The Unedited Truth Of What It’s Really Like To Be A Stripper
We all know that strip clubs have been around for a long time and, let’s face it, sex sells, but have you ever wondered what it would be like to be one of those girls spinning around on the pole? Its not as easy as one might think. Many people think our job is to go on stage and shake our ass as cash flies out at us. That is only PART of our job.
First of all, it is not easy to get up on that stage.
I have seen girls panic and just stand there, and I have seen girls get panic attacks in the dressing room and physically aren’t able to perform. It takes balls to get up on a stage in front of a small or huge crowd and strip down to just skin.
This industry is, believe it or not based on self confidence. You have to believe it for yourself that you’re sexy and flawless, otherwise how are you going to sell it to the crowd?
Every girl is different and has her own music and techniques. Some girls like to work the whole slow and do a seductive floor show while others love the thrill of climbing all the way to the top and flinging their body every which way. The tricks that most dancers do on the pole are all self taught, we don’t have some professional come in and teach us. We find the time by either buying our own pole or waiting for the club to slow down and practice. Some stuff comes easily and some stuff takes a lot of time, practice, fails, falls, and injuries.
Secondly, dancers go through HELL! We deal with drunk customers who try to grab us inappropriately all the time, especially during private dances. We get drinks spilled on us, guys who refuse to get dances because they don’t like small boobs, and the rude ones who feel like they don’t have to pay to watch us.
If you are one of the men who feel you don’t have to pay to watch those women take their clothes off, why did you bother walking through that door? It is not okay to sit there and watch for free. I can only stress this so much that for some of the girls in that club, THAT IS THEIR ONLY INCOME. It is not nice to come into the club and treat dancers in a disrespectful manner.
Dancers tend to spend more money on hair, nails, tans, waxes, skin and makeup than normal women, because this kind of thing is part of the job. The expectation of a stripper is to be flawless and beautiful and to meet the needs of your fantasy. As an adult entertainer, it is a requirement to keep up with everything. That means spending hundreds of dollars on shoes, jewelry, makeup, hair products, perfumes and lotions. Which isn’t really a problem because at the end of the day everything that gets bought for the job is a tax write off (yes dancers can file taxes). The way dancers file taxes is a lot different then how a normal person would go about it. W2 forms are not handed out. We go through a tax specialist and have the option to either pay a quarterly amount or we keep track of every receipt, nights we work, stage fees and have the tax specialist prepare our taxes on that information.
The positive thing to keep in mind is that being a stripper isn’t really that bad, nor does it need to be frowned upon.
Strippers are not prostitutes or people who are looking for the “easy way out”. Women on those stages are nurses, teachers, mothers, and even students. Many college students choose to dance because of how flexible the hours are.
This job pays good money and allows bills to get paid quicker or paid off depending if you have some sort of significant debt.
Please don’t judge someone because you know they are a dancer, especially if you are not familiar with the industry. Like any job, there is good and bad.
If you walk into a strip club, don’t treat those girls like a piece of meat. Strippers are people. Human beings. It would go a long way to remember that.