View Full Version : Why do strippers retire from the industry when virtually no other job pays as good?
The name of this post says it all. There are some people who would like to know the difference between the usage of "good" and "well."
Paris
03-13-2009, 06:14 PM
43,danced for 15 years.I am just LOST right now.
Retirement is HARD. I was pretty depressed for almost a year after I quit, even though I have a great family and comfortable finances. I think the best description for what I was going through would be a feeling of displacement.
I can see why people who do a job for 40+ years frequently die soon after retiring. The adjustment to an entirely new way of living is sometimes just too much.
cyberstripper
03-16-2009, 04:08 PM
HAHAH JUST a JOKE but I would rather be a doctor working long hours with sick people rather then work with the SICKOS you would find at the sc!
sorsi
03-21-2009, 02:15 PM
Sure, when you are 20-something, its hard to find a better paying job. But if you don't look to the future, someday you could be the older dancer who can't get out and doesn't have any options.
This is exactly why I want out of stripping. By age 30 at the latest.
charlygirl
03-29-2009, 09:14 PM
I have been retired from stage for 3 years now...absolutely NO desire to return either!
Every woman who enters this business will lose something of herself...unfortunately until you are out...you wont know what it is...as it is different for everyone!
A sense of loss is ultimately the main reason why girls retire. You think somethings missing, whether it's time with your loved ones, time for yourself, time to get to know yourself (you lose yourself in your made up 'stripper identity' when you work f/t and you forget who you used to be). You may lose satisafction with where your life is going (you have a degree that you paid a ton for that is ultimately going to waste) etc etc.
Yes the money is good mostly but happiness is better. If you're no longer happy it's time to leave and go in search of it.
anacol
04-02-2009, 08:19 AM
A sense of loss is ultimately the main reason why girls retire. You think somethings missing, whether it's time with your loved ones, time for yourself, time to get to know yourself (you lose yourself in your made up 'stripper identity' when you work f/t and you forget who you used to be). You may lose satisafction with where your life is going (you have a degree that you paid a ton for that is ultimately going to waste) etc etc.
Yes the money is good mostly but happiness is better. If you're no longer happy it's time to leave and go in search of it.
You couldn't have said it better. I never dreamed of being a dancer, it just happened one day when I didn't have a job. I knew who I was and what I was searching for before I got into this. I never planned on doing it forever just for a little while until I finish my degree and get a successful career and future going. To me you can never dance forever, you have to have a plan and get out. You can never have a great family and a husband who loves you being a dancer, it's not reality. For me, dancing helped out a lot with my degree and Ive danced for almost five years. I'm finishing my degree in one year and I'm going back for another year maybe 2 for my masters. Eventually you get older and tired of the same old thing. You want a family and of course a successful life. What I can say to girls who have time left, make the best of it and use it for what it's worth and what you can get out of it to better your life and future.:)
Melonie
04-02-2009, 08:42 AM
The simple fact is, you can't strip forever. You have to find another job, eventually. So don't wait until you are 38, should have left the club 5 years ago, and have zero marketable skills. When you apply for a new job, you can't even say what you did for the last 20yrs you were stripping, so its hard to get hired. You'll find that most (not all) of the oldest dancers can't do anything else and are stuck - but not making nearly as much as when it was a great paying job. Sure, when you are 20-something, its hard to find a better paying job. But if you don't look to the future, someday you could be the older dancer who can't get out and doesn't have any options
This all comes back to the issue of treating 'stripping' as a professional career choice versus a source of 'easy money' for a while. In order to avoid 'wasting' 15-20 years of your life, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that a professional 'stripper' follow a strict savings and investment regimen through her 'peak earnings' years. That way when age 38 rolls around, the dancer can retire with a sufficient 'nest egg' to cover her expenses for the rest of her life without actually needing to work at any job she doesn't want to !
However, there is also an important issue that the 'stripping' industry has been subject to major changes over the past 15-20 years. As many have already pointed out, what was once predominantly 'show business' has now morphed into 'sex business'. The current economic downturn is of course accelerating this change. Unfortunately, there is really no way to tell what additional changes the next 15-20 years will bring !
