February 2011
56 posts
I keep seeing followers confuse pole dancing with stripping. So, again, here.
Pole dancing and stripping are very different worlds. A follower recently posted the highlight reel from the 2010 USPDF Competition and said how much she wanted to get into shape to become a stripper.
The thing is, to be a stripper, most clubs don’t require that you do a single pole trick. Not one, not fifty. Stripping is a lot of seductive performing for the sake of turning people on, and if you can do it without learning tricks (many do), so be it…And it usually includes showing a lot of boobies, ass, and possibly pussy in the process (depending on the level of nudity allowed by the club). To strip, beauty is a factor and makeup/appearance is a major consideration. Being a fantastic saleswoman is a big part of the job. And very little of the job includes stage time and actually dancing with a pole; the majority of time spent is “on the floor”, sitting with customers, asking for private dances, and doing private dances.
Although there are variations and discrepancies in these things from club to club and stripper to stripper, a stripper’s focus is making their money. (Which doesn’t mean they don’t give a shit about the rest, it’s just that it’s the nature of any job and needing a paycheck like everyone else.)
Pole dancing as a sport/art is a very different world. Hours and hours of time is spent learning, practicing, and perfecting just a single trick. Technique is a big deal. Dancing to, say, ”Fuck on Cocaine” (see DJ Caffeine or DJ Yoeri) would be generally considered inappropriate and distasteful for a competition or class (rock and hip-hop are common in the ‘States for competition, but not to the extent of being outright lewd). Pole dancing doesn’t require the removal of clothing whatsoever, and pole dance studios and competitions forbid nudity. Pole dancers don’t have to be pretty or wear makeup to class; they do have to continually train for strength, balance and flexibility. They spend zero time trying to get private dances, trying to sell their alter ego, or sitting with customers.
Although there are differences in all of these things from studio to studio and dancer to dancer, a pole dancer’s focus is the actual dance, technique, and stunts. (It doesn’t mean that some pole dancers don’t focus very much on their appearance for competitions, choose edgy music, or have to market themselves for sponsorship after a big win, but the general idea isn’t attaining money.)
Some pole dancers would strip if they had the time or their husband didn’t care. Some strippers would love to find time to take pole dancing classes at a studio. Some pole dancers find stripping quite offensive, and get very offended at the tiniest mention that they might be strippers. Some strippers can’t do a single pole trick and make fantastic money. Some strippers are genuine pole trick artists at work. Some pole dancers try stripping to see if they can apply their skills, and find that they hate it (and still love pole dancing).
The point is, yes, sometimes the different aspects of using the same tool do overlap, but as singular endeavors, they are quite different.
I strip rather mindlessly on stage. I try to entice people to fork over their cash. I actually bother using maybe 8-10 transitions, 5 tricks/spins, and a whole bunch of ass-shakin’ stuff that pole dancers don’t so much have names for. I pick up dollars and get interrupted frequently while I’m dancing (and this is a good thing).
I also pole dance. I spend hours (say 7-14 hours/week) perfecting tricks, learning new tricks, working on my transitions, and building the strength necessary to do these things. I sweat. I grunt when learning new things. I look like a fool half the time when I’m trying to figure something new out. I fork over money to learn this stuff from a professional, at a dance studio.
The highlight reel from the 2010 USPDF Competition is a pretty poor example of what strippers actually do. If you want to spend your time doing what’s in that video, keep your day job and find a pole studio. If you’re actually more interested in the money, sales, performing, and getting naked, give stripping a shot. They both have their own perks and downfalls, and I don’t consider one to be a more “holy” quest than the other…I take them both seriously.
But make sure you know which of the two you’re actually aiming to do. Don’t dangerously glorify stripping into something that’s simply stage time and learning tricks; and conversely, don’t glorify pole dancing as something that will make you money and allow you to perform constantly in front of others.
I guess it’s a liability issue or something if I take my shoes off at work; I’m not really sure. But I’ve been asking for a year if I can perform barefoot…I dance much, much better barefoot, and my range of tricks is much broader. They still won’t let me.
Honestly, there are a lot of tricks I won’t translate into 7” stilettos. If I miss catching the pole in stilettos, I could fall. Sometimes that big ol’ heel gets in the way. Or, I also know that flipping down puts me in a position to not know how unsteady I might be on my feet (I’m still veeeryyy much learning), and being unsteady in stilettos is a recipe for disaster.
