As for not being noticed, if you don’t normally wear a lot of makeup, then add a lot of makeup and a wig. That will camoflage you more than you’d think and gives you plausible deniability.
Also, please take into account what lieu said. If you are looking for a career in politics or law enforcement, or ever want to sit for the bar this may not be a good temporary career option. But if you might go into counseling or social work it will give you a treasure trove of practical experience!
Some men prefer athletic brunettes. It takes all types.
I know several strippers (yeah, well, I just do). Some work five days a week or more, some do it every once in a while to supplement another income.
The general consensus is that while the money is great (far better than one is likely to make even in many skilled jobs for women under 30), there is definitely a personal toll: a high percentage of ‘entertainers’ have severe personality disorders (which, to be fair, usually were there long before they entered the profession), it’s extremely difficult to find a relationship partner for whom the job is not an issue, or who is not some sort of leech; even at the best clubs some of the customers will be drunk, dirty, obnoxious and/or creepy; and the pressure of keeping the job hidden from family and friends can really wear one down.
At high-class topless clubs, the management ostensibly never pressures entertainers to provide sexual favors to customers, and indeed will fire those caught doing ‘extras’. OTOH, some managers will happily turn a blind eye to extras if they get a cut of the proceeds, and managers, kids in a candy store, do tend to hit on the dancers.
There’s a lot of unnecessary drama: while one might think that there would be some solidarity among dancers, actually they tend to treat each other as competitition, and blowups over who gets to sit with a regular (and thus lucrative) customer can be frequent.
All the dancers I know have told me that they got over the shyness very quickly; it may be shallow for a person to be pleased by getting showered with dollar bills on stage and being told that one is gorgeous fifty times a night, but it’s still a thrill for them.
This kind of job works probably out best for someone who has a reasonable degree of self-confidence, a lack of naivete, a finely-honed sense of irony, and more importantly, does not feel she has really to do this for a living. It is definitely NOT for the faint-hearted. The most successful dancers are natural psychologists and would probably make great diplomats.
The OP may want to register with stripperweb.com and check out what some of the members there have to say.
Are people allowed to take photos or videotape at strip clubs? If so, remember those photos or tapes of you will be out there forever. And they will show up to bite you on the ass when you least want or expect it.
I knew a girl who was, and probably still is, a stripper. I’m not sure what the hierarchy of dancers is, but she was popular enough that they used her in the ads in the newspaper, by (stage) name and everything.
Anyway, IIRC, she said that she’d earn up to $2,400 working a three eight-hour nights (Wed, Fri, Sat, or something, IIRC). (In case you’re wondering, I have no reason to believe she was lying - she’s not the type - nor was she bragging.) According to her, this would be a “good” week, but I didn’t get the impression that it was exactly a rare occurence.
AFAIK, she didn’t have sexual relations with the customers, but I doubt this is something she would have told me even if she were.
Oh, and she had the ‘attitude.’ Boy did she ever.
I’ve been in a few strip clubs, not many, but I have read or heard a few things you might want to think about.
I read a newspaper article once in which some of the girls claimed that one drawback to the job was that they learned to look at men differently. As they learned what sorts of manipulations brought big bucks, they naturally started to think that all guys were mostly thinking along the same lines. It isn’t necessarily so, but they were training themselves to think that way - and they knew it. I assume the same thing applies to dancing for women.
El_Kabong has a very valid point. Since you are in college, you might still be able to meet dateable people, but tellling them what you do is going to be an issue. Some won’t be able to handle the concept of his/her girl dancing naked, some will think you are a slut, some will do both. Some people will approach you socially, because they saw you dancing, and some will not want to or be afraid to, because they saw you dancing.
Your parents will find out. The following horrible story is true. A guy I met had a college friend who became a stripper. She was murdered. (I met this guy a few months after the murder, and he was still visibly upset, which is one reason I never doubted it’s veracity.) The police initially thought her job had something to do with it. (It didn’t.) Her parents found out about her job when they found out she was murdered. She had always been a “nice” suburban girl, and was lured into stripping by the money. What a horrible, horrible way to find out. If you have the courage to strip, have the courage to tell your parents.
