Stripclubs According to Strippers Part 3
Exposing Workplace Sexual Violence
Part 3, Women's Thoughts on Stripping
© Kelly Holsopple, 1998
Money
Women in stripping are overwhelmingly motivated by the promise of wealth or a will to survive (Skipper and McCaghy 1970; Ronai 1992; Thompson and Harred 1992). Stripclub owners, managers, pimps and the media portray stripping as a glamorous way to earn big money fast and use this strategy to lure young women into stripping. Women in this study report the best part of stripping to be the money. "The only part that keeps me there is the money". At the same time, women are trapped and disappointed by the money. "I hated it…but glad I had it at the time for the income." "Women are reduced to exposing genitals for $1 bills." "It pays the bills… if we could pay bills another way we would." "The bar owners and management are exploitative, they steal money." "It’s hard to get out because of the money." With respect to the money strippers seek to earn, they in turn must pay out fines, kickbacks, 100% of their social security insurance and taxes, travel and hotel expenses, and the costs for costumes, tanning, and plastic surgery. Women report that they have to have the right attitude to make money (Ronai 1992). This ordinarily was described as being drunk, high or numb (Forsyth and Deshotels 1997). Others feel it required tolerance. "The ability to ignore customers for just being there." Most women say it is easier when the men are tipping regularly and when they do not have to interact with men intimately. Women acknowledge that strippers measure their worth according to the amount of tips they earn and that they want attention, acceptance, and approval from the customers because it brings money (Futterman 1992).
Skills
Women in stripping feel it doesn’t take much skill to be a stripper (Forsyth and Deshotels 1997; Skipper and McCaghy 1970). "It would be nice to say women need dance talent but it’s not true." "Tits, pussy, and blonde hair is all it takes." Instead they referred to dissociation to abuse. "It takes a willingness to do it…anybody can do it." "It takes somebody who can shut themselves off and be really fake." "…the ability to take a lot of abuse." They state a stripper needs a good head on her shoulders, an open mind, guts, strength, and survival skills. They believe they need abuse counseling, a lifeline from the "outside world", and education about what’s really going on. "Need to know they have options, that they aren’t always going to be a ‘ho’." Women in stripping want a union to protect strippers, decent working conditions, fair treatment, and an end to cruelty by management. Lastly, strippers think that women and girls don’t know what they are getting into when they first start dancing. "It’s really harmful because it is so benign, so accepted." "Girls think they will have fun dancing and get paid, they have no idea they have to fight men’s hands, and dicks, and tongues, and then fight for every fucking dollar bill you earn." "It was a lot different than I originally thought."
Men
The women in this study condemn the men associated with stripping and the impact stripping has on them as the worst parts of stripping. Women do not like the way customers treat them (Thompson and Harred 1992). Furthermore they say they do not like talking to customers, asking men for money, and resent having to have to deal with them at all. They find customers irritating because they are drunk and have negative attitudes towards women. Women characterize customers as scum, psycho mama’s boys, rapists and child molesters, old perverted men, idiots, assholes, and pigs. Strippers are largely disgusted by customers and describe them as pitiful and pathetic, stupid and ignorant, sick, controlling and abusive. "They smell so sour, they breathe very heavy and kind of wheeze when women are near." "They are weak abusers who have to subordinate women and girls to feel like a man." "I see my dad. They’re old enough to be my father." "Yuck. I am repulsed by the sight, sound, smell, and touch of them." "I’m embarrassed for them." The women offer insightful evaluations of stripclub customers. They say that these men do not know how to communicate. Moreover, they perceive that customers are out of control, have power and abuse problems, and will do anything to degrade women because they hate women. Strippers also state that customers want a free show and think women are cheap. In contrast, a few women positively perceived some customers as nice and added they are thankful to those who tip well.
Women in this study undoubtedly denounce stripclub owners as pimps and "glorified pimps" and maintain that owners misuse power and are sick. The women also label managers as pimps citing that they mistreat women, that they make every attempt to take money from the women, and that they are sick because they are affiliated with the industry and know the harm they do. Strippers accuse managers of being threatened and jealous of the money women make and that women are just a dollar to management. Finally, women refer to staff music programmers, doormen, bartenders, bouncers, floorwalkers, and valet as wanna-be pimps because they always want to be tipped. The women see staff as derelicts who can’t get a job anywhere else and who think they are cool for working in a stripclub. Strippers perceive staff as creepy and disrespectful and as "looky-lous" who just want to look at naked women for free. Women criticize staff by pointing out that at least owners are making big money. Few women had positive responses, but those that did felt they got along well with staff and had no real hard feelings.
