Per Curiam:.
The Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney sought to have the defendants’ business establishment padlocked as a nuisance. Instead, the circuit court issued only an injunction against certain activities. The Court of Appeals affirmed. We vacate the judgments of the circuit court and the Court of Appeals and remand the case to the circuit court for reconsideration.
[355]*355I
The Court of Appeals provided this account of the facts:
"Dizzy Duck” is an assumed name registered by defendant Greenfield Eight Restaurant Company, Inc. Defendant Boyce J. Maxwell is the incorporator, president, resident agent, and owner-operator. The Dizzy Duck is a small establishment located in Detroit, where patrons pay an entrance fee for admission, which offers adult entertainment, such as nude dancing.
Six police officers gave testimony concerning an undercover investigation and subsequent raid on the Dizzy Duck. Four employees of the Dizzy Duck also testified; three of them were dancers and were granted immunity. There were four activities that were investigated: nude dancing, "lap dancing,” the "Fantasy Room,” and assignation for prostitution.
Concerning the nude dancing, there was a stage area for individual and group female nude dancing. There was also a plexiglass shower enclosure on stage for "shower dances” where patrons would pay extra to see a dancer shower.
For a fee of $20 for one song, or $30 for two songs, the female employees would perform a "lap dance” for a customer. During these lap dances a dancer would straddle a customer’s legs and move herself about the customer’s legs and groin area while holding onto either the customer or a pair of handles mounted on the wall. Although some touching of dancers by patrons was observed, an employee hired for security testified that it was a rule that customers were not supposed to "get too friendly” with their hands during lap dances.[1]
The women also solicited to take the men back to the Fantasy Room, which was in a more se[356]*356eluded area of the building. For a fee upwards of $65, customers would be placed in a room opposite one of the dancers, where they could see each other through a plexiglass partition. The women would then dance and sometimes masturbate, while the men watched. The women encouraged the men to masturbate along with them while in the Fantasy Room.[2] Evidence technicians found sperm in samples taken from the fantasy room walls and plexiglass partition.
There was also testimony by the police officers that while on the premises the dancers would solicit for acts of prostitution to occur off the premises. One of the dancers also testified that solicitation for prostitution occurred at the Dizzy Duck and she had done so herself. She explained that if the dancers paid their manager enough money, they "could get away with anything,” including leaving with a customer. Another employee who was hired for security testified that the rules of the Dizzy Duck prohibited prostitution or solicitation for prostitution. However, there was some evidence that the owner knew about his dancers’ soliciting for prostitution because at least one of the dancers made complaints to him about different treatment in letting certain women leave with customers. [203 Mich App 250, 253-255; 511 NW2d 907 (1994).]
In light of this evidence, the prosecutor filed a civil action, asking the circuit court to padlock the Dizzy Duck on the ground that it was a nuisance under MCL 600.3801; MSA 27A.3801.3_
[357]*357Following an evidentiary hearing, the circuit court denied the defendants’ motion for directed verdict. Later, the court made a finding that assignation had occurred at the Dizzy Duck, and that it was an abatable nuisance. The court also found that lap dancing, when it involved contact between the groin areas of the employee and the customer (even when those areas are clothed) was an abatable nuisance.
However, the circuit court concluded that these activities were not "so pervasive” that it was necessary to padlock the Dizzy Duck. Instead, the court entered an order in which it enjoined:
1. Assignation, or the solicitation for acts of prostitution;
2. Lap dancing, where there is significant direct contact through clothing or otherwise of the female genital area and the male groin area.
Following additional proceedings on the issue whether the defendants were in contempt of that order, the circuit court entered an amended order that enjoined:
1. Assignation, or the solicitation for acts of prostitution;
2. Lap dancing, where there is significant direct contact through clothing or otherwise of the female genital area and the male groin area, and [358]*358where the main purpose of contact is for masturbation of the male penis. [Emphasis supplied.]
The prosecutor appealed both orders, arguing that the trial court should have defined the nuisance more broadly, and should have padlocked the Dizzy Duck rather than merely enjoining certain activities. The defendants cross appealed, essentially arguing that the circuit court’s order was too broad.
Over a vigorous dissent, the Court of Appeals affirmed the orders of the circuit court.
The prosecutor has applied to this Court for leave to appeal.
ii
In its opinion, the Court of Appeals considered the meaning of the statutory phrase "lewdness, assignation or prostitution.” It appears that all three panel members agreed both that "assignation” means solicitation of acts of prostitution,4 and that assignation was taking place on the premises.
The majority and the dissent were in wide disagreement, however, regarding the meaning of the words "prostitution” and "lewdness.” The majority held that prostitution is limited to "the performance of sexual intercourse for hire,” meaning penile-vaginal penetration. 203 Mich App 258, 260. Lewdness was defined by the majority as "those sexual acts of a nature similar to sexual intercourse: anal intercourse, fellatio, cunnilingus, and masturbation performed on another where done for hire.” 203 Mich App 260.