If nothing else, you’ll save yourself considerable embarrassment if mom or dad ever shows up!
As for closed and opened doors, a California academic – a tenured professor of some sort – recently wrote a book about her experiences working as a stripper to put herself through college. I heard about it on NPR in the last week or so, though I don’t recall the name. Obviously, she didn’t experience discrimination, but I think she hid her career very well.
Might want to check her book out. It’s being publicized currently so might be easy to find.
Gee… I am wondering why no one asked this before now.
Why dont you post a naked picture of yourself? 
You have to be used to the idea of being totally naked in front of strangers. You have to be comfortable and relaxed while performing for these strangers and you have to be able to motivate yourself into coming in every night even when you dont really feel like it. You gotta be able to pretend you are sexually attracted to these noisy, drunken, beer bellied, unshaven yahoos as well as the nice looking people. You gotta be able to live with the fact that you may be in a job that a lot of people find degrading, humiliating, exploitive and demeaning.
In other words, you gotta be into it or this will either be a very short career or would seem like an eternity in hell. If you dont see this as a fun job, you arent going to be happy and being happy is all that counts.
OOO that brings to mind a funny situation:
Stripper comes out from behind the curtain, and starts stripping. From the front row comes a voice familiar to the stripper,
“Nadine…??!”
“!! …DAD!!!”
“Oh MY BABY!!”
“MOM??!!”
:eek:
If Omahyra Mota can be a runway model, I’m sure you can make some good bread stripping.
But when, fifteen years down the line, you realize that you have to make a difference and run for your state’s senate seat, this will be dredged up. I’m all for you stripping. If it weren’t for strippers and porno actors, I’d never see a woman naked. Nor do I look down on them for doing what they do. But this will be there and may come back to haunt you. Is this a risk you’re willing to take? It’s not like you have little mouths to feed, after all…
Keep in mind that you’d be seeing humanity’s, particularly the male side of humanity’s, less-than-stellar side. I’d think that stripping would make one awfully jaded, if not downright bitter, when it comes to relationships.
There’s a lot of good advice here. What I can add is that… never mind. I don’t really want to discuss it. My advice is don’t. Sorry, I don’t feel comfortable citing the reasons.
FWIW is there a Hooters in your town? Those girls make pretty good tips, and it might be easier to explain to Mom and Dad.
If you decide to go ahead, I have no moral qualms about it.
Bad idea, I think. The strip clubs I have been in have rules preventing customers from taking photos. They take publicity photos of their strippers at times, but the venues for those photos are limited. You post your naked photo on the Internet just once, it could wind up anywhere. They don’t call it the worldwide web for nothing.
You can be naked in a very limited venue as a stripper, but I’ll bet there are quite a few women whose boyfriends posted their photo to a newsgroup for kicks who have been seen naked by more guys than your average stripper.
I hope you’re going to try to do more research than asking for advice on this message board…?
I typed the words “strip club experiences” into a search engine and there were many returns. Among them was this which purports to be a study done by someone in the business for many years.
I can’t vouch for its veracity but it doesn’t sound that far off from what I’ve been told by the dancers I’ve known, and waitresses at the clubs. Also, FWIW, I do know of one dancer who did engage in prostitution.
Of course, YMMV.
Personally, I hope you decide not to. Good luck whatever you choose to do.
1.) This is a problem, but if you make enough jack, you won’t need your parents’ financial support.
2.) A wig would help disguise you. I would also venture to say that some people would be reluctant to say too much in public, else they would have to admit where they saw you.
3.) Honey, not all of us view blonde Playboy bunnies as the epitome of womenhood. If you’re reasonably attractive and have the right attitude, you have nothing to worry about. There are a lot of losers like me; we’ll shriek with joy and throw $$$ at any good-looking chick who shakes her booty in our faces.
