Pardon my bias, but isn't getting naked to make a little money just a bit degrading?

"We live in such a sexually oppressed society," Zuccarini said, his voice growing impatient. "Models use their bodies. Olympic athletes use their bodies. Pro sports is all about bodies. These women have a talent--their bodies. So they use them. Just because they're naked, people think less of them."

All right, so I'm one of the sexually oppressed masses. But Zuccarini, who has worked at Big Al's for the last seven years, is certainly making money from these women's bodies. Isn't that exploitation?

"Everyone is exploited," Hendricks responds. "Lawyers exploit their paralegals. Your newspaper exploits you as a journalist. Everyone who is here wants to be here just like you want to work for the Journal Star. They enjoy the freedom the industry gives them."

But paralegals and journalists use their minds, not their bodies, to make a living--or at least so I like to think.

"A lot more goes into the dancing than people give our women credit for," Hendricks said. "It's a real talent, and the women work hard to stay fit, look beautiful and be good at it."

Hendricks went so far as to compare stripping to an art form and the men who come to watch them "perform" to visitors to an art museum. A Maplethorpe exhibit, to be exact.

"We create a very classy feel. We make sure that we are very professional, and we make the customers feel right at home," Zuccarini said, explaining that he regularly talks to the customers to make sure they are getting all the cognac, cigars and lap dances they want.

My male companions vouched for Zuccarini's customer service guarantee, saying that within their first hour at the club they were approached three times by three different dancers peddling $4.50 bottles of beer and offers to talk to them and "befriend" them.

"I don't care what the managers told you," said one of my fellow interns who is normally pretty mild-mannered. "We're not here to be part of a gentleman's club. We're here to see naked women."

Still, Zuccarini insisted that his club was not some beer-guzzling strip joint or touch club. His security staff does not hesitate to ask a drunk man to leave the club or to remind customers that the dancers will not fully unclothe unless they see the tips start flowing. The bigger the bills, the better.

"Our dancers control what is going on. They are not in a position where they can be physically abused," he said.

For the most part, the customers did behave themselves. Most men really did just watch and sip their beer. There were few lewd comments from some men who had had a few too many to drink, but no grabbing and no groping. Lap dances and flirting, of course, but the dancers are not officially allowed to date any of the customers, and the customers are not allowed to buy them drinks.

And in the end, both Zuccarini and Hendricks argued that the adult entertainment industry will never die away.

"It makes the world go round. It's been here since Adam and Eve," Zuccarini said.