Thus, the majority "easily” concluded that nude [359]*359dancing is not prostitution or lewdness. 203 Mich App 257. The majority further held that lap dancing is not prostitution and "does not constitute lewdness unless it is done for the purpose of masturbation.” 203 Mich App 260. The fantasy-room activities were said not to be lewdness, since the masturbation "was performed by the customer on himself while watching a dancer. Thus, there was no masturbation performed for hire.” 203 Mich App 260.
Regarding whether it was necessary to padlock the Dizzy Duck, the majority said that, "[w]hile. abatable activity occurred on the premises of the Dizzy Duck, it is not a bordello.” The majority thus found it "eminently reasonable for the trial court to limit its remedy in the first instance to merely enjoining the prohibited conduct rather than closing the establishment.” 203 Mich App 261-262.
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Per Curiam:.
The Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney sought to have the defendants’ business establishment padlocked as a nuisance. Instead, the circuit court issued only an injunction against certain activities. The Court of Appeals affirmed. We vacate the judgments of the circuit court and the Court of Appeals and remand the case to the circuit court for reconsideration.
[355]*355I
The Court of Appeals provided this account of the facts:
"Dizzy Duck” is an assumed name registered by defendant Greenfield Eight Restaurant Company, Inc. Defendant Boyce J. Maxwell is the incorporator, president, resident agent, and owner-operator. The Dizzy Duck is a small establishment located in Detroit, where patrons pay an entrance fee for admission, which offers adult entertainment, such as nude dancing.
Six police officers gave testimony concerning an undercover investigation and subsequent raid on the Dizzy Duck. Four employees of the Dizzy Duck also testified; three of them were dancers and were granted immunity. There were four activities that were investigated: nude dancing, "lap dancing,” the "Fantasy Room,” and assignation for prostitution.
Concerning the nude dancing, there was a stage area for individual and group female nude dancing. There was also a plexiglass shower enclosure on stage for "shower dances” where patrons would pay extra to see a dancer shower.
For a fee of $20 for one song, or $30 for two songs, the female employees would perform a "lap dance” for a customer. During these lap dances a dancer would straddle a customer’s legs and move herself about the customer’s legs and groin area while holding onto either the customer or a pair of handles mounted on the wall. Although some touching of dancers by patrons was observed, an employee hired for security testified that it was a rule that customers were not supposed to "get too friendly” with their hands during lap dances.[1]
The women also solicited to take the men back to the Fantasy Room, which was in a more se[356]*356eluded area of the building. For a fee upwards of $65, customers would be placed in a room opposite one of the dancers, where they could see each other through a plexiglass partition. The women would then dance and sometimes masturbate, while the men watched. The women encouraged the men to masturbate along with them while in the Fantasy Room.[2] Evidence technicians found sperm in samples taken from the fantasy room walls and plexiglass partition.
There was also testimony by the police officers that while on the premises the dancers would solicit for acts of prostitution to occur off the premises. One of the dancers also testified that solicitation for prostitution occurred at the Dizzy Duck and she had done so herself. She explained that if the dancers paid their manager enough money, they "could get away with anything,” including leaving with a customer. Another employee who was hired for security testified that the rules of the Dizzy Duck prohibited prostitution or solicitation for prostitution. However, there was some evidence that the owner knew about his dancers’ soliciting for prostitution because at least one of the dancers made complaints to him about different treatment in letting certain women leave with customers. [203 Mich App 250, 253-255; 511 NW2d 907 (1994).]
In light of this evidence, the prosecutor filed a civil action, asking the circuit court to padlock the Dizzy Duck on the ground that it was a nuisance under MCL 600.3801; MSA 27A.3801.3_
[357]*357Following an evidentiary hearing, the circuit court denied the defendants’ motion for directed verdict. Later, the court made a finding that assignation had occurred at the Dizzy Duck, and that it was an abatable nuisance. The court also found that lap dancing, when it involved contact between the groin areas of the employee and the customer (even when those areas are clothed) was an abatable nuisance.
However, the circuit court concluded that these activities were not "so pervasive” that it was necessary to padlock the Dizzy Duck. Instead, the court entered an order in which it enjoined:
1. Assignation, or the solicitation for acts of prostitution;
2. Lap dancing, where there is significant direct contact through clothing or otherwise of the female genital area and the male groin area.
Following additional proceedings on the issue whether the defendants were in contempt of that order, the circuit court entered an amended order that enjoined:
1. Assignation, or the solicitation for acts of prostitution;
2. Lap dancing, where there is significant direct contact through clothing or otherwise of the female genital area and the male groin area, and [358]*358where the main purpose of contact is for masturbation of the male penis. [Emphasis supplied.]
