Money

Obviously, money is a big factor in most people’s decisions to become a stripper. However, the industry is suffering these days for lots of reasons; recession, free porn and, to be honest, how accepting stripping has become makes actually going to strip clubs seem kind of lame for a lot of people. Back in the day, stripping was considered ‘seedy’ and ‘decadent’, these days strip clubs are ten a penny and the mystery is gone. Also, when videos like ‘Two Girls One Cup‘ are being watched by 14 year olds for free; twenty pounds to watch a naked woman take her clothes off seems pretty tame.

The money is also inconsistent. You may make two grand over Christmas and then make barely five hundred all January. For this reason, I’ve known less than ten women who used stripping as their sole source of income. For most, it is a side gig because let’s face it, our shitty office jobs often pay way less than living wage. As a side gig, stripping can be the difference between barely affording rent and being able to actually do a couple nice things for yourself once in a while.

Fame

Some women who are strippers are also glamour models or ring girls. Whatever it is, the women who make a business out of sex appeal are rarely just cashing in at the club. Dancing can be supporting women while they pay for portfolios and publicity and until they get their big break.

Confidence and Self Worth

In a world where women can do literally nothing right, it can be quite nice to take back some of the control. To use your body because you want to, not because the man next to you on the bus has decided to. Unfortunately, the sex industry can be one of the few ways women actually get to have the power and some of the control over how their own sexuality is being exploited. For some, this will sound like a cop out or like I’m dressing up what appears to be objectification of some of the worst kind. Perhaps, I am perpetuating an existing problem by making my sensuality something that is a commodity.

I only know that for myself, outside the stripping world, when I get groped, I had no say in it; when I get cat called, I had no control over how that person viewed me; when I get labelled things like ‘slut’ or ‘frigid’, I didn’t get to decide where the boundaries for those labels were. When I’m dancing, if a customer gropes me or says something I don’t like, a large burly man will escort him from the premises. I get to present an image of me that no one has the ability to tamper with.

Enjoyment

People actually do enjoy working in strip clubs, myself included. People enjoy dancing for different reasons. For me, I enjoy dancing first of all, I’ve always been into dance and love the chance to learn more complex tricks on the pole or learning different ways to impress people through the medium of dance. Second of all, I like the escapism; during the day I work at a call centre, all of my closest friends are male, my shoes are a ripped pair of muddy DMs and my pets are snakes; in the club, I can be whoever. Emi can be a forensic scientist to one customer or a jockey to another. It really doesn’t matter, the outside world with everyone I’ve known is outside and this is a world that I invent and sculpt to my own taste.

Disillusionment 

This may seem like a strange one but very few women ‘knew’ they would become strippers – usually something happens that means the opportunity presents itself as a viable solution. For me, I was at university and working in retail full time. I was making £6.75 per hour and the job afforded me an extra beer once in a while but I got sick of it. The work was gruelling, long and unfulfilling for me and I felt deeply undervalued and underpaid. I felt like there HAD to be an alternative.

I remembered going to a strip club when I was 18 and chatting to one of the girls and thinking that £20 to take your clothes off for three minutes seemed like quite a sweet deal. A week after that, I was auditioning at a club, two weeks after that I was working two nights a week. Haven’t looked back since.

The views expressed here are reflective of my experiences and do not begin to scratch the surface of the real plethora of reasons some women dance. These are just some examples.