Friday, November 21, 2014

Should this stripper receive any money from H & M?

I like presenting stories from the news that can generate interesting discussions. This next story generated some interesting discussions among my private students and me.

A stripper is a person, usually a woman, who removes her clothing in a sexually provocative way (a way that will arouse or excite men) in order to make money.  To 'sue' someone is to take a person (or company) to court and try to get money from that person because that person did something wrong.  The money awarded is a type of punishment. The type of court you can sue people in, in America, is called a 'civil' court. In a 'criminal' court a person can be punished by being thrown in jail.

So in the following story you will read that a stripper was at H & M (a department store) and changing clothes in a dressing room.  Apparently an employee of H & M opened the dressing room door twice to try to force the woman (the stripper) to leave that particular room. The stripper seems to claim in the article that she was naked (totally without clothing) when the employee tried to chase her out.  It's my understanding that you are never supposed to be totally naked in a dressing room - aren't you supposed to keep your bra and panties on while you try on clothing?

So the stripper is claiming she has suffered psychologically because this employee looked at her twice and that other people saw her naked.  Yet, the newspaper writer seems to be saying, "Hey - she's a stripper!  How can she be embarrassed by having people see her naked?"

My students tended to disagree. They felt that stripping is her job while she deserved her privacy in the H & M dressing room.  However, many of my students did not seem to think she deserved any or much money from H & M.  They seemed to think that the employee should be punished and that this would be justice enough.

So what do you think? Do you think that this stripper is making a big deal out of nothing?  Do you feel she should be awarded money for being psychologically harmed?

The article:

http://nypost.com/2014/11/10/hm-clerk-opened-dressing-room-door-while-i-was-naked-ex-stripper/

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a clerk - this is a general term for a person who works at a department store. Most clerks work behind counters where things are scanned and paid for.  There are also sales clerks.

Scores - a place to go in Manhattan to watch strippers

horny men - you hear the word 'horny' alot in the USA.  If a guy is a horny guy, he thinks about and wants sex a lot.  A horny guy is always thinking of sex or looking at women sexually.

violated her privacy - she had a right to her privacy but he broke a rule or law guaranteeing her privacy

to yank something - pull something very hard

garments - pieces of clothing

to burst into - to enter a place forcefully

ushered - guided

buxom - having large breasts/boobs

brunette - having brown hair

scrambled - quickly took action

belligerent - forceful, warlike, aggressive

imminent - soon (the stripper seems to be claiming that she was afraid she was going to be hit by the employee)

commotion - noise due to some type of argument or disagreement

to kick someone out of some place - to force a person to leave some place immediately

tantric masseuse - from what I have been able to determine, tantric massage is massage in which the masseuse (the person giving the massage) touches and rubs and strokes a male's penis.  What's a penis?  It's the thing that makes a guy a guy - you know, it's the thingee down there under his pants and underwear.  OK, so a cynical person (a person who always sees the negative side of things) might say, "Oh my God! She was a stripper and touches men's penises for a living...but she is so sensitive that she was psychologically harmed by being seen naked, when she probably shouldn't have been naked in a dressing room in the first place!"  I don't know, I wasn't there so I can't judge. 

an undisclosed amount of money - it is not known how much money she wants to get from H & M

a real estate magnate - a powerful real estate business owner

a scuffle - a small fight

his advances - his attempts to get her to go out with him

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.