And, the poles at my club are absolute shit for anyone serious about pole dancing, which makes it much more dangerous to get off the ground in general. Several of them have a finish that’s been so far dulled by rings and years of use that I can’t “stick” to them well enough to do tricks. The ones without a finish happen to be the “least scary” of the poles—they’re in the interior of the stage, and the better ones sit at the edges of the stage (possibility of kicking someone in the face, or falling an additional three or four feet to the ground). On top of that, so many of these girls wear baby oil and lotion, that it’s almost hopeless to try more than a few easy tricks, because I just slide right off.
The short answer is that I don’t translate most of my tricks into work tricks. My club isn’t full of girls who even like tricks—maybe just a handful who are decent at the tricks they’re willing to do, and maybe a dozen that even try to do tricks.
I seriously stick to doing just an inside leg hang (gemini) and a butterfly for the most part. I hate that I can’t do more, and I hate that I must dance in shoes all of the time (I wish I could just take them off sometimes…like, say, the last set of the night).
Many, many good points made in both the article and the comments. Too sleepy to add my own, but will write more later.
- Me: "This job...is a dead-end, you know? There's no 'room for advancement' or 'career opportunities' or '401k'. Eventually I'll either get old or fat."
- MS: "...And then they'll send you to the glue factory?"
- Me: "Yeah, I guess."
- MS: "Except strippers don't get made into glue. They get made into glitter."
Stop making my life more complicated and stressful. Okay? Thanks.
Yep. My point was pretty much that.
It’s wrong to sell human beings—which does happen, and is a massive problem. It’s not wrong to buy a service from a person who offers it willingly.
I’m actually taking economics at school, so I find it amusing that you compared it to economics. But this industry is not supplemented by the government in any way. It doesn’t get tax breaks, incentives, or any other sort of invisible hand guiding it’s price, supply, or demand. It’s straight-up unbridled free market on this one. It’s a pretty interesting social experiment as well as an economic one. :)
It’s George Washington’s birthday! And in honor of this, I foresee that there will be some sort of celebration tonight…
After all, the man has seen more of my pussy and touched my pussy more than anyone else. [Ahem, the $1 bill.]
Enjoy the day, fellow strippers.
A really powerful entry/review of documentary Hardcore done by Truth vs. Compliance
Okay. Look. What happened to this women was wrong. No one should ever be sexually abused - yes, including sex workers. They are not “asking for it.” They are people with feelings, boundaries, and rights.
My problem with this article is that it seems to be saying that all porn is wrong. Always. Even as someone who does not watch porn, I take offense at that. The pornography industry is riddled with misogyny, yes. But so are magazines. Are you saying that all magazines are bad, too? Oh, and television has shitloads of rape culture and gender stereotyping. Should that be illegal as well?
The solution to this problem is not to condemn pornography and sex workers. It is to make sex work safe, regulated, and healthy.
Ohsocontrary says it best: “The solution to this problem is not to condemn pornography and sex workers. It is to make sex work safe, regulated, and healthy.”
I’d like to add:
Sex work is sometimes unsafe because people refuse acknowledge that it exists, it has always existed, and it will continue to exist despite efforts otherwise. People are innately sexual beings, just like the rest of the animal kingdom. We can choose how and when to express our sexuality, but we cannot choose that it exists.
Despite efforts to squash it, there is an enormous demand for the sex industry. People of all walks of life buy services from prostitutes and strippers, and people from all walks of life buy or view pornography. Think it’s only the most ”liberal”, the most “sexually free”—you’re kidding yourself. Your dad watches porn; your grandfather goes to the strip club; and your neighbor hired a hooker once.
People will always find a way to acquire sexual services and goods. How they are able to do so is up to those that make our laws. Prostitution being illegal does not mean that it will not happen. Period. There is absolutely no way to argue that.
If it’s illegal, it means that it cannot be regulated for health and safety.
You cannot reduce the demand for sexual services and goods through legislation. Legislators CAN, and SHOULD, work hard to make sure that the working conditions are safe, fair, and healthy.
Legislation and regulation of fair labor practices starts with regular citizens. If regular citizens refuse to acknowledge problems within the industry (or want to believe that it doesn’t/shouldn’t exist), it is not something that will be brought up for Those Who Make Laws to legislate.
-sigh-
What I’m trying to say is, fucking figure out that the sex industry isn’t going away, and it affects everyone.
