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[–]her_name_is_cherry 1 point2 points ago


I agree that people don't tend to see it as an "honest" job, but I wonder if they recognize the hypocrisy of that statement. Demand drives the supply - strippers wouldn't get paid so much if people weren't willing to pay. That's really all it boils down to and it's a function of capitalism - honesty has nothing to do with it. Are movie stars worth the millions of dollars they command for doing something most anyone could do? Are professional athletes in the NFL or the NBA or the NHL worth the millions they earn for playing a game?

The answer is yes, because the demand is there and people are willing to pay for it. Questions of a moral nature of "deserving" as you put it, don't really enter into it. Are they immoral for taking the money they're offered? I think most people would say, no - they're just playing the hands they're been dealt. So are we. So is everyone. I needed money for school - was my alternative to say no and give up my education because I couldn't afford it, even with scholarships, or to use the means at my disposal to get it? I enjoyed my work - should I have refused pay for something I enjoyed doing, merely because of how some people view it? If someone was going to pay you for something you liked to do, what are the odds that you (or anyone) would say no? In addition - most of the girls use it to get somewhere else - to get an education, invest, or to start a business. That old adage about "working my way through college" is truer than people want to admit. Few dancers want to be a strippers forever - why should they not use the means at their disposal to get a step-up to a better life situation?

And...while it is easy money for what it is, it's not necessarily easy. There is "physical labour" involved. Quite a bit actually - being on your feet in six inch heels for eight hours at a time kills your back. I would frequently leave work covered in bruises and sorer than I've ever been working at a coffee shop. Additionally, at the club I worked at, many of the girls had been fully trained dancers - Splits, insane poll tricks, upside down holding on with one leg, arm lifts - something no one can do unless they are quite fit. I realize this isn't the case at all clubs, but mine was quite high end and the girls are gymnast quality in terms of performance. Most of the girls I worked with spent an hour or two at the gym every day - not just to look the way they do, but to be able to do the tricks. They work hard for their bodies most of the time - about 1% of the population walks around looking like that with no work.

[–]CheesewithWhine -1 points0 points ago


Oh come on now.....are you going to seriously argue with a straight face that sex work is a skilled trade?

How much physical work do lumberjacks do? Do they get paid as much as sex workers?

You were able to pay through college just by using your looks. If a male or less attractive female in your situation has to work 2 minimum wage jobs and still can't make ends meet, aren't they allowed to be even a little resentful?

[–]her_name_is_cherry 0 points1 point ago


I'm going to argue that stripping is a trade in which you have to be extremely physically fit to make substantial money. There are a lot of strippers out there who aren't - and they don't make nearly as much. Contrary to what a lot of people believe - not all strippers make a ton of money. Notice I didn't say "sex work is skilled." I said high end, gymnast style strippers are extremely skilled and physically fit and that's what they are. Pole dancing is judged as a sport of physical fitness now - and in my club the crazy pole tricks were the norm. I also worked 12 hour shifts at least twice a week, with a one hour break in between. So I never felt like I was sitting there coasting by - I worked at work, every bit as much if not more than any waitress. I know this because I have been both a stripper and a waitress in my day. Not my fault what I enjoy doing more commands more money or that I was able to work part-time and make a good living.

Different facets of sex work don't require the same physical fitness - prostitution for example is much more niched.

I worked my ass off to get my degree and the grades I got while doing it - some of the girls I worked with were content to just be strippers. But I didn't resent them for not working particularly hard at anything outside of part-time dancing. That's their prerogative and wasting time being resentful of them when I was dying from lack of sleep would have been a negative, not to mention totally pointless expenditure of energy. People are free to of course - although they should resent them no more than models or celebrities if we're going off the "are you worth what you're paid" criterion. People play the hands they're dealt - life isn't fair and no one said it was. Everyone is going to do the best they can with what they've got - you can't ask them to do less.