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The Spectacle Blog

Iowa Court Discovers 'Art' Loophole Allows 17-Year-Old Strippers

By Robert Stacy McCain on 2.12.10 @ 7:54AM

The "penumbras and emanations" theory of jurisprudence appears to have taken hold in the heartland:

Nude dancing is still an art form in Iowa, at least at a strip club in the tiny town of Hamburg.
The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday dismissed the state's request for a review of the issue. The request followed a judge's 2008 decision that Clarence Judy, then-owner of Shotgun Geniez, didn't violate the state's public indecent exposure law.
Judy was charged after a 17-year-old girl stripped onstage in the southwestern Iowa club in 2007.
Iowa law makes it a criminal offense to allow minors to perform a live act intended to arouse patrons. But Fremont County Judge Timothy O'Grady ruled that the strip club was protected because the law doesn't apply to theaters, art centers, or other venues devoted to the arts or theatrical performances.
O'Grady said prosecutors failed to prove the club wasn't a theater.

Shane Vander Hart at Caffeinate Thoughts was shocked that the judge would confuse a strip club with an "art center," but I felt obligated to remind him:

It happens all the time, Shane. Guys innocently set out to find the local art center, accidentally stumble into a strip club, and spend several hours stuffing dollars into the dancers' garters before realizing their mistake.

Perhaps this has even happened to Judge O'Grady a time or two.

View all comments (15) | Leave a comment

Big Java| 2.12.10 @ 8:08AM

So that's what happened to me that time in down- town Atlanta. Yeah, I was looking for the theatre
of performing arts ; I wondered why there was all this t&a..

bluecollarbytes| 2.12.10 @ 8:51AM

If it is just art, what's to prohibit 3-15 year old females and males from being displayed and paraded in front of 'art patrons' in dark theaters and cubicles anywhere anytime?

dollface| 2.12.10 @ 9:11AM

I'm surprised that Hamburg, IA has a strip club. I've driven through that town, blink and you miss it.

JohnD| 2.12.10 @ 9:15AM

I guess some patrons of the arts have to carry a lot of one dollar bills (although maybe these days they are fives; been a long time since I "patronized the arts.")

Le Cracquere| 2.12.10 @ 9:37AM

One more reason for me to wax cranky and malignant towards the young males of this generation. Where the hell were these 17-year-old girls back when I was 17?

Warrior| 2.12.10 @ 9:41AM

They were the ones pregnant with a teachers child. The other name we used give them were skanks.

Richard Baker| 2.12.10 @ 10:46AM

These Judges just HAVE to stop smoking those giant doobies ala Cheech and Chong. Wonder where these guys spend their lunches and off-time, hmmm?

Eric Cartman| 2.12.10 @ 10:50AM

So, is having sex with a minor performance art? If so, Chris Hanson has a lot to answer for - that homophobic art hater!

jack peekers| 2.21.10 @ 3:38PM

I would give anything to see Chris Hanson being scammed on a video shot in a hotel bar with a very hot 15 yr old gal sitting next to him and watch him pick her up.....

all you video nazi's need to set this one up, PLEASE!!

Dawn| 3.5.10 @ 3:26PM

Where are the parents of these girls?!?! They should be in jail with the men that go to watch underage girls "perform art"!

todd sheen| 4.22.10 @ 6:48AM

aint that underage? i am against that definitely.

Todd

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