People don’t refuse to acknowledge the sex industry,that’s why the worth of the industry has increased from being worth $5-10 Million dollars in 1975 to $8 billion (gee people are really struggling to acknowledge it!) (1) (2)
There is not an enormous demand for the sex industry, there is an enormous demand from males for access to (predominantly) female bodies.
“We can choose how and when to express our sexuality, but we cannot choose that it exists.”
No argument from me here, but, expressing your sexuality does not mean buying access to another’s body. My neighbours, for the record, are Somali Muslims and Indian Sikhs, so I highly doubt that they have hired prostituted womyn/girls.
“How they are able to do so is up to those that make our laws. Prostitution being illegal does not mean that it will not happen. Period. There is absolutely no way to argue that.”
Again, I never said anything about illegalisation. I am in favour of the Swedish decriminalisation model, which makes it legal to sell “sex” but illegal to buy it. Go after the demand, I do not hold a grudge or judgement about the girls and womyn who, through various circumstances, selling their bodies has seemed like the best option. I *do* however, reserve judgement and a grudges for the men who feel entitled to buy access to another human being.
The problem around prostitution and pornography is not the legal status of it. The problem is that one group of humans (men) believe that they have the right to buy access to another human beings body (who is the majority of the time, a womon or girl,) because they view them as a good to be brought and sold.
Human beings are not property, commodities or goods.
When human beings are treated as property, commodity, or a good to be bought and sold, it is slavery. Sex slavery and sex trafficking exist, and this is dramatically different from providing a consensual service. Some prostitutes are forced into the industry through sex trafficking and slavery, and this is wrong and disgusting.
However, many prostitutes, escorts, strippers, and porn actors/actresses enter the job willingly. They provide a service for which they are generously rewarded, consensually.
The difference is consent! Sex without consent—we can all agree—is wrong, whether it is being paid for or not. Agreeing to participate in pornography, to exchange sex for money, or to dance with one’s clothes off is not lacking in consent.
My body is mine, to do with it as I please. I choose, willingly, to sell a service in which I use my body as a tool. I do not feel exploited. I do not feel like I’m being taken advantage of. I understood the job when I began. If you can believe it, I even love my job.
killyourenemies: “There is not an enormous demand for the sex industry, there is an enormous demand from males for access to (predominantly) female bodies.” Yeah, sure. And there’s enormous pressure on men to please women perfectly, as well. Check out any jewelry store, perfume ad, liquor ad, etc. It goes both ways. Men’s sexuality is also under fire in very unfair ways.
It’s not that the sex industry’s problems are all men’s fault! Plenty of women turn a blind eye to helping change working conditions and safety measures for sex workers, too. Women, just like you(?) or someone you know, who refuse to believe that the sex industry is a service that can be provided willingly and to the satisfaction of both parties.
Killyourenemies: “My neighbours, for the record, are Somali Muslims and Indian Sikhs, so I highly doubt that they have hired prostituted womyn/girls.” One’s religious choice does NOT mean that they have not bought services from sex workers or purchased pornographic material. Period. I’ve danced for people from at least thirty countries I can name off the top of my (very sleepy) head, and from all walks of life. From Jewish to Catholic to Muslim, yes, even specifically Indian Sikhs (not specifically Somali Muslims…as far as I know. Not yet, anyway…). Just like religion isn’t an automatic exclusion for, say, being hungry. I’m sure your neighbors are very nice people, and those particular neighbors may not being buying hookers. However, many people won’t even tell their best friend. How are you to know?
Finally, I’m not selling my body. I’m using it, in the way that I see fit, consensually, to produce income. No one “made” me do this. I chose it. And even though I chose it, I still deserve to be safe and healthy.
Also, I am very sleepy…and apologize for any lost-my-mind typos or grammatical errors.
[Personal note to killyourenemies: Thanks for a lively discussion. I wanted to let you know that although I disagree with your opinion, I respect you for having the balls to say it. If you feel like reblogging with another response, I’m down for continuing the discussion. Thank you for being respectful—it is extremely appreciated on this end, and I hope that I haven’t offended you personally.]
A really powerful entry/review of documentary Hardcore done by Truth vs. Compliance
Okay. Look. What happened to this women was wrong. No one should ever be sexually abused - yes, including sex workers. They are not “asking for it.” They are people with feelings, boundaries, and rights.
