A semi-professional football club in a sleepy Oxfordshire town has been forced to apologise this week, after hosting a male stripper night which turned into a ‘Roman orgy’.
In a statement on its website, Banbury United FC addressed circulating video footage of a UK Pleasure Boys show held in its Spencer Clubhouse on Saturday.
‘The images suggest that part of the performance towards the end went beyond what we find acceptable at our venue,’ it explained. ‘We apologise to anyone in attendance who was offended.’
Billed as the ‘ultimate girls’ night out’, the group’s 18+ Wet ’n’ Wild event promised ‘sizzling dance routines, ‘raunchy sets’ and audience participation.
However, it seems some took the final element a little too far, with clips shared on social media apparently showing ‘inappropriate’ sexual acts between performers and crowd members.
While we’re not prudes here at Metro, in our bid to work out exactly what went down on that fateful night, we keep coming up against roadblocks; as evidence is removed or deleted within moments of appearing online, we can only assume things got pretty X-rated.
One local who claims to have witnessed this wrote on Facebook: ‘I was expecting the Full Monty with maybe a little flash of something at the end, but honestly I left traumatised.’
‘It actually went too far,’ added another. ‘Some women are feral.’
Others were more positive, including one female attendee who described the evening as ‘an absolute laugh,’ writing: ‘Yes, some parts of it were like wooah, but it clearly stated strippers. The lads were absolutely fantastic.’
UK Pleasure Boys’ promoter John Woodward told The Sun this weekend’s Banbury audience were admittedly ‘very lively’, but although things had been ‘more heated than usual,’ ‘there was a great atmosphere.’
‘It isn’t clear how or what got out of hand, or if it was the women or the men who got too heated,’ he added. ‘We are looking into it.’
Double standards?
While certain people may wish what happened in the clubhouse could have stayed in the clubhouse, online commentary over it has only ramped up in the days since.
But where some called scenes ‘grim’, ‘horrendous’ and ‘awful’, many took a different outlook on this risqué revue turned ‘Roman orgy’.
‘At the end of the day, they were all consenting adults,’ commented one Banbury resident, while another wrote: ‘I’m just sorry I didn’t go.’
Where women may have once seen male striptease shows as campy, low-budget sleaze, the industry has undergone a huge makeover in recent years, with over 900,000 tickets sold for Magic Mike Live in London and companies like Dreamboys and Forbidden Nights running weekly events around the country.
According to psychologist Emma Kenny, this trend is partly driven by the fact these environments actively encourage women ‘to express desire and enjoy themselves without feeling they have to be restrained or demure.’
‘Marketing matters, too,’ she tells Metro. ‘Packaging sexual entertainment within a familiar social occasion helps make attending feel more ordinary and acceptable.’
Do you think male stripper events are becoming too extreme?
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Yes, they are crossing boundaries.
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No, it's all in good fun.
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It depends on the event and how it's handled.
In many ways, after centuries of being objectified, it’s a good thing women feel comfortable openly owning and embracing their sexuality.
However, this sense of novelty can cause things to get out of hand.
Emma explains: ‘People take cues from those around them. If somebody does something increasingly outrageous and receives laughter, cheers and encouragement, others may start to interpret that response as permission to go further.
‘The apparent boundaries of what is acceptable can shift within the room.’
Alcohol naturally also factors into a dynamic where lines can be crossed here — not to mention the ‘persistent stereotype that men always welcome sexual attention, while women are assumed to be less threatening.’
‘That can lead people to interpret unwanted behaviour towards a man as flattering, funny or harmless,’ Emma continues.
‘If someone is being grabbed, pressured or touched without consent, describing it as a bit of fun does not make it acceptable.
‘Being paid to perform does not mean being paid to have no boundaries. That principle should apply equally to men and women.’
That said, Emma does add that ‘consensual audience participation should not automatically be treated as misconduct simply because an observer finds it shocking’.
What’s actually allowed at strip shows
In terms of UK Pleasure Boys specifically, promoter John Woodward told Oxford Mail: ‘It’s pretty clear to the guys that no sexual activities are acceptable at our show, and that’s not standard stuff we would expect to happen.
‘If there’s a specific performer that’s done something you’re not supposed to, the performer would be taken out of the show.’
A number of similar performing groups have policies like this. However, where licensed ‘sexual entertainment venues’ (SEVs) are subject to a local authority’s rules for what’s allowed, this isn’t the case with those that tour.
SEVs in Bromley, for example, must agree to ensure no ‘indecent behaviour, including sexual intercourse’ takes place on their premises.
Meanwhile, North West Leicestershire Council stipulates ‘no audience participation shall be permitted’, nor should any physical contact between customers and dancers, ‘with the exception of shaking hands with a customer and/or leading a customer by the hand from a seated area to a booth for a private dance.’
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