Clearly strippers’ attitudes about men are impacted by the activities in stripclubs. Women say they don’t like men and men are worthless. Likewise women believe stripping inhibits their ability to be involved in a normal relationship. "It affects your lovelife and feelings about men." "Nice boyfriends can’t handle it." "Too large a percentage of men fit into category of customer and I do not want to hate men."
Stripping
Women in this study expressed mostly negativism regarding their experiences in stripping with themes of abuse, deception, drugs, and low self-esteem. "I would never do it again. It was degrading." "No doubt that it led me to prostitution and my pimp." "Taught me how to control men and gave me a false illusion of control. Takes a long time to regain self-control." "Don’t do it. Once you do it, it is hard to get out." "If there is any way you can avoid it…it is hard to get out once you start." "I wouldn’t recommend it. It is too stressful and I am always comparing myself to other women on the outside." "I wish I had put more money away and had more education by the time I quit. I just didn’t know it wasn’t about success for us, it was about using us." "I spent my entire young adulthood being abused. It is hard to undo all this." "Drugs destroyed beautiful, healthy women." "I blame the men…it is all bad. I didn’t think highly of myself while I was in stripping, but I am glad I got out of it by standing up for myself." "It is hard to view myself for who I am and my accomplishments rather than how I look and attention from men. I got this from stripping."
Some women expressed fascination with stripping. "It has been an experience of a lifetime. I’ve seen everything…some crazy shit." "I have never seen things like I have seen in stripping. It is weird." Still others felt positively about their experience. "If it wasn’t for the money I made at it, I would have nothing right now. "It has its ups and downs, but I always enjoy the music and dancing and the attention." "I have been extremely fortunate as far as what happened in stripping. It provides a good life, but I look at it as a job, work day shifts and work a straight job at the same time." A few women also determined positive outcomes for themselves from their involvement in stripping. "It served its purpose as a group for a sense of belonging." "Helped me recognize what is right and wrong, and what is right and wrong for me." "After surviving it I felt strong." "Stripping distracted me from my personal problems that led me into stripping…no way could I have held normal job with the problems I had."
Above all, women in stripping reject the popular image of stripping and clarify the common misperceptions about stripclubs. "That no one touches you, women enjoy it, and it’s okay for men to go there." "That women actually get to wear a costume and actually get to dance." "That we get sexually aroused doing this." "That men are there to have harmless fun, when they are really there to abuse women." "That it is a big party and that the women want to be there for some reason other than money, like sex or to meet men or because they are nudists or exhibitionists." "That you are doing things you want to be doing." "That they are not degrading us because girls always are justifying it with college." "That it is not prostitution." "That it is glamorous, fast money, easy work, way to get ahead."
DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Men associated with stripclubs use force and coercion to establish sexual contact with women in stripping, proposition women for prostitution, intentionally inflict bodily harm upon the women, and expose themselves to the women. These actions are prohibited by law, yet when these crimes are committed against women in stripclubs, the general attitude that strippers deserve what they get prevails. Women’s complaints of abuse are met with contempt and are dismissed by owners, managers, and staff. Women are customarily told to ignore abuse and have been rebuffed with "Go bend over and do your job" and "You have to expect a certain amount of that." In the case of women in stripping, enduring sexual violence is part of her job description. Women in stripping are expected to endure these abuses, degradations, and humiliations with a smile and a "Thank You".
The degree of sexual violence perpetrated against strippers explodes the myths about stripping as harmless entertainment. The verbal harassment, physical and sexual abuse, and financial exploitation women suffer in stripclubs is unparalleled in any other legitimate workplace. Women in stripping are subject to actions that would be perceived as assaultive or a least unwanted in any other context or were directed against other women. Stripclubs allow men to use and abuse women in a manner that is not tolerated in any other business.
The organization and conditions of stripclubs not only produce and reproduce gender inequality, but facilitate and normalize men’s violence against women. Sexual violence has been normalized, institutionalized, and legalized in the stripclub industry as socially sanctioned male behavior. Stripclubs and the men associated with stripclubs have turned acts of violence into entertainment and tied male sexual pleasure to victimizing and exploiting. Stripclubs are structured according to male domination and control, and are inherently violent. It is impossible to set up stripclubs without sexual violence and that is reason to challenge the legitimacy of stripclubs.
Future research should address men associated with stripclubs and their views on women in stripping and stripclub activities. An exploration of why stripclubs exist, an explanation of why men go to stripclubs, and a description of how stripclub owners and government policy establish the tone and culture of stripclubs are also in order. Future research should explore gender role socialization and female strippers’ perceptions of sexual harassment and violence. The definition of sexual harassment should be tested with strippers to learn if they perceive actions differently than women in other workplaces. In turn, strippers’ rights in the workplace must be considered. Studies focused on women’s emotional and psychological response to violence in stripclubs, including drug and alcohol abuse, should be conducted.
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