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Introducing Myself
Hi:
I'm new to this board. I'm a former exotic dancer and currently a sex worker advocate. If you're not familiar with the term "sex work," it is a unifying term that refers to workers who perform sexually oriented labor, such as exotic dancing, escorting, phone sex, sexual webcam, etc. Please feel welcome to send me a private message anytime and I'm so glad to be on this board!
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
^ pffft... I applied for the Sex Workers Union here and they bitched at me for not being a prostitute. I don't effing know what sex work is anymore.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
It sucks that they bitched at you for not being a prostitute. Prostitutes aren't the only type of sex worker. I realize that there are divisions between different types of sex workers, but sex work is supposed to be a unifying term. I know that there are various sex worker rights groups in Australia and I hope they aren't all like you described. There are some national groups in Australia, such as the Scarlett Alliance and the Sex Workers Outreach Project (which also exists in the U.S.). However, some sex worker advocacy groups focus much more heavily on prostitution than other types of sex work. Yet, here in the U.S., some dancers are involved in the sex workers' rights movement and have organized for their rights. A group of dancers at the Lusty Lady Theatre in San Francicso formed the only exotic dancers' union in the U.S. Futhermore, dancers mobilized to rally against the increased strip club restrictions in Ohio earlier this year. In 2002, a group of dancers also united in Las Vegas to impose stricter restrictions.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Uh, isn't the Lusty Lady in Seattle? That's the only one I've ever heard of.
And what sort of advocate are you? Are you the type that is going to tell me to quit my job?
Just wondering...had a few negative experiences recently...
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
I know the type you're referring to and those people who are telling you to quit your job aren't sex worker advocates, they're anti-sex work people. The sex workers' rights advocates aren't anti-sex work. The sex worker activists advocate for consensual sex work to be respected as a legitmate occupation and don't pressure people to leave this line of work. On anther note, I was actually referring to the Lusty Lady in San Francisco, not Seattle. Here's the link: http://www.lustyladysf.com/
The Lusty Lady in San Francisco is a peep show and is also different from most other strip clubs in the U.S. in the sense that the dancers are employees rather than independent contractors.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sex Worker Advocate
It sucks that they bitched at you for not being a prostitute. Prostitutes aren't the only type of sex worker. I realize that there are divisions between different types of sex workers, but sex work is supposed to be a unifying term. I know that there are various sex worker rights groups in Australia and I hope they aren't all like you described. There are some national groups in Australia, such as the Scarlett Alliance and the Sex Workers Outreach Project (which also exists in the U.S.). However, some sex worker advocacy groups focus much more heavily on prostitution than other types of sex work. Yet, here in the U.S., some dancers are involved in the sex workers' rights movement and have organized for their rights. A group of dancers at the Lusty Lady Theatre in San Francicso formed the only exotic dancers' union in the U.S. Futhermore, dancers mobilized to rally against the increased strip club restrictions in Ohio earlier this year. In 2002, a group of dancers also united in Las Vegas to impose stricter restrictions.
It as the Scarlett Alliance that gave me the boot when they found out I was 'only' a stripper. They said they weren't sure I counted.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
If you're discouraged by being shunned, you have every right to feel how you do. However, I hope you don't give up on the sex workers' rights movement all together. I'd suggest contacting other organizations and hopefully, they'll be more welcoming. As I mentioned before, some groups focus primarily on prostitution, and the Scarlett Allance might be one such group. There used to be a group in the U.S. called the Exotic Dancers' Alliance that focused primarily on exotic dancers' rights, but this group no longer exists.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Welcome! SW is great, I'm sure you will be quite an asset to the site.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sex Worker Advocate
If you're discouraged by being shunned, you have every right to feel how you do. However, I hope you don't give up on the sex workers' rights movement all together. I'd suggest contacting other organizations and hopefully, they'll be more welcoming. As I mentioned before, some groups focus primarily on prostitution, and the Scarlett Allance might be one such group. There used to be a group in the U.S. called the Exotic Dancers' Alliance that focused primarily on exotic dancers' rights, but this group no longer exists.
I'm not giving up - just angry. I have to deal with men grabbing me and prejudice in society, too! I even wrote them a magazine article on it and they dismissed it because I was a stripper - even though it was about how I was mistreated by immigration for being one.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Thank you for the warm welcome, Roulette.
Also, thank you to Lilithmorrigan for taking the time to write an article about your experiences and perceptions of exotic dancing. If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend submitting your article to Spread Magazine. It's magazine by and for sex workers and it has featured some articles about exotic dancing and writings by sex workers. Here's the link: www.spreadmagazine.org
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Welcome SWA! I'm in Ohio...what are you guys doing to help the cause in my area?
