I tip the women who are good dancers, to encourage good dancing. I do not sit at the runway because that might leave me feeling like I have to tip the woman on that runway, whether or not she is a good dancer.
Around here (Santa Clara County; not sure if it’s a state thing or not) “fully nude” places can’t serve alcohol, so you get a lot of bikini bars. In those, alcohol is fine.
Long ago I was in King’s Cross in Sydney, the town’s amusingly well-kept red light district. It was the only place in the city open after midnight, with dessert places, strip clubs, and whatnot. It was policed, and at least half of the folks on the street were tourists, of all ages and descriptions. It was a bit like an Epcott Center version of a red-light district. I was walking with two friends I’d met in Australia, one resident and a woman who was a tourist.
We happened on a friend of his, who was employed as a “barker” at the front of a strip club. These guys would try to talk you into coming inside, for a fee. My friend had wondered how this worked, so he asked (the barkers pay a fixed fee per customer; they get whatever they can get from the passerby.) While they were talking, the woman darted inside. The barker gave my friend a worried look, and he just said “Don’t worry: I’m sure she’s just looking, and she can handle herself.”
A few minutes later, she came out and made a face, saying “I was the only woman in there who wasn’t working!” Evidently it was quite different from strip clubs in Amsterdam, where couples go.
I took her word for it on both accounts.
In any case, I think you should find a female “colleague” and do your own research, and make it a point to visit several different places. My experience is limited to two fairly classy clubs in Windsor (stag parties, 30 years ago). The places were well-maintained, clean, efficient & professional seeming security, and ridiculously expensive drinks. IIRC, there were a few couples, but it was mostly men, mostly in small groups, plus a few parties like ours. My sense of these places was that a couple wouldn’t have had any difficulties; an attractive woman alone might have had to refuse a lot of drinks but would have been safe due to the obvious presence of security. The security was visibly but discreetly enforcing the “no touch” rules (a tricky line to walk, if you think about it: make it clear that the rules were to be followed, but not to offend any patrons.)
I was living in Ann Arbor at the time. I don’t know why but evidently the best strip clubs for the purpose were across the border in Windsor.
Several (more than 10, I think) years ago, wife and I were driving home from dining out. We happened to be driving by a local club when I jokingly suggested we stop in. She said she wanted to see one on the inside for herself. So we stopped.
I’ve been to a few joints over the years - maybe a dozen times total (I’m now 42). It’s been at least 5 years since the last time I went to one. No desire to go - just not my thing. Anywho…
I remember it being a really slow night. It was probably a weeknight. This place has their main floor with the stage and everything, plus a sunken area off to the side with 5-6 pool tables. I suggested maybe we just play a couple games of pool or something so she could observe from the sidelines.
While we’re down there, our waitress pretty much just hangs out with us the whole time. There was no one else in the pool area, so I suppose we were the only customers in her section. We were there probably an hour, with my wife chatting up our waitress, asking a bazillion questions about the place, dancers, and everything. It also happened that the dressing room was off the pool area where we were, so all the dancers were coming and going through where we were. The waitress would stop them, introduce us, and we would chat with the dancers too.
Before that night, the wife was always a little negative about me going. Since then, she has been all for it. Never a negative comment and often handing me out some cash from her purse to make sure I tipped well.
Girls of my acquaintance who work(ed) in strip clubs generally hated all-girl or mixed groups. Lower tips, fewer lap dances, according to them.
I went as the female guest at a bachelor party probably fifteen years ago (I’ve also been to strip clubs in Thailand, but they really aren’t the same thing at all). I dressed in jeans and a baggy sweatshirt and a ballcap to not stand out. I was the only woman there not dancing. For the most part, the dancers ignored me - when the guys I was with wanted to buy me a lap dance, they had a hard time finding a dancer who would do it. St. Paul MN, so “girls under glass” - nude only in a desperate building (the wall between the buildings being glass) and lingerie in the main room. This was NOT a high class place - it was the type of dive that had dollar tacos and strippers.
(The strip club was the best thing about the night - to go I had to commit to the experience - the beer was horrible, and the cigar made me sick for three days. But it was my best friend getting married).
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St. Paul MN, so “girls under glass” - nude only in a desperate building (the wall between the buildings being glass) and lingerie in the main room. This was NOT a high class place - it was the type of dive that had dollar tacos and strippers.
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Ah, so it WAS a “desperate” building 
“nude only in a desperate building”
Band name!
This brings back memories of a horrible date I had about 40 years ago. Honestly, I had no idea what the guy was thinking when he took me to the strip joint - I guess he hoped I would get all turned on or something.
It was in San Diego - I have vague memories of high-sided seats facing a stage. A “dancer” would writhe to some current rock hit, then the lights would go off, and in a few seconds when they came back up, she’d be wearing less and dancing to another song from the charts. Repeat till she was naked, then the next girl would take the stage. During the brief time I was there, there were no lap dances or any interaction between the “dancers” and the patrons. I don’t even recall if there was alcohol.
I was about 20, very naive, and pretty well grossed-out by the whole evening. Needless to say, I never went out with that guy again. ick.
The times I’ve seen it the women seem to want to throw money around more than the men.
Depends on the establishment. Some encourage it. Some I could never imagine any women in it.
Going by the one time I went with a drunk bi FWB I can say that women get away with a lot more than men. She was getting pretty frisky with the dancers and only got a very exasperated “Please don’t do that” from the bouncer. I promised I would attempt to control the situation. A guy would have had his face stomped.
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Anything I do NOT do for them does not cost them anything, so please get that out of your head first thing.
I can’t help what you have seen, but, in every strip club I have been in, you pay a cover charge that ‘covers’ your being there. You buy drinks, and you are a customer. These things pay for what you do. If I go to a club with a band, the cover takes care of what I do; if the club owner doesn’t pay the band, I have cost the band nothing, neither have I taken money from their children.
The naked babes are decor in a club that that sells drinks, and I have paid an entry fee-it is madness to say that, once inside, legitimately, that I must pay to look.
The cover pays for my right to look at the naked women there. No strip club would think of charging a cover if there were no naked women all around, because there would be nobody patronizing those otherwise shitholes.
If every seat is full and there’s a line to get in, you are absolutely costing the dancers money.
If the place is only mostly full and the seats you are in would be empty if you weren’t there, then you are not costing them anything. But you paid your cover charge and drank the minimum drinks, so the club got it’s share and it is happy.
I’ve been to strip clubs with my wife a couple of times. She’s bi, so she enjoys it, too.
I haven’t been to many strip clubs, maybe 7 times in my 40 years, but there was always at least one female customer there. Even at the skeezy one I was at in Vegas for bachelor party. Then we went to one of the nicer one just off the strip and women patrons were everywhere. Not nearly as numerous as the men, but there were A LOT!
Wrong again. I am costing them nothing.
They are not getting what they want, and there is no imaginary income that you are projecting, but, that is between them and management.
According to your model, if I drive by, and don’t even go in, I am costing them money. It doesn’t work that way.