# Why Do Strippers Use Those Poles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 28, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584 "2004-06-28T18:05:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/1 "2004-06-28T18:05:58Z")
I haven’t been to a strip bar for many years, but when they’re shown on TV in “Dateline” features or on the “Sopranos”, there usually seems to be a vertical pole on the stage that the “dancers” are leaning on, hanging from, twirling around, or otherwise posturing with. It doesn’t appear to me to make things extra sexy. So, what is the purpose of this? I’m looking for a factual answer, hence the posting in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/2 "2004-06-28T18:11:12Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > It doesn’t appear to me to make things extra sexy. It does. Some of them are very athletic and do some surprising things. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/3 "2004-06-28T18:16:02Z")
They have a purely practical purpose: They’re there so that the girls will have something to hold onto in the event of a drunken idiot (or several) trying to pull them off the stage. Hold on tight, and keep kicking until the bouncers/samaritans/cops show up. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/4 "2004-06-28T18:21:20Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > They have a purely practical purpose: I thought the practical purpose was to have a prop. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/5 "2004-06-28T18:23:02Z")
Larry’s point is a good one. The main reason, though, is that it just gives them something to do. Most strippers (I know, there’s always exceptions) aren’t actually talented dancers. They’re mostly bored women going through the motions of stripping to the same shitty songs. The pole gives them a way of moving around besides just shuffling their feet and gyrating a little. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/6 "2004-06-28T18:35:53Z")
They’re part of the Secret Entrance to the Batcave. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/7 "2004-06-28T18:43:01Z")
I was watching an episode of “Family Business” on Showtime a couple weeks ago and it featured a woman just getting into pole dancing. The more experienced dancer she was working with said something about if the new girl felt nervous she could lean on the pole. She didn’t mention drunken idiots but this was in LA which I guess has that six-foot or ten-foot law so maybe that’s not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/8 "2004-06-28T18:43:40Z")
It’s a prop. A dancer can use it as a surrogate partner - ie hug it, caress it, lick it, etc. Or she can use it as support for moves as simple as leaning her back against while she slides up and down to as difficult as wrapping one leg around it and spinning on it. While I can’t say it would never be used as an anchor while a customer tried to grab a dancer, it would be unusual for that to happen. Poles are usually up in the middle of the stage and a customer would be most likely to try to grab a dancer when she was near him at the edge of the stage. If on the other hand, a customer tried to climb on to the stage while a dancer was near the pole, her usual reaction would be to flee him rather than wait there and hold onto the pole. The main defense dancers have against unruly customers is the presense of large bouncers not a pole. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/9 "2004-06-28T19:23:14Z")
It’s a ten-foot pole to show the more repulsive customers what they wouldn’t touch them with. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/10 "2004-06-28T19:37:15Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > the “dancers” are leaning on, hanging from, twirling around, or otherwise posturing with. Err…to give them something to lean on hang from, twirl around and otherwise posture with. Because leaning, hanging and twirling give a whole new set of possiblies as far as displaying ones body. And because posturing with something implies posturing with someone…but having an actual guy up there would not be popular (or, alternatively, would be a lot more expensive show 😃 ). I dunno, I’m female and haven’t been to a strip club in ages but it seems pretty straightfoward to me. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/11 "2004-06-28T21:21:33Z")
We’ve gotten this far without it being explicitly said? IT’S A **DICK**! A penis, a trouser snake, Little Wally, the General Lee, the banana that’s not just a banana, Anna. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strippers-use-those-poles/252584/12 "2004-06-29T01:07:06Z")
Let me see if I understand you correctly, **Boyo Jim**. You’re saying the pole is _gasp_ a _phallic symbol_? 😛