The brand new Orleans dancers have had a taste of success: Town council rejected capping the number of strip clubs on Bourbon Street. “I was impressed by the quantity of people that showed up with one thing to say, and proud – but also disheartened that so many people have had their livelihoods threatened and that we’re on this place at all,” Archer advised me by email.

From the bar, I noticed her sitting alone on one of many upholstered couches that lined the again of the club. She was taking a moment’s respite after a dance to count her money before securing it round her wrist with an elastic band. I took a deep breath and approached her, חשפניות brushing aside the fringe curtain separating the lap dance room from the bar. It was getting late, two hours before closing, and I was exhausted and annoyed. So far I’d brought in simply $50, which means a $10 revenue after the house charge. I thought about packing up and by no means coming again, but I wanted this to work out. My student loan wouldn’t magically go away.

So it was somewhat suspicious when news broke that TikTok had taken down the profile of an American teenager selling awareness about China’s disastrous human rights abuses towards Uyghur Muslims. TikTok says the 17-yr-previous’s account was disabled not due to that video, but in relation to a TikTok that includes imagery of Osama Bin Laden.