Mary White (Fianna Fail)

Last week I heard a young woman on the radio speak about working in a lap-dancing club. On the surface lap-dancing clubs can seem frivolous and not exploitative. This girl said, however, that young women who work in many clubs must pay to work and that after a certain age they are disposable. I was shocked. I have no personal experience of this. The girl said she was 26 and that if she kept fit she would have a few more years left. That is repulsive. These are not necessarily trafficked women but in our society women are being treated as disposable objects. It is insulting to every woman in the world that men would treat a woman that way and that she must be a certain age.

While the average lay person is unfamiliar with the reality underlying such issues, it is frightening when one learns of it.