My sister is # 2 prostitute in all of Kazakhstan. I am very proud.
HIGH FIVE!!!
I wouldn’t mind if my sister was a stripper. I could play it off for comedy somehow.
“What does she do for a living? Well, she makes some people really happy.”
I wouldn’t be proud, and, uh, definitely wouldn’t go to see her perform. But…yeah, she’s my sister. She’s already made what I consider a bad career move and I still love her, support her, etc. If it was ‘take this job or possibly starve’, I’d sure as hell support her, and feel highly negative towards anyone who didn’t.
No.
I have much more respect for a lady who shows some skin than I do for one who wants to sit on her ass and collect off the public dole.
The idea of my sister taking a dollar from my hand with her boobs while I remind her that Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dads is at 4PM is interesting, though. 
As long it was something that made her happy, why not. She could do a lot worse.
No. My sister is very smart and could do whatever she wanted to if she could only put her mind to it. If I found out she was stripping instead of studying, I would be very disappointed. My sister is 20 years old and very angst-y, so it’s hard for her to find time for school that could otherwise be devoted to contemplating the darkness of the universe. And also the evilness of our parents for making her clean her room.
So, that’s a personal, non-generic answer. I don’t think there’s anything inherently bad about stripping or anything, but I think my sister could do a lot better.
Which episode of Jerry Springer was the family on?
I’m picturing the parent-teacher conference.
“Well, actually, Timmy’s sister is a lawyer, but… you can’t say that in front of an 8-year-old.”
Count me in with the “not exactly proud, but certainly not ashamed” crowd. It doesn’t matter to me if she’s capable of “more”–if she’s healthy and happy, by god, I’m happy for her. I doubt I’d ever think of going to see her on my own, since boobie bars aren’t really my thing, but if she wanted me to see her work, or wanted a show of support, I would absolutely go. I would probably be uncomfortable, but I would go to make her happy.
Far as I’m concerned, it’s just a job like any other. Yeah, it’s got some not-so-pleasant, not-so-glamorous parts, but what job doesn’t? I mean, I spend a large part of my working life scooping dog shit and mopping up puke, and I don’t make anything remotely resembling what strippers make. Does that mean my family ought to be ashamed of my dirty, degrading job?
A long time ago, I went to a strip bar and the dancer–stoned out of her mind–was the younger sister of my ex girlfriend. Awkward. I tipped her five bucks and hoped she didn’t recognize me.
No…When I girl becomes a stripper, it’s a sign that something has gone pretty much terribly wrong with her life.
Okay, that’s fucked up. Not at all what I was expecting to see. Sounds like the mom was trying to embarass her out of the job by making the family go to see her work. Which is still fucked up.
To be honest, one’s feelings about it are necessarily embedded in the situation, and anybody who says otherwise is just lying. If you sister’s choice is between being a stripper and supporting a child or being homeless and giving the child up to social services, what kind of person would expect her to take the latter? A functionally illiterate girl from a trailer in Mancelona, Michigan doesn’t have a lot of options. If stripping can give her a shot to save up some money for an education and a future, then anybody not proud of that should seriously reevaluate their moral universe.
Let’s just say if it was my sister. . .I DEFINITELY wouldn’t hold it against her.
But…that’s to say that every stripper is there because she has to be, and not one is there because she wants to be.
I’m not sure I agree with that sentiment.
Yes, then she could refinish all my antiques.
What?
What’s worse, a stripper that has to be or a stripper that wants to be?
I’m not sure there’s a “worse” here. The sentiment seems to be that in every equation, something has gone terribly wrong, so the woman HAD to take a career as a stripper.
Which, y’know, says nothing about the woman that takes a job as a stripper to pay for college on her own, experience a sense of female empowerment, or simply to enjoy a six-figure income with a minimal educational background.
But whatever. I’ve got no horse in this race. I just thought this thread could use a dissenting opinion.
I used to work with a girl whose mom would come in and bum money off of her while she was dancing. That was the weirdest thing to me. Her mom was really really proud of her. But, they didn’t come from much, and my friend was making good money, and the rest of her family wasn’t.
As for myself, I wouldn’t have expected my family to be “proud” of my decision to dance, but I did pay my way through college and live completely independently as a result of the job.
It used to bother me when people would disparage strippers and stripping for a living. But, I’ve come to realize that a lot of people will just never understand what leads a young woman to do it and what keeps a lot of us there. I never “had” to dance, I chose it, and sometimes I still choose it. It’s part of who I am and I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of. If it bothers people, I guess they should stay out of the bars.
And I for one am glad that someone has put that opinion across! Maybe things are a little more relaxed over here then they are for you Merkins, but I for one, and I’m sure a lot of people I know would agree, would have no problem whatsoever with my sister being a stripper. A little concerned at first, maybe; a little intrigued, (hell yeah!), but not at all ashamed or embarrassed.
And while I probably wouldn’t make the offer to go and see her, if she asked me and a bunch of friends along, I’d probably go for the laugh. That said, I am female. I am sure my brother would feel differently, but again, there would be no shame or embarrassment, I am sure.
In fact, if I didn’t live in such a small town, I would probably consider it myself. I intend to return to higher education, and I know it’s going to be a problem supporting myself while putting myself through school. Where I live, I know nearly everyone, and a large part of my family work in the club industry, so it wouldn’t be ideal, but in a university town, where I know very few people, it wouldn’t be a problem.
I see Indygrrl on preview, and I think she sums it up pretty well with: I never “had” to dance, I chose it. I think that is what some people find difficult to understand.