5.) Take a couple of drinks or smoke a joint before going on stage. That should loosen up the ol’ exhibitions.
6.) Many of those people who are going to judge you harshly for being a stripper are going to criticize you for being bisexual, or else they’re going to criticize you for something. Besides, if you are that worried about being categorized. maybe you shouldn’t be posting this in a public forum where it can be seen by everyone and their sister.
Don’t worry about your looks. There is someone for eveyone’s tastes. It is the attitude you project that will have the biggest impact on tips.
Now for my two cents. Keep your mind on why you are doing this. Stripping has a way of getting into girls heads. Easy money and a party atmosphere are tough to let go if you do it for too long. Remember why you are dancing to begin wwith, to get through school.
Also be careful if you are in a serious relationship. After dealing with drunk assholes night after night, you start looking at guys as money machines and nothing else. It could cause serious repercussions between you and your significant other. Don’t throw away a good thing for dancing.
I know what I am talking about. I was married for seven years to a dancer. I watched a lot of her friends lose everything because the industry got ahold of them and destroyed them as a human. Like I said before, do not lose your focus.
Enough of my rambeling.
I wish you the best of luck dancing and later in your chosen career.
Ok, you said that the club in question doesn’t have an amateur night.
Look around, I am willing to bet that there are more clubs around than you would think. Hell, there are three within 5 miles of where I work.
Also, depending on where you are located, you could see if a nearby town has a decent enough place with an amateur night.
It’s my experience that an amateur night tends to draw a more supportive audience in some respects, and people are less likely to be drunken morons… after all, they’re there to support their loved ones.
Hell, if you were close to me, I’d volunteer to accompany you… and I’m in a commited monogamous relationship these days.
Whatever you decide to do, let us know what happens. You’ve got several hundred people who are going to be checking this thread to see what happens.
Do it? Sure, just don’t expect anything other than what it really is.
If you do it, basic advice:
Get good comfortable high-heel dancing shoes, they will save your legs.
Get a costume before hand. If they have an in-house “mother” that makes it, it will be more expensive.
Get ready for the burn. Work out your legs before and and stretch before and after every dance.
Yes, the pole work burns your legs like crazy, watch out.
Hide the string inside, you can fish it out later.
If you have to become an independant contractor, make sure you get your liscence and be sure to pay your taxes. This is a must.
Don’t get drunk/high/stupid at work. It is dangerous and will cost you money if the club has to take care of you.
Drink lots of water and take your vitamins. You are essentially working out without clothes for a job.
Make sure you keep good tabs on your money. Both in the club and after you deposit it. You are doing this to pay your way, not to be Ivana Trump.
Watch out for psycho/druggie/bitchy/stalker fellow dancers. There are women that can be your best friends there, find them.
If you feel threatened at any time, call your local friendly big bored guy. We will gladly throw out any and all customers who are buggin you. It’s what we live for.
Make sure you make tip out. And tip out well. Good feelings towards you, by a bartender, DJ, etc., will get you better shifts and better intros.
If someone you know comes in, don’t worry about it. You will now know who they really are by how they act afterwards.
Porn producers will come in and look for recruits. They will flash drugs and money. Watch out for it.
Watch out for idiot/horny/druggie managers. They can ruin it for everyone.
Men act like idiots in a club. They are children in a playground. Have fun with it. But don’t let it get to far.
Stay grounded with friends who are outside of the business.
My suggestion: Deposit your money into savings as soon as you can. Idle cash only hypnotises you into spending it.
An observation: Parents can sometimes be a lot cooler or more understanding than you think. But you judge that for yourself for your situation.
BytopianDream- the pacifist bouncer:
“I’m sorry sir, you touched her after she asked you to stop.”
“I know she is naked. But you cannot touch her for any reason.”
“Sir if you do not leave, I will escort you out of the club.”
“I really don’t care who your daddy is or who you know.”
“Brutus, if you would please. This gentleman would like to have a conversation outside with us.”
I should get in shape and be a bouncer. Or maybe I could get a stick, and just wave it menacingly.