Bob Shemeligian: Why make us suffer more, Demi?

Tuesday, July 2, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

I WAS NOT among a small group of humanists who saw the 20-minute documentary "Votes for Women" Saturday evening at Bally's.

The film details the 72-year struggle of women to gain the vote, culminating in passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

"You should have been here," said Mary Whitehead of San Antonio. "Everyone loved the film."

Everyone included some of those who participated in last weekend's National Organization for Women national conference at the Strip hotel.

I was at a different film Saturday evening.

I was among the thousands of moviegoers who converged in droves on the Texas Twelve theaters to see Demi Moore display her wares in "Striptease."

My friends and I bought our tickets an hour early to be assured of seats.

I tried to sit at the end of the row, in case I developed a sudden urge to walk out. But because the theater was so crowded, I was forced to sit in the middle.

As it happened, I got the urge every time Demi started her striptease.

Maybe it was the tough, seductive, "I know you want me" look on Demi's face every time she started to strip. Maybe it was the music she chose. Maybe it was the fact that she is pictured as this angelic single mom trying to gain custody of her kids, and every other character in the film -- except the savior police detective -- is a villain, clown or both.

Again and again, as Demi started her striptease, I had to excuse myself and walk toward the aisle. I didn't do it to be dramatic. I just couldn't watch it.

Don't get me wrong. The sight of a young woman disrobing is not something that displeases me.

But this film isn't about prurient interests. This film is about something much worse in America today.

It's about a young woman with little talent -- who in interviews is incisive as Madge the Palmolive woman -- and is featured more than world leaders in nearly every major magazine nearly every month. And for her latest naked effort, Moore earned no less than $12.5 million.

Meanwhile, throughout America, real single moms are struggling to scrape together enough money for their weekly shopping.

Many of them are listening closely to the words of our national candidates, and they will vote for whomever they think will do more for working women.

Thanks to the suffragettes, who earned women the right to vote.

"Most people have no idea what it was like for American women at the turn of the century," said NOW member Jody Olson. "In Louisiana, women were by law slaves to their husband. They were considered chattel."

Whitehead noted that few today remember the sacrifices of the suffragettes, who often were jailed for their right-to-vote demonstrations.

I hope those who see "Striptease" will remember one of Demi's lines. When told that the feds and the bad guys are after her, she asks, "How did I get to be so popular?"

That's a good question, Demi.