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
A group of strippers in Ohio have mobilized to fight the "six foot" law that I think already passed in the Ohio legislature. These strippers and supporters had a rally, among other advocacy activities. Even if this law passed, these advocacy efforts weren't a complete failure. Some comprimises were made so the legislation wasn't as bad as the legislation that was initially proposed and some members of the Ohio legislature voted against this legislation, so it's good to know that the strippers do have some support in the Ohio legislature. Furthermore, the strippers' rights advocacy recieved media attention, so the advocates were able to address their cause to the public and hopefully increase public support. Even if this legislation has passed, this doesn't mean you can't keep fighting to repeal it and I hope the strippers in Ohio and supporters will continue their advocacy. I only know one sex worker advocate in Ohio, and she's in the Cleveland area. I'd be happy to get you in contact with her if you wish. She told me that in the Cleveland area, there's a sex worker social group, which is a group that meets socially to support each other and discuss issues. There was also a sex worker art and film festival in Cleveland a few years ago. Are you in the Cleveland area? Also, I'll post more information about strippers' rights organizing activities. I don't have the information right in front of me.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Welcome, I'm a Dallas gal myself
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Thank you, Stevie. I'm always interested in learning from current dancers in Dallas about the present situation in dance clubs. I hear that it's good for the most part with the exception of campliants about vice police crackdowns and VIP rooms (in which the club gets more of the VIP $ than the dancer). I'm a former (or perhaps just temporarily retired) exotic dancer. I think it would be great to get a sex worker group and/or SW fest started here in the Dallas area. This is something I'm working one and some people have expressed an interest in this. If anybody would be interested or has questions or ideas, please send me a private message or post publically.
Anyway, if you wish to, it would be great if you could share your perceptions of the situation in Dallas currently.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Thanks, You're welcome...Here's just some random thoughts I have about Dallas' clubs. The problem with trying to be specific on anything here in Dallas, is not only are there a shit load of clubs, but that they run the gamut ~ from the total shit-hole dives to the classier clubs. And this is in just MHO! Vice is def. a problem, but I'd say a bigger problem is all the Extras, Drugs, Pimps & their Hookers, and a complete over saturation of the market(anyone can be a dancer now, which makes girls dispensable)! I think a sex worker group is long over due for the girls here in Dallas... this site is a bit biased but you may want to check out http://www.dfwnites.com/index1.htm
it has a pulse on the clubs here in Dallas and the surrounding areas...
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
...here's another site you maybe interested in
http://pages.prodigy.net/lriley/home.html
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
Thank you for sharing your perspectives, Stevie. I agree with you about drugs being a problem in strip clubs. Strippers have every bit as much right to a drug-free work environment as workers in other occupations.
I also feel that prostitution should be separate from strip clubs, and I'm concerned that the VIP rooms encourage prostitution in strip clubs. I'm not saying that all strippers engage in prostitution in the VIP rooms, but when I was dancing, I felt like the VIP rooms created an environment in which customers expected more than just a dance in that private space and this affected the type of clientele we had, which adversely affected the income of dancers who were looking to do no more than just dance. When I danced, I prefered to keep all my performances out in the open. I felt uncomfortable when customers asked me, " So, what do I get if I go back to the VIP room" as if they were expecting me to do more than just dance, even though I was working in a strip club, not a brothel.
I realize that some dancers support the VIP rooms and sex worker advocates are very divided on this issue, but I don't that private VIP rooms belong in strip clubs. If customers are lookng for a private, one-on-one experience, they can contact an escort service, private entertainer, or go to one of those erotic modeling studios. There are pleny of these in the Dallas area.
Also, I haven't experienced vice police myself while dancing (to the best of my knowledge), but I hear that some vice cops in Dallas are actually groping dancers and then arresting or fining them. This is sexual assault regardless of whether the dancers gave them permission to touch them. If they didn't give them permission, this is sexual assault because they're making sexual contact with dancers without their permission. Even if the dancers did give them permission, this is still sexual assault because they were duped into letting the cop make sexual contact with them, so it wasn't consensual. They didn't consent to let an undercover cop who was going to arrest or fine them afterwards touch them. They allowed somebody who they were duped into believing was a customer touch them.
On another topic, I appreciate the links you sent. In terms of the program that tries to get people out of sex work (the second link), this seems like a Christian Fundamantalist shame program, but if sex workers decide to go through this program, they can. It reminds me of similiar programs that Christian Fudamentalist groups set up to change gays and lesbians to heterosexuals. I support the right to work in the sex industry, the right not work in the sex industry, and the right to exit the sex industry. I'm not trying to get pressure people out of the sex industry and I'm not out to give sex workers "pink slips." That's not a sex workers rights stance and that denies the legitimacy of sex work as an occupation, which violates the principles of the sex workers' rights movement. However, if people wish to exit the sex industry, I support that.
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
^^^Agreed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sex Worker Advocate
On another topic, I appreciate the links you sent. In terms of the program that tries to get people out of sex work (the second link), this seems like a Christian Fundamantalist shame program, but if sex workers decide to go through this program, they can. It reminds me of similiar programs that Christian Fudamentalist groups set up to change gays and lesbians to heterosexuals. I support the right to work in the sex industry, the right not work in the sex industry, and the right to exit the sex industry. I'm not trying to get pressure people out of the sex industry and I'm not out to give sex workers "pink slips." That's not a sex workers rights stance and that denies the legitimacy of sex work as an occupation, which violates the principles of the sex workers' rights movement. However, if people wish to exit the sex industry, I support that.
I just posted this last link because I thought it was quite interesting! Def. not my cup of tea, but I know a girl that used their services. Just thought it might be extra info. for you to look at and also, something that might interest you, as far as what's out there in the Dallas area...:)
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area
I agree with what you're saying. Thank you for posting information about that Christian Fundamentalist anti-sex work group. Even though that group isn't exactly my cup of tea either, I'm interested in being aware of what's going on and what type's of groups are out there. Did the gal you knew who used this group's services tell you about her experiences with this group?
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Re: Introducing Myself, Located in Dallas Area