’s wear, let me outline a few of my favorite aspects.
