Strippers answer the only question you really want to know, and it's pretty surprising

Reddit is where people go to sate their curiosity - this time around, the topic of conversation was the profession of stripping.

And there was one question everyone wanted answering: What's it really like?

Self-described professional strippers took to the forum to answer that very question.

As with any job, it depends…

First and foremost, the ‘victim’ narrative is not homogenous:

It's generally pretty boring. Like telemarketing but with no clothes.

I've been a stripper in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Dallas, Portland, Albuquerque, Omaha, Indianapolis and a million other little hole in the wall clubs across the US. The job really suits me. It doesn't suit everyone and those are the girls you see crying and throwing fits and being wasted. Imo [In my opinion] most of the other strippers used to be very smart and pretty driven to make lots of money regardless of how they spent it.

Most of the clubs are pretty corporate now and the general goal for the managers is to help you be the most profitable earner bc if you're making money everybody is making money.

-Deannadlai

There’s the bad…

I have a friend who started just really needing the money. She says the business is riddled with drugs and people who would do anything to get to them.

-kaelne

Which can get pretty bad...

• The manager doesn't think they're empowered. They think of them as tools.
• Managers will gaslight the s--t out of them, and threaten to fire them thrice a week.
• But managers want them around, so it's not uncommon to casually hook up a stripper with drugs and get them addicted.
• Getting sick is pretty easy at a strip-club. But if they don't come in to work, they don't get paid. There is no salary.
• Strippers don't necessarily like each other, and get each other fired all the time.
• Self-esteem and pay is directly correlated to looks and physique. Which means you wont' find a more self-conscious lot.
• The work is tiring as f--k. It's not just all the moving. Strippers got to have an 'vibe' and 'energy'. Makes balancing life hard.

-Stanzin7

But there's also the good...

It's an extremely good source of income - usually around 8k a month working 4 days a week. You get to choose your own schedule and work as many hours as you'd like. You have to deal with a lot of a--holes on a daily basis, but you do get to treat them way worse (if you want) than you would in a normal customer service job.

-reallifestripper

I make my own schedule. -I work at a place that only collects a door fee, so other than tipping out the DJ and security, I keep all of my money. -I don't pay taxes on most of what I make. -Pole dancing is a fantastic work out. -Anddd obviously, the money. I made more yesterday than I did working an entire week at my last job.

-tyramysaurusrex

The stereotypes that aren’t stereotypes…

The hottest girls in a club are not necessarily the highest earners at all. It's ALL about hustle. Plus dim lights and make up work wonders.

-GLITTERANDFAKETAN

Actually stripping is like a sales pitch:

• They build a rapport
• They'll show interest in whatever you want to talk about
• They'll adjust their personality based on your cues
• They'll work your wallet to whatever level you will tolerate (i.e. "just short of you realising you're being worked")

-DonLaFontainesGhost

But yes, some of it is weird:

Like 'The P---y Check':

When you bend over in the dressing room in front of a mirror and wipe your p---y with a baby wipe, NOT TOILET PAPER! Because the club has black lights and toilet paper fibres glow under the lights. So they would wipe their p---y before they went on stage.

-tinyhousebuilder

Dating as a stripper is weird. It's hard to come by guys who are normal about it. They're either unhealthily excited about it and think you're a nympho with unfettered access to drugs or they're moralising dipshits.

Customers...are something, lol. They do the strangest f---ing things. I just got off stage and had a guy lick a dollar bill and try to put it between my a-- cheeks. I've been bitten, had a guy's wife try to pull my hair off my head, been choked, licked, groped etc. I had a customer ask to take me home, lick peanut butter, honey and chocolate off of my p---y and then snort coke out of my a-- through a $100 bill. But not that night, because he had cocaine d--k.

-stripperscientist

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