My problem with this article is that it seems to be saying that all porn is wrong. Always. Even as someone who does not watch porn, I take offense at that. The pornography industry is riddled with misogyny, yes. But so are magazines. Are you saying that all magazines are bad, too? Oh, and television has shitloads of rape culture and gender stereotyping. Should that be illegal as well?
The solution to this problem is not to condemn pornography and sex workers. It is to make sex work safe, regulated, and healthy.
Ohsocontrary says it best: “The solution to this problem is not to condemn pornography and sex workers. It is to make sex work safe, regulated, and healthy.”
I’d like to add:
Sex work is sometimes unsafe because people refuse acknowledge that it exists, it has always existed, and it will continue to exist despite efforts otherwise. People are innately sexual beings, just like the rest of the animal kingdom. We can choose how and when to express our sexuality, but we cannot choose that it exists.
Despite efforts to squash it, there is an enormous demand for the sex industry. People of all walks of life buy services from prostitutes and strippers, and people from all walks of life buy or view pornography. Think it’s only the most ”liberal”, the most “sexually free”—you’re kidding yourself. Your dad watches porn; your grandfather goes to the strip club; and your neighbor hired a hooker once.
People will always find a way to acquire sexual services and goods. How they are able to do so is up to those that make our laws. Prostitution being illegal does not mean that it will not happen. Period. There is absolutely no way to argue that.
If it’s illegal, it means that it cannot be regulated for health and safety.
You cannot reduce the demand for sexual services and goods through legislation. Legislators CAN, and SHOULD, work hard to make sure that the working conditions are safe, fair, and healthy.
Legislation and regulation of fair labor practices starts with regular citizens. If regular citizens refuse to acknowledge problems within the industry (or want to believe that it doesn’t/shouldn’t exist), it is not something that will be brought up for Those Who Make Laws to legislate.
-sigh-
What I’m trying to say is, fucking figure out that the sex industry isn’t going away, and it affects everyone.
Thanks :)
I’d love to write a book; I’ve always dreamt I’d write one. I’ve started a few here and there and never gotten very far…mostly for a lack of a running theme. I’ve got a running theme now, but I definitely need more material. I’ve been stripping for two years, and I still lack a lot of the insight and wisdom that is helpful in writing. Also, I lack any hindsight…I haven’t gone to the other side of stripping, where I get another job and I try figuring out how the hell to show up to work on time, wear clothes at work, and not drink at work…
That said, if any publishers want to throw me a book deal, I’m down. I like to write.
Thanks! I’ll check it out tomorrow. I was really hoping and wishing something like this would appear in my ask box…wish granted!
If you know you’re going to the strip club, if you think you’ll tip the ladies and they might pull you on stage to get you naked?
Please wash up and use appropriate hygenic methods, particularly for your pussy and armpits.
It’s gross. Really, it is, to have gotten a cute girl on stage, have money being thrown at the stage to get you naked, and then have to pretend to like it—even though the stripper’s ready to puke?
Yuck.
Precisely the reason I will never pull women on stage. Between girls tripping me (I’m wearing seven-inch stilettos, okay?), trying to steal money from my stage (you’re not working), and stinky pussies, I don’t pull girls up.
But I did have to hear about it tonight in the dressing room…again. Yeah, we all have to hear about it…and by the end of the night, half the guys know, too. Consider that.
Having a bad hair day. The story: I have blonde/light brown hair by nature, and I’m pale as all hell. I started dyeing my hair black about a year ago, and my earnings went up. I started dyeing it a dark brown about two months ago to see if I could gradually lighten it to a medium-brown color over time. And a week ago, I decided dark auburn would be neat (my whole family is redheads)…so I tried that.
Disaster. I wound up with about two inches of dark auburn hair, and the rest is still black. I didn’t know. I thought you put the color on your head, and BAM new hair color…
Cue dye remover. I used it, and now I’ve just got streaks of black and reddish and brown. In a not-good streaky way.
Now what? If I redye my hair, I can’t very well use dye remover again if it doesn’t work out. I haven’t straightened my frizzy, wavy mass to see what it actually looks like (I’m afraid).
I think it’s time to have this done professionally…because I’m not getting any better at it.
The fun part? I need to be at work and ready in about two hours…just enough time to shave and wash this mass of…colors. I say tonight is an updo kind of night…even though I’ll be constantly fighting with it.
Fuck…
Mine is totally removable, takes about 5 minutes to set up or take down, and won’t leave any damage to the ceiling or floor. At all. I got my XPole when I was living in a rented duplex and the landlord never knew about it. I live in a house now, where it isn’t as important, but for the last minute parents-coming-over, it’s nice to take down.
www.xpole.com. I have the XPole XPert (so I have static and spinning modes).