The prosecutor appealed both orders, arguing that the trial court should have defined the nuisance more broadly, and should have padlocked the Dizzy Duck rather than merely enjoining certain activities. The defendants cross appealed, essentially arguing that the circuit court’s order was too broad.
Over a vigorous dissent, the Court of Appeals affirmed the orders of the circuit court.
The prosecutor has applied to this Court for leave to appeal.
ii
In its opinion, the Court of Appeals considered the meaning of the statutory phrase "lewdness, assignation or prostitution.” It appears that all three panel members agreed both that "assignation” means solicitation of acts of prostitution,4 and that assignation was taking place on the premises.
The majority and the dissent were in wide disagreement, however, regarding the meaning of the words "prostitution” and "lewdness.” The majority held that prostitution is limited to "the performance of sexual intercourse for hire,” meaning penile-vaginal penetration. 203 Mich App 258, 260. Lewdness was defined by the majority as "those sexual acts of a nature similar to sexual intercourse: anal intercourse, fellatio, cunnilingus, and masturbation performed on another where done for hire.” 203 Mich App 260.
Thus, the majority "easily” concluded that nude [359]*359dancing is not prostitution or lewdness. 203 Mich App 257. The majority further held that lap dancing is not prostitution and "does not constitute lewdness unless it is done for the purpose of masturbation.” 203 Mich App 260. The fantasy-room activities were said not to be lewdness, since the masturbation "was performed by the customer on himself while watching a dancer. Thus, there was no masturbation performed for hire.” 203 Mich App 260.
Regarding whether it was necessary to padlock the Dizzy Duck, the majority said that, "[w]hile. abatable activity occurred on the premises of the Dizzy Duck, it is not a bordello.” The majority thus found it "eminently reasonable for the trial court to limit its remedy in the first instance to merely enjoining the prohibited conduct rather than closing the establishment.” 203 Mich App 261-262.
The dissenting opinion in the Court of Appeals disagreed with the majority’s limited definitions of both prostitution and lewdness. The dissent proposed a broad definition of prostitution, stating that. "[i]n my view, prostitution is the conduct of all persons, male or female, who engage in sexual activity as a business.” 203 Mich App 265. The dissent found it "quite probable that the Legislature that adopted the red light abatement act in 1915 meant the term lewdness’ to describe that activities of a male involved with a female prostitute,” id. at 272, but also cited approvingly more general dictionary definitions of lewdness, id. at 272-273, as grounds for disagreement with the majority’s limitation on the reach of that term.
Of more importance to the disposition of the present case, the dissent disagreed with the majority’s effort to articulate distinct meanings for the terms "prostitution” and "lewdness,” id. at 266, [360]*360fearing that doing so in the present civil action could impose unforeseen and unwarranted complications in the criminal arena:
[T]he majority’s effort to distinguish acts of prostitution from acts of lewdness could result in the unnecessary elevation of the burden of proof in the context of the criminal enforcement of prostitution offenses. Under current practice, the prosecutor need not prove the exact nature of the sexual activities purchased. The majority’s construction will permit an objection for failure to allege whether an act of prostitution or an act of lewdness has been committed, and may require further specificity in proof.
We do not need to draw a bright line distinction between the terms "prostitution” and "lewdness” in order to resolve this case. Our former cases have never done so. The terms "prostitution” and "lewdness” certainly historically have had overlapping elements and will continue to do so.
In light of its analysis of the definitions of prostitution and lewdness, as well as the overlap in the reach of those terms, the dissent found that the lap dancing, some of the nude dancing, and the fantasy room activities at the Dizzy Duck were either prostitution or lewdness. The dissent opined that all the lap dancing constituted the performance of an unlawful sexual act for hire and thus fell within a broad definition of prostitution, as well as being lewd conduct. The dissent found the majority’s distinction between ordinary lap dancing and lap dancing for the purpose of masturbation "essentially unenforceable.” Id. at 270-271. While not explicitly eliminating the other activities in question from its definition of prostitution, the dissent focused its analysis of the nude danc[361]*361ing described in the dissent5 and the fantasy room activities as abatable lewd activity associated with prostitution.6
The dissent favored padlocking the Dizzy Duck, because "the remedy fashioned was inadequate to cure the proven nuisances . . . .” 203 Mich App 263. The dissent concluded:
I dissent from the majority’s attempt to fashion a new definition of prostitution and lewdness not heretofore recognized in Michigan. Michigan’s citizens must be permitted to call a halt to urban blight and contamination of their neighborhoods from red light districts. The people of the State of Michigan have declared their intent; the executive branch has moved to enforce that intent through legitimate means. All the process that is due, and then some, has been afforded the defendants in this state’s courts. The remedy fashioned is inadequate to cure the harms. [203 Mich App 276.]
