Strippers: Five Truths

There are many misconceptions, ideas, fantasies and judgments about strippers. And while I really can’t speak for anyone but me, I wanted to shed some general light on five topics that always come up when I speak about my nine-year career on the pole.

Strippers Don’t Hate Men

Most men in a stripper’s world are customers, and honestly, we don’t really feel much about them. Like any business relationship, there is a separation of emotion from the deal. Every customer is a business deal; every tip is a sale.

Occasionally there are men who cross the invisible friendship line, but that’s rare. If a male friend came in the club to hang out with us and he didn’t have money, there wouldn’t be much hanging out.

Seeing a good amount of wedding rings in the crowd did taint my view on men, but there was never any hate. A lot of therapy, but never hate.

So fellas, you can knock the chip off your shoulders when it comes to strippers. We don’t really hate you – we just hate when you don’t tip.

It’s Dirtier Than You Think

Everyone knows porn is dirty, so for the sake of this post, the dirty I speak of is literal. You Germaphobes may want to bust out the hand sanitizer for this part (Howie Mandel is logging off as we speak).

Think about money for a second. Think about how many fingers touch money and how many places a dollar bill has been. Now multiply that money in to hundreds of bills stuffed in a garter on your thigh. Add a little sweat in to the mix and, viola! you have a germ orgy. It’s common for tiny red bumps (I called them Cash Rash) to appear on any given thigh. It’s not pretty, but it’s real. Nothing a little soap and water wouldn’t cure in between sets.

After painting a picture for you about how dirty money is, do I really need to get in to the stage and pole? Stripping is dirty, people.

 We Are Not “Just stripping to pay for College”

This is a delicate subject, because I don’t mean to imply strippers aren’t smart, educated or have professional goals outside of grabbing their ankles for a buck. I’m simply tell you that most of the bitches I worked with in the 90’s were as far away from a campus as Chaka Khan was to a flat iron.

College takes time, energy and an enormous amount of focus. How could we engage in such a demanding world when we’re up until four in the morning and sleeping until noon?

In all my years on the pole, I met only one woman who was in school. There’s always the exception to the rule. I marvel at those.

We Have Issues

Like any person who takes a different path than most in life, strippers have their reasons. Those reasons can be hard to face and some may never dig deep enough to hit the ocean floor, so they tread in a sea of sharks.

My personal story will unfold in the safety of these words, but for now I’ll say that nothing for me was so lost that couldn’t be found. Even if I didn’t know what I was missing at the time.

I pass no judgment saying strippers have issues. I’m the first to say I had (and still have) a bucket load. One of the beautiful things about life is realizing that we’re human.

We Are Not Prostitutes

There will be more on this later, but I wanted to dispel the myth that all strippers are prostitutes. If you look up prostitution in the dictionary you’ll read:

“Prostitution: The act or practice of engaging in promiscuous sexual relations especially for money”.

I’m not debating the act of sexual entertainment. I danced naked for money, for fucks’ sake. That said, I want to bring to your attention a line in the sand where this topic is concerned.

There are many types of strippers, so it’s impossible to say there were none who crossed the line from performing on stage to performing a hand job under the table. But from my personal experience, I can say the majority of us really were just dancers who dropped trou for a buck.

21 thoughts on “Strippers: Five Truths

  1. I AM stripping to pay for college. Although, truthfully, I could pay for college by working a lot of hours but there would be no safety net. Missing a few days of work because of the flu was a huge set back. A fender bender terrified me. A cavity or god forbid my wisdom teeth needing to come out would be catastrophic. I take slight issue with your "how could someone who works until four AM also be in school" point. I make more in five hours of work than my friends do in forty. Stripping gives me the time to focus on school as much as I please. And it's not just physical time…the emotional space that you dictate to constantly accounting and worrying about money is more of a brain suck than I realized. I've known several students stripping to get through school, and at several education levels.


  2. Wow, this life is about as far removed from the one I live as I can imagaine except maybe………I am not saying I am right but, maybe……we all have issues, the girls who go to college and hope that this will finally make their father see them, the ones who have babies at 18, all of us grow up with issues… and we all do what ever we can to pretend like we don't, until we can't…. and then we have two choices, face them or take another drink, or buy another dress, or …..


  3. I think the strippers in college thing is regional. Go to a college town and a huge number of the dancers are indeed in school. I did it in my dancing days, the trick is never to sign up for classes that start before noon.


  4. Yes, you do hate men. If you didn’t hate men, you would not be a professional at leading them on, and then taking their money. Period. By the way, I don’t go to clubs, and I don’t give one single penny of MY hard earned money, to you, or anyone who does what you do. And I don’t need to, I am successful, good looking, and attractive to women.


    1. It’s interesting how your comment is telling me how I feel, and that’s your right – it’s just not the case. It’s not my job to convince you otherwise, so I’m happy knowing how I feel without you agreeing.

      If you read your comment again – it’s easy to see a bit of defense, as well as judgment. It’s not fair to imply that people who tip strippers are unattractive and not successful. But again – you believe what you want.

      You say that strippers are professionals at leading our customers on. That sounds like you’ve maybe been led on, to me, and that sucks – but honestly, it’s a job. Strippers perform a visual service of adult entertainment. Any customer who is “led on” (to what exactly, is under a vast umbrella), is the human equivalent to believing Peter Pan can really fly.

      I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment!


      1. You can counter attack, all you want, but the fact remains that this is YOUR blog, and this is YOU who is so prideful, of a decept filled occupation, that you would actually create a web page dedicated to it. There is no “judgement” involved. You are boastful, about an occupation, that is seeded in hate, towards men. “Customers” give these people money, in exchange for nothing more than the willing suspension of disbelief, and nothing more. I don’t need to “believe” anything, the proof is in the commerce. These people make 6 figure incomes, in exchange for dropping their self esteem. A “job”? Really? How are you contributing to society? Are you building something? Are you repairing something? Are you making the world a better place? No. You are taking advantage of lonely people, and walking home with their money. I am taking the time, to expose it for what it is, nothing more.


  5. Excellent post Christine! Stripping is a great way to make money, because at the end of the day at any job, a paycheck what matters. As long as you’re not a drug dealer or a prostitute any job is respectful…but then again, we dont know what they jorney is all about. I dont understand why there are so many judgments about stripclub. This entertainment was, is and will be. Great way of making money to start up your own business, get an education, buy a house, a car, vacations and all you want. Dancing for 7 years so I know what I’m talking about. Cheers to all hatters :-p


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