The Glorification of Stripper Culture Needs to be Studied.

304 Tok. A subsection of the Tik Tok app that talks about well…hoeing. Out of 304 tok, there is a subsect, within the subsect, called “stripper tok”, or “skriptok”, and other variations of the word stripper with “tok” as the suffix. Now, before I really get into this article…Y’all should already know I do not believe in shaming women’s decisions that aren’t directly hurting anyone. I support women’s rights, and wrongs and Liv loves the 304’s, I got a lot of game from the 304’s, so this isn’t to shame strippers, or anyone who dances etc. But what does bother me is that the lifestyle is glorified. Especially to young girls. And I’m saying this as a woman who danced on and off for about a year in her early twenties. This installment is going to be half story-time and half analyzing the world of exotic dancing. I will also be talking about two different experiences I had as a dancer based on the type of clubs I danced for. Why do I think strip club culture, and stripping is glorified? Well to be honest.

People are easily sold a “fast money” lifestyle. 

I know that’s what really drew me into dancing. Fast money. And I spoke a little bit about the fast money lifestyle in my previous storytime but yea. People by and large are easily sold lifestyles that promise little to no effort, quick money, and to some extent clout. That’s why scammers are so prevalent in the entrepreneur spaces. If you’re going to scam, doing it via a “get rich quick” scheme is generally the way to go because it plays into the basal human instinct to conserve energy. It’s also easy to play into the human desire for the glitters and gold. And especially if you’re young. That’s also why the “tradwife” lifestyle is popular amongst Gen Z women and girls. Having someone make decisions for you is as enticing as being told all you have to do is dance nude, or half nude and you’ll make thousands of dollars a night. As a young woman, maybe about eighteen, or nineteen, entering into adult-hood for the first time and feeling the impending crushing weight of adult responsibility, may be susceptible to lifestyles that promise glamor and money with little effort on their parts. And even though I love the concept of glamor in practice, as an energy, she is naturally deceiving. And that’s what you don’t realize when your frontal lobe hasn’t fully developed. That glamor is just pretend, and all that glitters isn’t gold. 

I had two different experiences as a dancer. And it was fully based on my aesthetics.  

Now keep in mind. I also danced in two different states. In Pennsylvania, and in Arizona. The first time I danced I was twenty-one? Maybe I just turned twenty-two. I know I was still in Pennsylvania and in undergrad. I at the time also had the typical “Instagram baddie” body. Big boobs, big ass, and thick thighs. Nothing about me except maybe my stomach was small. So when I started looking at clubs to dance for I Would only get hired at the typical “black”, or “ethnic” clubs. This was also before social media determined whether you got to dance somewhere or not. I won’t be naming any specific clubs because I’m more so talking about the general culture in these places. And the culture was ratchet and ruthless. I’m not kidding. Between the girls that actually danced there, and the customers…it was wild. 

Let’s talk about the other dancers for a minute. 

You really can’t be scared going into the clubs, especially in the inner city clubs. These girls steal, fight, stab, and grab. These girls would steal shoes, dance clothes, regular clothes, wigs, accessories, and the worst, the money you made even while you were still on stage. And because like every workplace environment there was a hierarchy, the managers would let the women who were most popular steal from you. At the first club I worked at, one of the managers was a woman who stripped for a long time before she transitioned into co-managing. Her and I got along and she would give me game and tell me to stay out the way as much as possible. And I generally did. I don’t consider myself overly social anyway, so my whole thing was just to dance and go home. But even that makes some of the girls mad. When, if you’re quiet they will try to punk you. The first fight I ever got into at the club was two dancers trying to bully me out of my section and take the money that I just made off the floor. Speaking of fights. They were ALWAYS happening. And there were many instances where it would get out of hand and someone would get stabbed. Also there was so much drug use. And i’m not talking about weed, or even just coke, i’m talking about the heavy hitters like heroin.  There was also a lot of colorism in the club. And I'll say not so much with the clientele but with the dancers and management…at a predominately black club… 

The clientele was also wild. 

