Posted on 05/30/2002 11:52:00 PM PDT by Sabertooth
"Jesus loves the little children," the classic Christian ditty goes, "all the children of the world." All of them except the one whose mom works as a stripper.
That seems to be the moral of the story of nude dancer Christina Silvas, whose 5-year-old daughter was recently expelled from kindergarten when the school found out about her mother's stripping. A single mom, Christina danced at a gentlemen's club in Rancho Cordova, California to pay the $400 monthly tuition at Capital Christian School, operated by one of America's biggest Assemblies of God churches. School officials declared stripping violated the "Christian Commitment/Philosophy" Christina signed when she enrolled her daughter, and they gave the 24-year-old an ultimatum -- stop stripping or we'll stop teaching your daughter.
Christina and the private religious school eventually reached an accord. She consented to stop dancing for the last three weeks of her daughter's school year, and Capital Christian will allow the girl to finish kindergarten. Christina did not, however, say she wouldn't pose for Playboy.
When we learned about this tale of lack of Christian charity, we tracked Christina down. She had no qualms about our offer to pose, and she was soon on a plane to Playboy headquarters in Chicago. During a break in her shooting, we chatted with Christina and asked her to strip down the controversy for us.
Playboy.com: Once your daughter is finished with kindergarten, will you return to dancing?
Christina Silvas: That's not my intention, but I have not closed that door.
PB: Does the club want you back?
CS: The club can't wait for me to come back. They said that if I decide to return they'll throw me the biggest welcome back party the city has ever seen.
PB: When you were dancing there, did you ever see anyone from the church or the school at the club as a patron?
CS: Absolutely.
PB: How many?
CS: What goes on at the club stays at the club, so I can't comment about that.
PB: Rick Cole, the church's senior pastor, said God thinks stripping is demeaning. Do you agree?
CS: I think it's demeaning to have a day care raise your child while you're working.
PB: So he is off the mark?
CS: I don't feel that anything I did brought anything negative to my daughter.
PB: Cole is implying that stripping is a sin. Do you see it that way?
CS: It's definitely a difficult job, but the reason I was doing it was to provide the best life for my daughter that I possibly could, and I don't believe that is a sin.
PB: As a Christian, has this whole episode tested your faith?
CS: Life is a test. I believe that in that line of work you definitely have to be a strong individual. You use that occupation or it uses you.
PB: And you used it?
CS: Yes I did, and I think my strength of character to do that came from God.
PB: Your dancing was a sacrifice for your daughter. Do you think God was pleased with your sacrifice?
CS: I believe God sees our heart and looks at why we are doing what we are doing as opposed to solely our actions, and I believe that my actions were absolutely honorable. I was trying to provide for my daughter. I didn't have the luxury of looking for something else to do. It was very sudden that the financial responsibility of providing for my daughter fell onto my shoulders, and this was the first opportunity that seemed like it would help me accomplish my goals.
PB: How shocked were you when you found out about the expulsion?
CS: I was absolutely, totally, completely shocked. When I received the phone call that they were expelling my daughter based on my occupation, I did not believe it.
PB: Has this traumatized your daughter or has she been shielded from all of this?
CS: I have shielded her as much as I could. She caught a glimpse of the news and asked why her school doesn't want her to come back. I immediately reassured her that everybody loved her and that everything was going to be OK.
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CS: She is an extremely intelligent child. I've sacrificed almost six years to be the best parent I can be and I fully believe she has the foundation to overcome any obstacle. PB: Will your daughter return to Capital Christian for first grade? CS: No. I was deeply disappointed with their actions throughout this entire situation. PB: Did you enjoy dancing at the club? CS: It was an extremely positive experience. It helped me accomplish the goals that I think are important, which is spending time with my daughter and providing the best that I can for her. PB: Was it fun, though? Did you enjoy doing it? CS: I enjoyed the challenge of it, of doing the best job I could. PB: Did you have a certain style or a signature move? CS: I was good with the pole. Everyone asked if I was a gymnast. PB: When this story broke, it was reported that people were coming forward to offer you other jobs so that you would not be violating church policy. Has anything panned out? CS: I want to take the next three weeks to find myself and my daughter a new church to attend, a new school for her to go to next year and hopefully a new occupation. PB: What would you like to do? CS: I have many interests. I got straight As in high school and great grades in college, so I have unlimited possibilities and opportunities. PB: Why pose for Playboy? CS: Before all of this happened, I was extremely interested in posing. I have the utmost respect for the entire company, and I believe posing for Playboy is the American dream for a woman. PB: What do you think the church's reaction will be to your posing? CS: I think they will believe that my intentions throughout this entire process were for self gain and that I had evil intentions. But I can't help what other people believe. I can't change other people's thoughts. PB: Are you prepared for the fallout? CS: I am. I have to live my life for me. I can't live my life for the public or the church. |
Good.
So quit being double-minded about this.
Where did you see Snuffington defending these?
What about Hooters girls? Are they whores too?
I was merely pointing out, that there is a much neglected difference tbetween He who judges the Living and the Dead, and those, who have been instructed Judge Not.....
If I'm not mistaken the purpose of most models is to sell clothing. Whereas the only purpose of a stripper is to sell herself. That is the disctinction.
But you're absolutely right that a lot of advertising has consciously blurred the line between pornography and modeling.
DOn't get stupid on us. You are smarter than that.
You could, but you'd only be disclosing information about yourself--not Snuffington. And you certainly wouldn't be casting any valid criticism on the decision of the pastor in this case.
Your posts remind me of the poster yesterday who proudly confessed in a thread, "some of us boring 'straight' people enjoy sodomy too." I have no doubt that what he said was true. But he spoke only for himself, and--judged from a Christian perpsective--his confession doesn't alter one bit the spiritual consequences of his confessed indulgence.
My mother, and probably most members of the World War II generation, would have answered, "Yes."
Thanks for your honest, straight-forward answer. If I ever have anymore "whore not a whore" questions I'll know who to ask.
Right. If she really knew of any, we'd sure know who by now. This whore has no scruples.
Well she clearly claims she's seen church/school people in the club. And if that is true, what's so hard to believe about her keeping it secret?
It seems it would be standard policy at a strip club -- not only does it make business sense (who would patronize a club that did not keep patrons' identities confidential?), but it adds that pseudo-intimacy to the relationship: "You are so special to me I would never tell 'our' little secret, and that just shows how special you are and how close we are." Patrons bond -- they have a special friend with whom they share a secret who "really understands" them and looks out for them. (It would also probably make sense that customers with the most fear of being found out are the ones who would become the most loyal and biggest spending customers, having invested trust in the stripper, they get caught up in the fantasy they are in an intimate or close or "special" relationship.)
She has two additional motives for keeping it confidential -- first, she may have an idea of going back to that club so it would be bad for potential future business (don't want to lose or tick off customers); secondly, it gives the appearance of putting her sort of in a "moral power position," above the church folk who, in comparison, turned her in. She comes off as able to keep the foibles and falters of church members concealed -- showing charitable love, "forgiveness," and mercy and understanding, in other words -- while the (in contrast) "bitter condemners" of the church would not.
And of course many would take special glee in that.
That's true. It's just that she doesn't have a good track record of telling the truth.
Her pictures were on a web page. This was already well discussed in the original threads on this subject, which your posts were in abundance. Don't tell me you forgot that.
In your world, anything goes, I take it.
Feel free. But you seem confused about a very simple matter.
When someone by their profession is trying to appeal to lust, that is a different matter than someone simply being attractive. People may lust after either one. But only in the former case is it analagous to prostitution.
Glad to help.
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