Ill
A
In People v Warren, 449 Mich 341, 347; 535 NW2d 173 (1995), we held that "sexual stimulation of a customer’s penis by direct manual contact, in exchange for money,” is prostitution. In reaching [362]*362this conclusion, we rejected the narrow view offered by the Court of Appeals majority in the present case, who would limit the word "prostitution” to sexual intercourse (penile-vaginal penetration).7 We declined in the criminal action at issue in Warren, however, to undertake the task of determining the exact range of behavior that would fall within the term "prostitution.” In the present civil action, we find it similarly unnecessary to categorize the activity at the Dizzy Duck as either prostitution or lewdness.8 It is also unnecessary to the disposition of the matter before us for this Court to adopt the broad definition of prostitution proposed in this case by the dissent.
The nuisance abatement statute includes within its list of abatable conduct both lewdness and prostitution. The majority in the Court of Appeals held that only- certain instances of lap dancing constituted lewdness, while finding that other lap dancing, as well as all the nude dancing and fantasy room activities, did not constitute either lewdness or prostitution. The dissent disagreed, finding that all the activities in question were either lewdness or prostitution, and that the conduct was so pervasive at the Dizzy Duck as to warrant padlocking the establishment. Because we agree with the dissent that all the conduct in question constituted at least lewdness, we find it unnecessary to consider whether some of the activity might also constitute prostitution, or if the definition of those terms overlap.
B
Although variations of the word "lewd” appear [363]*363in several Michigan statutes,9 the decisions of this Court provide no clear guidance with regard to the meaning of the word. In State ex rel Wayne Co Prosecutor v Diversified Theatrical Corp, 396 Mich 244; 240 NW2d 460 (1976), this Court treated the word "lewdness” as being essentially synonymous with the word "prostitution.” However, two things must be said of Diversiñed Theatrical. First, it concerned a motion picture theater. We are not called on today to rule on an issue concerning filmed or videotaped depictions of sexual activity. Principles governing the regulation of filmed activity cannot automatically be applied to live exhibitions. Second, this Court expressed substantial reservations about the Diversified Theatrical analysis in Michigan ex rel Wayne Co Prosecutor v Levenburg, 406 Mich 455; 280 NW2d 810 (1979).10 Noting that Diversiñed Theatrical indicated that only acts of assignation or prostitution are "lewd,” 396 Mich 248-250, this Court said in Levenburg, "We do not accept this dictum as controlling . . . .” 406 Mich 463. This Court then focused on the word "assignation,” leaving for another day the term "lewdness.” 406 Mich 464. The Court did not explore further the meaning of the word until it decided Michigan ex rel Wayne Co Prosecutor v Bennis, 447 Mich 719; 527 NW2d 483 (1994).
Statutory terms are normally interpreted in light of their ordinary meaning, MCL 8.3a; MSA 2.212(1), but definitional aids provide only general instruction in the present case.11_
[364]*364Thus, we are left with the fact that "lewdness” has been understood to have a meaning closely related to the word "prostitution.”12 Diversified Theatrical, 396 Mich 250, n 13; Chicago v Geraci, 30 Ill App 3d 699, 702-704; 332 NE2d 487; 80 ALR3d 1013 (1975). The breadth of what might be lewd cannot be determined,13 but lewdness does include some sexual activities that stop just short of prostitution, as well as scandalous sexual exhibitions.14
As described in the record of this case, lap dancing is lewd. An almost-nude female employee squirming in the lap of a customer for his sexual arousal is conduct that carries one right up to the line where prostitution begins. In State ex rel Miller v Private Dancer, 83 Ohio App 3d 27; 613 NE2d 1066 (1992), there is an extended discussion [365]*365of whether lap dancing is lewdness. The Miller court said that "lap dancing was lewd and tended to incite sensual desire or imagination,” id. at 32, and we agree.
The activities in the fantasy room were also lewd. While there was no physical contact whatever between the employee and the customer, an exhibition of masturbation by an employee who urges a customer to masturbate in her presence is certainly a scandalous sexual exhibition. It is, therefore, lewd conduct.
For the same reasons, the nude dancing was lewd to the extent, and only to the extent, that it involved masturbation or other sexual activity, as described by the Court of Appeals dissent, on stage.15
c
The circuit court found that none of the activity taking place at the Dizzy Duck was prostitution. It found two activities that were abatable nuisances —assignation for prostitution, and lap dancing when done for the purpose of masturbation. We find that all the lap dancing was lewd conduct, and that the activities in the fantasy room and a portion of the nude dancing were lewd conduct.
In light of these holdings, we vacate the judgments of the circuit court and the Court of Appeals, and remand this case to the circuit court for further consideration of the issue whether the establishment should be padlocked. MCR 7.302(F)(1).
[366]*366Brickley, C.J., and Cavanagh, Boyle, Riley, Mallett, and Weaver, JJ., concurred.