Wants to be.
I’d completely support my sister if she was to choose to strip.
Of course then she could pay back the money she owes me 
And I agree with Indygrrl. I don’t see stripping as anything but a job. As long as the choice was made freely I don’t see anything wrong with a stripper making 3-6 times more than I make pushing paper!
And why is that?
I think any situation that forces someone into something they don’t want to do is bad. If someone chooses to do something, it is of their own free will, and I don’t see why people have a problem with that. You might not like a woman who enjoys that path, but it doesn’t mean she’s wrong, it just means you don’t like it.
I think it’s no big deal. Granted, the context thing is important, I’m always happy to crab about the behavior of other people if I know the whole story, so having first hand experience of their track record on other family issues might change my vote. But regarding the details as outlined in the OP, I think it’s not a big issue.
It’s a job, it’s legal (or at least, I assume it’s legal where she lives), some people like the support of family at a new job. If the family is comfortable visiting a strip bar together, it’s no different (to me) as going out for a meal at a restaurant where a family member is waitressing. With my own personal family, I wouldn’t want them to go to the bar, but then again, I wouldn’t want them at a restaurant either, they just drive me nutty in a large group when I’m trying to work.
It is hard to understand because I really don’t see how someone could put up with the things that are said to them, or crawling across a bar naked to pick up a dollar, or PAY the people who “employ” them, unless they actually HAD to.
I think some people have a romantic notion of a girl dancing sensuously in front of gentlemen, wearing pasties and losing her top for 2 seconds before the song ends, and raking in $500 in cash night after night.
What I’ve seen is girls sitting on a drunk guy’s lap who is rubbing his boner against her crotch while he tells her things like “wouldn’t you love to be fucking me?” And she has to do that about 6 times in a night just to make enough money to pay the club. Then, she gets to slide on a pole for another few bucks several times per night.
And, she’s over the hill by the time she’s 30 with shit-all to show for it.
I get that there’s much classier clubs than the ones I’ve been to in Baltimore. But, I’ve also been in clubs in Vegas, and somehow I suspect that the girls aren’t really getting a taste of the $45 I pay for 3 beers, but are more likely making their nut from the “party” back at her apartment she invites you to. I wouldn’t want my sister doing that, either.
If I could enter the Way Back Machine, and no one I would know would see me strip and the clients wouldn’t touch me, I would do it in a heart beat for the cash.
My experience is more of your romantic notion than your second description. Maybe that’s why I’ve had a good experience doing it. It’s not all wine and roses, but it’s not as bad as you’re making it sound.
I’ve seen what you’re talking about, but most attractive women don’t have to rub boners to make money, especially if they’re in a nice club. It happens, but my experience is nowhere near as filthy as you’re making it sound.
As for over-the-hill at 30, maybe in some cases, but I’m 30 and no one would say I’m over-the-hill. (I don’t dance full-time though, just occasionally)
I don’t believe there can be many strippers making six figures. Actually, I’m skeptical as to whether there are any strippers making six figures. Maybe some of the fancy Las Vegas showgirls (maybe), but certainly not those “in your typical shabby bar environment” as described in the OP.
Linkie?
I’ve only known one stripper, and she actually stripped in DC because she thought the Baltimore clubs were real shit-holes. Still, it didn’t sound like her club was too classy, and this was NOT a person who had her act together.
But, even at the Hustler club in B-more, which has a $15 cover, and is supposed to be high-class, it was pretty raunchy.
All it says to me is that the notion of the nice gal working her way through med-school the only way she can is – if not non-existant – VERY exaggerated. Because that doesn’t possibly fit any of the strippers in Baltimore.
FWIW, I knew some women that stripped at Deja Vu in Springfield, IL. It was not uncommon for these women to make over $1500 a night on a weekend night, doing nothing more than stripping and lap-dancing. Certainly nothing unseemly.
So yes, strippers can and do make six figures. Easily in many cases.
Being unfamiliar with the strip clubs of Springfield, I must ask, was this a “typical shabby bar”?
I didn’t bother with the link b/c there aren’t any additional details, but here you go
It occurred to me that I probably owe y’all the rest of the story; stripper-girl’s life got worse before it got better. While she was stripping she met a promoter who took her to Japan. I imagine he convinced her she’d be the toast of Tokyo. However she was only there a couple of weeks - apparently, in Japanese strip clubs the patrons are permitted to touch the dancers. I have no idea exactly what happened there, but she didn’t stay long.
Fast-forward to the present day (8 years later?) and she’s completely moved on. She’s a graduate student working in the sciences (kind of makes you wonder about your lab partner, eh?). I don’t think she ever used stripping to pay for school - the two activities didn’t take place concurrently.
