An extensive search at libraries and on the Internet failed to reveal research which related directly to the survey questions. However, there was material that addressed some of the same issues.  

LICENSING

Licensing has been defined as "the granting by some competent authority of a right or a permission to carry out a business which would otherwise be illegal." (Council of State Governments, 1952).

A commonly-held view is that licensing is set up to benefit the people who work in a field.  Stigler (1971) offers his "capture theory" which states that regulation is acquired by an industry and is designed and operated for that industry. However, Zhou (1993) notes that most existing case studies focus only on those occupations which have a "powerful organizational apparatus."

In contrast, few people would say that the topless dancers of Houston were negotiating from strength when the city considered licensing.

Zhou also notes that the traditional function of licensing is to assure a certain level of professional skill.

Of course, the Houston City Council was not interested in dancing skill when it passed its Sexually Oriented Business ordinance. On the contrary, the law was created because of a belief that "sexually oriented businesses provide enhanced opportunities for employee participation in various forms of criminal activities."

It might be argued that the SOB license is not an occupational license in the usual sense. Rather, it is a license to control behavior.  Licensing for behavior is not new. After all, you need a license before you can engage in the behavior of driving a car.

However, there seem to be more and more people calling for licenses to restrict behavior.  For example, one guest columnist for the Newsweek "My Turn" section has proposed that all drinkers of alcohol be investigated and licensed.

Jack C. Westman, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has promulgated a plan for licensing parents.   He also argues that all public entertainment should be restricted to the type suitable for children. Anything else, he says, is "reverse ageism."  

PRIVACY ISSUES

Many of the of dancers state that licensing will force them to shed their privacy. Aside from the immediate concern about stalkers and other unwanted visitors, there is a fear that the license will become a permanent public record.

There may be some reason for concern if developments in Washington State are repeated in Texas. According to The Cook Report on the Internet, Washington leads the nation in developing a statewide information base. In the long run it unlikely that the information will be confined to a single state:
 

What is being "leveraged" there is the Clinton-Gore push for National Information Infrastructure (NII). NII is touted in commercials by AT&T and others as being kind of warm and friendly communications utopia. But the essence of NII is often in the eye of the beholder. In fact, there is no widely accepted definition of or goals for NII. Instead, it is one of those terms with a definition specific to whomever is talking about it at any given moment.

David Linowes (1989) argues that there is a pattern of problems in how the government, insurance companies, banks, and credit reporting agencies collect and use personal information. Linowes remarks:

Vast amounts of personal information are being amassed without the person's knowledge, and preserved indefinitely to be retrieved instantly.

On the other hand, another political scientist, Steven L. Nock (1993), argues that modern society is increasingly made up of "anonymous actors" who demand their privacy. Under those conditions, he believes, people must tolerate "increased surveillance" in order to establish credibility in new situations.

Karen Struening of Kalamazoo College (1995) argues for a high degree of privacy in sexual matters.  Writing in the Political Research Quarterly, she uses John Stuart Mill as the basis of for her philosophy.

Struening is  an apologist for gay, lesbian, and feminist life styles. In theory, she takes a broadly tolerant view of all sex-related activities. Struening writes:

The right to privacy can and should be used to prevent the prejudices and biases of the majority from curtailing the freedom of individuals to experiment with modes of life and to develop their faculties and capacities in accordance with their own conception of the good.

Whether or not topless bars might contribute to someone's "conception of the good" is not stated in the article.

THE SURVEY FORM  

The survey consists of eleven questions. The first three questions asks the participants to assess the need for the new law. The remaining eight questions asks them to evaluate the  effect that the law will have on employment. Each of the questions have between three and five possible responses.

The form is two pages printed on a single sheet, front and back. The survey begins with brief instructions and some simple definitions. The participants are advised that their answers are strictly confidential.  

THE SURVEY SAMPLE

The survey was conducted at a medium-sized club in the eastern half of the city.  The club is typical in many ways. Located in a blue collar area, it is neither a so-called "upscale" club nor is it the proverbial "dive."

One Internet enthusiast devotes a web site to reviews of topless bars. He gave the target club a rating of "5" on a scale of 1 to 10.