I tried Lil Mynx, but it just wasn’t as steady or as high of quality. It was still safe, I just thought I should have gotten more quality for my money. I don’t recommend it.
Do not, under any circumstances, buy a pole from Ebay (people are producing knock-offs of XPole and other major brands, and the knock-offs are potentially dangerous). Do not buy a pole from a novelty store like Spencers (they’re “cool” if you’re staying on the ground, but if you want your feet off the floor, you’re asking to be hurt). I know it sounds expensive, but do not buy a pole that isn’t in at least the $250-$350 range. Cheap poles have cheap finishes that can flake off and cut you, they aren’t sturdy and might fall from your ceiling, and you could get very hurt.
I will personally come to your house and beat you with your pole if you get one of the don’ts.
Xpole is my favorite, but there are other decent, safe poles out there. Do your homework! :)
Thank you! I work really, really hard at pole, and it makes me feel like a million bucks to get compliments.
And thank you, for messaging me tonight…I’ve been bored out of my mind with being sick and having something to do is nice. ;)
After two years, I still suck at dancing. I just learned a bunch of pole tricks and transition moves to hide it! Haha.
I was always the nerdy one, the one that didn’t have a lot of friends, wasn’t very popular. I’m awkward, I’m clumsy, and I’m socially handicapped. I’m not very “girly”, and never have been. I’ve never been out dancing at a nightclub, and I didn’t dance at the only prom I attended as a last-resort date.
And I still make money and do okay on stage. :D
Really…there are all kinds of girls that make it as strippers. If you can keep a beat, you’ll learn to dance. And the other girls remember how hard that first audition/stage set was.
Plus, new girls always make great money…
Edited to add: Don’t try dancing fast or doing moves you’re unsure about your first night. The more confident you look, the more you’ll make. If you move a little more slowly, you’ll look a little more put-together at first. Watch some of the girls, and use some of their moves that look easy to you (it’s okay, really…most of their moves have been recycled over and over from club to club and girl to girl for years). Pretty soon you’ll develop your own unique style, anyway.
I can say “Don’t be too nervous,” but that just won’t happen. You will be nervous, but clubs that allow new dancers to audition mostly just want to see your body (tattoos, piercings, shape, boobs, etc). And on that note, you seem like you’ll do just fine. Promise!
As far as the dancing goes…it’s sort of a learn-on-the-job sort of skill. Sometimes you can find a pole studio to take classes at, but they won’t teach you how to take your clothes off…which is sort of a big part of a stage set.
Just try your hardest. Whoever is watching you will know you’re nervous, and if you say you haven’t danced before, they’ll keep it in mind. No one is “great” from day one at a strip club. It’s learned.
I’ve never had an audition!
The very first club I worked at is the one I’ve been at for two years. The club just has a clothed interview with the manager, in which I was asked the easiest, most nerve-wracking interview questions ever, asked by a jaded and slightly intimidating manager: Are you a drunk? (Nope.) Are you an addict? (Nope.) Why do you want to be a stripper? (Because I need the money.) You sure you can take off your clothes for money? (Uhhh…yeahhhh.) What do you want your name to be? (Piper?).
The second place I ever interviewed, I walked in, asked about the club, said I was a dancer from another city, and had the job. Small club, desperate for dancers, and they never got new girls. They actually paid us $20 to be there and offered housing because they didn’t want us to go!
The third club is the largest club in town, if not in my state. Normally girls who want the job have to do Amateur Night, and only first and second place are offered jobs…regardless of how they look, their experience, etc. And, of course, Amateur Night is completely rigged because contestants often pay their friends to be judges. Fortunately, I knew one of the dancers that already had good ties with the club and a healthy amount of respect around there…and she introduced me to the manager. We exchanged names, I signed a few things, and wham, I worked. He “watched” my first stage set to make sure I was alright (not covered in scars or stretch marks), and after about thirty seconds he went to do something else.
I do remember my first stage set at my first club, though. Terrifying. But you know what? I lived. I made money. And the adrenaline kept me going throughout the night.
Contrary to what My Darkest Days claims, not all strippers decide how ‘far we’ll go’ depending on how much cash we’re given. The next customer that quotes that song like it’s some magical all encompassing rule gets a heel to the face.