Duke Lacrosse Party and "The Player's Club"

My response to Edward Carmichael's letter to the editor, "Duke episode began with a raunchy party," which appeared in the Wednesday, July 25, 2007 News & Record:

The case of the Duke lacrosse players hiring two strippers and finding some of their team members accused of rape reminds me of a movie called "The Players Club."

I'm not sure that I would recommend the movie for its entertainment value, but it does provide insight into the unsavory types you might find associated with a strip club, from the owners to the strippers to the customers.

With parties for which strippers are hired, I guess you have a better chance of controlling who the other guests are.

I'm sure there is as much diversity among strippers as there is among the general population, just as that same amount of diversity exists among the customers who enable strippers.

Some strippers are probably wonderful people, and some of their customers are probably also wonderful people.

At the same time, no matter how confident a stripper is, I would guess that at least deep down, there are some psychological issues going on that are not always pleasant or positive.

The same speculation might be made about the men who choose to visit strip clubs or hire strippers.

I would guess that most strippers know that the men who take pleasure in viewing them also probably do not respect them on a very deep level.

That subconsciously at least might make strippers not feel too good about themselves, and it might make them resentful and even angry toward the men who pay to watch them.

I don't ignore that strippers choose to do what they do.

But I also don't pretend to know or understand what leads individual strippers to pursue such a calling.

The average woman doesn't suddenly find herself stripping to make money.

Stippers may have emotional and psychological issues, just as the rape accuser from the Duke case obviously did, and men who choose to put themselves close to such women may be taking a dangerous risk.

Likewise, under the influence of alcohol, which I assume is common at strip clubs and strip parties, the male viewers might not behave in the best ways possible either.

Some men probably drink a little more so that they don't have to worry about their conscience too much.

Some of these men may have questionable character to begin with. (Some would say their character is automatically in question for choosing to view strippers.)

When alcohol is involved, even the best of men are sometimes capable of the worst of thoughts and deeds.

"The Players Club" had an almost exclusively black cast.

The narrator was a stripper who (I believe) was trying to make money for school and to support her child. (It's been awhile since I've seen the movie; I might need to be corrected on some of the details.)

She has a younger, less mature female relative who also pursues stripping. This younger stripper is convinced to go to a private party at a hotel. She hasn't been hired to have sex and doesn't plan to, but a couple of men who know and dislike the woman convince another man that he's entitled to have his way with her in a room. And he does. Against her will.

We're all pretty certain now that that's not what took place at the lacrosse players' party.

But it wasn't beyond the realm of belief that men, particularly the kind who would hire a stripper in the first place and who were under the influence of alcohol, could be capable of such a thing.

Yes, drinking is common. And maybe the kinds of parties that these young men had are common also.

Maybe we should begin to question such things and ask ourselves if maybe we shouldn't begin trying to change such a culture for the better.

Where does such behavior lead?

Do these men go on to be the best of men in our society?

Do they later marry and cheat? (Are they capable of respecting some women fully while respecting other women not at all?)

Do they treat the women with whom they work with respect?

Do they go to church on Sundays and pretend to be good Christians?

Do they judge others while refusing to judge themselves?

If they met the strippers in a different setting, how would they view and treat them?

How would these men expect to be treated by people who know what they are up to? (Would you tell your girlfriend? Your wife? Your minister? Would you tell your parents? Maybe just your dad? Or would you confide in your mother also?)

The Duke lacrosse players ended up suffering more than they deserved.

But they placed themselves in a vulnerable position.

Unfortunately, many of the questions and issues that might have arisen without the rape charges will never be explored.

And without the rape charges, how would we have reacted, or would the story have even been exposed?

What can we still learn from the case?

And will we?