It is generally considered the leading club for its area of the city. Rarely mentioned on the TV news, its name is well-known among people in the industry. It has operated under the same name and at the same location since 1985. The current location was established to comply with the original Sexually Oriented Business ordinance. It was operated by the original owner until it was sold in 1995.

By the standards of the industry, the bar has been a very stable operation. Many staff members and dancers have worked in the club for many years. When the business was sold, there was none of the staff churning which frequently occurs in clubs.  

THE SURVEY PROCESS

I conducted the survey continually between March 22, 1997, and April 21, 1997.  The survey was available on three nights of each week.   However,  not all of the dancers who worked could be interviewed on any given night.

It was a long and painstaking process which required that each dancer be interrupted amid other activity. For the most part, the surveys were given before or after a dancer went on stage.

A cumulative list of participants was kept near the stage. This was to avoid duplication and the awkward situation of asking the same person twice.

You can never say for certain which dancers will work during any given period.  The dancers are contractors, not actual employees. Traditionally, they move from club to club with ease. Although some may stay for a long time at a given club, there are always others who are not really committed to it. They can and do change clubs without notice. Also, dancers who normally work at a particular club may simply quit working for a few weeks. Moreover, the ones who do work every week pick and choose which nights they will show up for work.

For all these reasons, the roster of dancers is always fluid from night to night. That was the main reason for taking a full month to complete the survey. If the survey had been given only on one or two nights, only about half as many people would have completed it. The objective was to have 100 per cent of the club's dancers participate.

A total of 42 different dancers worked on at least one of the nights when the survey was presented. Out of those dancers, 37 completed the survey in its final form. Two others completed the pilot but did not complete the final form of the survey. Only three did not complete either survey form.

LIMITATIONS AND WEAKNESSES IN THE SAMPLE

The club targeted for the survey may not be able to adequately represent all of the clubs of Houston.  The so-called upscale clubs feature more dancers and employ more big money earners. Their dancers also tend to be more experienced. They may also be more educated on the average. In any case, a more comprehensive study would demand a stratified sample of the major in clubs in various parts of the city.

Current estimates are that there are between 4,000 and 5,000 dancers working at any given time. If that is true, then the current study represents just under 1% of that total.

Out of the targeted sample,  there were probably a few dancers who missed the survey because they never worked on a night when it was given. Some dancers are hired and only work one night.

Even with these limitations, it is reasonable to assume that at least 90 per cent of the sample completed the survey.

PILOT STUDY

The Pilot study occurred on the night of March 22, 1997.

The original intent was to conduct the study itself--not a pilot. However, it soon became clear that the survey form needed further revision. I suspended the survey after eight participants had completed the form.

The first question included a long quote taken directly from the Sexually Oriented Business ordinance. The phraseology seemed to cover too much territory to be easily understood:

The preamble to the SOB law states that the ordinance is needed because "sexually oriented businesses can exert dehumanizing influences on churches, schools, and day care centers, can have negative effects on property values, can contribute to increased criminal activities in the surrounding areas…"

 Which phrase below describes the effect that clubs have on a neighborhood?

/ Very negative
/ Somewhat negative
/ Somewhat positive
/ Very positive

Also, it was not possible to know which item on the list was generating a response in a participant.  Was the participant reacting to the alleged effect on "criminal activities" or the effect on churches? The quotation is a laundry list of the alleged effects on an area.

The question was split into two questions. Question no. 1 covers churches, schools, and day care centers; question 2 covers "criminal activities." The issue of "property values" was eliminated.

That change caused the old question number 2 to become question number 3. Question three was  rewritten and simplified.

The original question no. 11, the sole question covering demographics was eliminated because of lack of space.

The remaining questions were retained in the final questionnaire with minor revisions.

The revised form went into use on March 29.

DATA PROCESSING

I compiled the data and entered it into a Microsoft Excel document. Each question received its own Excel spreadsheet.

Excel Charts were created to illustrate the results of each of the eleven questions. Each chart was linked to a spreadsheet for a particular question. As I entered additional data into a spreadsheet, the change appeared in both the spreadsheet and its corresponding chart.

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