I never felt safe at those types of clubs. And I mean never. There was never enough security for how many people were in the club. The men were always drunk, high, and belligerent and extremely handsy. Now the clubs I worked at in PA were semi-nude, so I was mostly bottomless, and only took my top off when money was being thrown. And I know in PA you’re not supposed to touch the dancers but did patrons in general respect that? Nope. I was always considered stuck up because I didn’t let the customers touch me in any type of way and even got kicked out of a club one time for smacking a dude who grabbed my boob inappropriately. And honestly, management didn’t care, it seemed like they cared more about protecting the patrons than the dancers. They would also let men have guns in the club, or I guess wouldn’t stop them, or kick them out. My dance partner and I got a gun pulled on us and I wish I could say that I left the club after that. But I didn’t. I’ve also been stalked by customers, and hit. You’re really nothing more than an item to these men and they think they can do whatever they want to and around you because they are throwing money. Not to mention some of the guys who would throw the most money were literal PIMPS. They used the money they threw to try and pull you into prostitution, which some of the girls did (no shade to the prostitutes).  

Speaking of money. How much do you make? Really? 

I’m not going to sit here and act like money wasn’t made, because it was. I think the most I made in one night was 3 racks. Which as someone in her early twenties was A LOT. And I'll be honest, that’s why it took so long for me to stop. I kind of got addicted to the amount of money I COULD make. And was always chasing and hustling to make that much. But each night I worked that wasn’t a holiday, I would make like $500-$1,000. Which isn’t terrible but it’s definitely not worth the experiences I had. There were some nights where I didn’t make anything and it would start to affect my self esteem. But my whole thing is…I never thought that dancing was my endgame. I always knew I'd use it to get some money and get out. And that’s the mentality you have to have with making MAD money. 

Now let's talk about my experience in the opposite kind of club. 

The first time I left the club, I was just over it, I moved across the country and started working as a temp.I was twenty-two at the time and during that phase in my life, I experienced a series of events that caused me to be wildly depressed. In the span of around two months, I lost 40 lbs. I was very tiny. But I didn't lose my boobs, so I basically looked like a stick with a large chest. And I honestly forget exactly how I started dancing again but I did. This time I danced at predominately white clubs, in more upscale areas, where like me, the women were very skinny with big boobs, whether they were fake or real. At one of the clubs, I was the only black dancer, which surprisingly often worked in my favor because I was “exotic.” While I didn’t make the most at that club, I got a kind of cult following of men who came to see me because I was black. And yea, you can take that a few different ways. Was I a fetish to these men? Oh most definitely. But I personally believe in profiting off of your unique beauty as a woman. Oh? You like my Mocha skin so much? Okay, give me five thousand dollars. And don’t get me wrong, there definitely was racism in those clubs. When I first started dancing they wouldn’t let me dance on the popular days because they didn’t think I’d bring in the kind of money the white girls did. And every so often a patron would call me some sort of racial epithet, or slur. But honestly at these clubs I was treated a little better than my previous experience. I also felt safer because the security would actually step in when a patron was getting inappropriate. Don’t get me wrong though. The girls were still stealing, drugging,  still fighting, and still being pimped. But I'll be honest, at a much lower rate than my previous experience. 

And I made more money. 

At the more upscale clubs I worked at, I made substantially more money than I did previously. That might be due to my body type, maybe because I was more experienced, or maybe just because the patrons generally had more money, or all three perhaps. But even though I had an overall better experience dancing the second time around, I still left. Again, it wasn’t something I was planning to spend my twenties doing, and as Rick Ross said…I was blowing money Fast, quick, and in a hurry. It truly does take money to make money. I was blowing money on custom outfits, shoes, makeup artists, nail techs, etc and almost went under the knife for plastic surgery. I was also just blowing money in general on shopping sprees, trips, and other material items. At the end of my dancing days, I spent so much of the money I made, I barely had anything to show for it. It was one of the biggest mistakes I made that I barely saved a dime of that money. Nevertheless, I turned out “fine.” 

So to all the young women considering dancing. 

Don’t. 

But really, if you decide to enter into that lifestyle, know the real from the fake. A lot of those stripper influencers use the same pictures and videos of a money count from a good night to try to sell that it’s easy. But many of them don’t talk about what really goes on. And while I don’t necessarily regret dancing, it is a choice, given my reincarnation circumstances, that I would not make again. And if you are a stripper and never had any of the experiences I speak about, good for you, and I am happy you didn’t have any traumatizing experiences. but you are likely not in the majority. At the end of the day, dancing is a job and a hard job at that. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. Anyway, your life is yours and you may be a person who is able to handle the chaos that comes with it. While it may seem like a good idea, make sure you have a plan to save your money, and I wouldn’t suggest staying forever either, but if you do, it's your prerogative. But don’t say you weren’t warned.