I don’t think their mother was employing any kind of thoughtful psychological trick by bringing the family to a show. It was more a case of her trying to normalize her child’s choice and make it desirable. One of the other sisters is a prostitute/sex therapist out West somewhere.
I keep going back and forth on the issue. I would be horrified if my child was a stripper, but I believe it should be kept legal and that prostitution should be legal as well. But the minimum age ought to be something like 23 - keep teenagers away from potentially dangerous choices. Once people start making a lot of money at something, it’s usually quite difficult to give it up.
The female empowerment arguments make sense, but in the shows I’ve seen on HBO it looks pretty degrading, both to the dancers and their customers.
One other caveat - I, personally, have seen a LOT of naked women. Because I’m an artist and I’ve drawn them. So I have a ton of respect for the power of female beauty.
Well, being a franchise, Deja Vu is going to be nicer than your average club.
That said, Springfield only boasts a population of 112,000 people, and Springfield isn’t anywhere near close enough to attract patrons from Chicago or St. Louis. So imagine what strippers can make at Scores in New York, or any of the clubs in Vegas or Chicago.
I wouldn’t be ashamed, would tell her to plan for the future, and would not go see her at her workplace unless she specifically asked me to.
I wouldn’t be ashamed. I wouldn’t be proud. I would be concerned.
If she were healthy and happy and gave me the rationale Indygirl did, that would alleviate my concerns. However, my first thought would be that she had sexual issues, self esteem problems, financial worries, etc. I guess it’s because, to me, stripping would be degrading. If my sister (and I don’t have one) were to convince me that it’s not degrading to her, I’d accept it. But, in all honestly, I’d be worried about her at first.
Porn actresses make a big chunk of their income “featuring” at strips clubs. Some dancers go into porn to be able to feature. On the higher end, they can make six-figures very easily
I can’t even imagine what strippers at Deja Vu in Springfield make, because all I have to go on is your claim that it was “not uncommon” for them to make $1500 on a weekend night. This doesn’t really tell me much about their annual income. To estimate that, I’d have to know what they made on an average night (not a “not uncommon” night) and how many nights per year they worked. Even that estimate wouldn’t give us a very accurate picture without knowing what their work-related expenses were (costumes, cab fare, bikini waxes) and whether they received any kind of benefit package or had to pay for all insurance, etc., out of pocket.
Perhaps strippers at some upscale joints, particularly in big cities, really do make impressive amounts of money. This doesn’t have much bearing on how much the average stripper makes though, which is the subject at hand. Once again, I do not believe there could possibly be many strippers making that much money, and I’d need more than anecdotes about high-end strippers or porn stars to change my mind.
Back to the OP, if she means “proud” literally instead of just “not ashamed”, I can’t imagine being proud that my sibling was able to hold down a job as a stripper in a “typical shabby bar”. What’s to be proud of? Employment at a high-end strip club might be taken as evidence of unusual beauty, charisma, or dancing talent, but shabby bars can’t have such high standards. You might as well be proud that your sister managed to get a job as a waitress at Denny’s…although I would be pretty sure that the average stripper does at least make more money than those poor women.
In special circumstances I suppose I might feel it was something to be quite proud of, like if my sister had never managed to hold down any kind of job before, or if she’d recovered from some near-crippling injury to become an exotic dancer, but such is not the case.
Oh, I did want to address this. I’m not sure if patrons in Japanese strip clubs are officially allowed to touch the dancers, but I do know that no foreigner could get a work visa for a stripping job. She must have entered on a tourist visa. So she may very well have been put in a position where she was forced to tolerate treatment that wasn’t actually legal, and may have been much worse than just groping from the patrons. Since she herself was working in the country illegally, who could she complain to or go to for help?
I wouldn’t be proud or ashamed if my sister were a stripper, any more than I would be if she were a dentist or an architect, as long as she were happy.
A girl I know who works behind the bar at a high-class strip club in Melbourne estimates that if there are reasonable tippers every night, that most dancers made $2,000 or $3,000 a week. However, if tips were bad they made the same amount as the bar staff - sometimes less. But she mentioned that a lot of the women spent a large chunk of their paycheck maintaining their looks - regular facials, waxing, spray tans, etc.
Another girl I know said that her friend used to go to Japan and come back with $25,000 from a week’s worth of stripping, and would travel there at least 10 times a year. When their group went out she would start crying for no reason at all - anytime, anywhere. Apparently she confessed to her friends that she hates stripping (although at $25,000 for a week’s work I would be very surprised if stripping were all she did)