The Men Who Go To Strip Clubs

I’ve never been to a strip club.

Seriously.

I’ve seen them in movies so I have an idea of what they’re like, but I don’t really know.

Journalist and Blogger Susannah Breslin has an idea as she started a project to collect letters from men who go to strip clubs. I’m not quite sure what I expected when I started reading this blog, I had an idea, but I certainly didn’t expect this. Maybe I should have.

I’ve gone to strip clubs because my life lacks intimacy.

That’s how it begins. Straight to the point, no?

But don’t be confused, he isn’t talking about sexual intimacy.

My family’s far away, I have no friends to speak of; nothing awaits me at my apartment except Netflix and a couple of cold beers.

What did you expect? Did you expect what I imagined? A series of letters from men who love looking at half-naked,

dancing women? Maybe you knew better than me.

I know the girls at the strip club don’t truly listen, don’t truly care. I know why they’re nice to me, and they know I know it. But they pretend. Most of them pretend to care pretty damn well. When I think about it, that’s enough to satisfy that basic human need.

This breaks my heart. No, I’m not disappointed because of the nature of a strip club. I’m disappointed, I’m heart broken, because he had to pay people to listen to him, who, by his own admission, don’t actually care.

I don’t know him personally, yet, I do. In truth, we all do. We’re surrounded by people just like him, people in our closest communities and people we pass on the street, yet we don’t notice them. Friends, family, and strangers that have been failed by society, denied the meaningful relationships that make us truly human.

As Christians, we have a responsibility to step up and change this. The Gospel truth is so much more than arguments over who Jesus was, it’s about relationship, it’s about restoring right relationship. What are you doing with the Gospel? Does it follow you out of church on Sunday? Does it permeate your life? We need to open our eyes and see, really see, one another.

It’s hard, I get it. Really. It’s hard to notice everyone who is hurting. But when we call ourselves Christians, it’s more than a title, it’s more than a lifestyle, it’s an outward indication of something that’s changed inside us. It’s not magical, it’s intentional. It’s the admission that life is hard alone and we’ve been called to help one another navigate it.

We have to take our faiths out of our buildings and open our eyes; no one is going to write us a letter.