Crow2
04-03-2009, 12:02 PM
This all comes back to the issue of treating 'stripping' as a professional career choice versus a source of 'easy money' for a while. In order to avoid 'wasting' 15-20 years of your life, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that a professional 'stripper' follow a strict savings and investment regimen through her 'peak earnings' years. That way when age 38 rolls around, the dancer can retire with a sufficient 'nest egg' to cover her expenses for the rest of her life without actually needing to work at any job she doesn't want to !
However, there is also an important issue that the 'stripping' industry has been subject to major changes over the past 15-20 years. As many have already pointed out, what was once predominantly 'show business' has now morphed into 'sex business'. The current economic downturn is of course accelerating this change. Unfortunately, there is really no way to tell what additional changes the next 15-20 years will bring !
Exactly. Plus - no matter how well preserved you are. Things are going to start to fall, wrinkle and sag. It's a fact.
Also tolerance for BS gets to be less and less.
It's hard to have a life when night after night you are giving ALL of yourself away to people who really don't care.
Melonie
04-05-2009, 06:27 AM
It's hard to have a life when night after night you are giving ALL of yourself away to people who really don't care.
Absolutely agree. However, by treating dancing as a serious professional career choice, and saving / investing your dancing earnings accordingly, you'll actually have something to show for 'giving all of yourself away' for those 15-20 years ...
CKXXX
04-05-2009, 05:43 PM
. You can never have a great family and a husband who loves you being a dancer, it's not reality.
That is absolutely NOT true. I've been happily married for almost 9 years to a man who has zero problems with what I do for a living. And many other girls on here are as well. So it is definitely reality for many,many dancers.
patchouli
04-05-2009, 06:23 PM
Yes the money is good mostly but happiness is better. If you're no longer happy it's time to leave and go in search of it.
If only people followed this advice. Our entire work culture in this country is based around the idea that yeah, it's ideal to love your job and be happy, but if you pursue a career for that sole reason then you're being naive and unrealistic. Tis a shame.
/tangent
lcorsada
04-07-2009, 08:34 PM
Absolutely agree. However, by treating dancing as a serious professional career choice, and saving / investing your dancing earnings accordingly, you'll actually have something to show for 'giving all of yourself away' for those 15-20 years ...
But dancing as a long-term career is NOT for everyone! I know you're not trying to say that it is. :) Just saying, many of us are not cut out to do it for an extended period of time. 3 years of dancing in clubs and I am DONE. I still need to get through my masters program, but that will be done by juggling some combination of private parties, gogo/stage dancing, and/or going back to bartending or DJ'ing at an SC. But hustling for lapdances? I'd rather shoot myself in the face at this point.
To answer the OP: read the "has stripping changed?" thread in SG. Everyone has their own reasons for retiring, but personally...to make a long story short, I just hate everything about dancing now. With the exception of a few $500+ nights, dancing hasn't been nearly what I thought it would be. I'm tired of feeling pimped out and taken advantage of by greedy club owners. I'm tired of watching everyone else around me profit from my hard work; seeing the VIP hosts and managers at my club with their expensive clothes and luxury cars makes me sick, esp since way too many dancers are actually struggling. Hearing mgmt berate and put down girls who didn't make their house fees on any given night makes me see red (esp since they purposely try to flood the club with an over-abundance of dancers each night because they're greedy whores for more house fees).
I've also gotten to the point where having some random repulsive pervert even put his hands on me makes me want to retch...nevermind what else they expect for a lousy $20! Practically every time I go to do a dance, as soon as I sit down, the guy 'assumes the position': one hand on my thong trying to reach down it or pull it to the side, the other hand pulling at my top, mouth open and tongue out trying to lick my tits. For $20! No fucking WAY! I honestly don't know how I didn't mind it for almost 3 years. But now it's like a switch flipped off and I can't tolerate it anymore.
So, long story short...stripping isn't what is once was, and it's also not what I expected it to be, and IMHO it's not even that profitable anymore. Kudos to anyone who can still make it work, but I rarely make any more $ stripping than I did bartending.
charlie61
04-07-2009, 09:13 PM
^ That's very true. Everyone has limits. As I've said before, I'm amazed by women who can work 6 days a week for years at a time. I honestly can't work more than twice a week before I start to go insane.