Looking back... Jordanstown strip show causes controversy

A strip show at the Ulster Polytechnic in Jordanstown caused controversy in 1981.

The event was organised by the Students’ Union during Rag Week to raise money for Ulster-based charities.

However, more than 400 students signed a petition calling for the show to be cancelled, saying that it was discriminatory and degrading to women.

Members of the Labour Union and Christian Union issued a statement in opposition.

The show went ahead despite protest with people queuing for several hundred yards from the entrance to gain admission.

Event organiser Paul Crean, said that it had raised £300 for charities and claims of causing “chauvinistic division” were “not in the spirit of Rag Week”.

Rev John Johnston, a Free Presbyterian minister in Carrick, said: “Our church being Protestant believes in the Protestant way of life and does not condone sin in any form.

“I would therefore deplore that standards have fallen so low in our country and that such a spectacle can be arranged supposedly to further charity.”