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Thread: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

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    Featured Member Starfire's Avatar
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    Default a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I have been noticing lately that a large amount of girls (not all) that I work with/have worked with in my time as a dancer want to go into helping professions like nurse, social worker, psychologist, teacher,or have majors in college like sociology or family studies. Have you guys noticed this too?
    It seems weird, because people usually think of strippers as money hungry bitches that don't care about anyone but themselves. Do you think there is something in our personalities directly related to dancing AND wanting to go into a type of field where you help people? Like since we're dancing, maybe we're all a little unconventional and thus less judgemental than other people? Or maybe there is no relation at all?

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    Veteran Member Alia_of_the_Knife's Avatar
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Hmm... those just tend to be popular majors in general, but especially for women. I don't think there are a higher percentage of strippers doing that.

    As for me, I am an engineering major. Which even in 2008 is rare for a woman.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I think maybe the experience stripping leaves a gap that can be fulfilled in professions such as nursing.

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    Picaresque
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Actually, I *am* a selfish money-hungry bitch. I'm studying in my chosen field b/c I'm a kinesthetically oriented person (anything to do with anatomy/physiology, or movement, or the human body in general, comes easily to me)...and because it pays well.

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    cameron_keys
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I have a degree in Psych...got it WAY before I started stripping though.

    And yes, these majors are more female oriented in general....I bet you'd find a large percentage of secretaries or waitresses with the same majors/degrees.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I'm a nurse. I can only speak for myself, but I find that in order to be a truly successful dancer, it's necessary to be intensively generous. I'm not talking about giving up of oneself, doing extras, or anything like that. I mean, I find myself listening and trying to get to the needs of the customer (finding things he may not even know of himself), and I'm flexible about discovering ways to alleviate or deliver, whatever is needed. The nursing process involves assessment (collecting individ. info.) and diagnosing, then delivering, followed by analysis of what happened (decide to improve or continue same action). Subconsciously, I follow this same theme when dancing. Also, as in nursing, I must set boundaries, where I care yet I maintain myself and leave work where it belongs. As if not enough, the communication skills developed as a nurse (speaking to convey trust, respect, and rapport) caters to a group of customers that tend to be with money to spend.

    Sure, I work with some dancers who don't present themselves as though they give a damn about anyone and are so stuck on themselves that it's almost funny. They probably make money, too. But, I find that the dancers who have qualities that would be appropriate in the "helping" professions tend to have the regulars, the lasting reputations, they tend to dance in a healthy way long-term if so choose, and make dancing a positive PART of their lives. That's my take, at least.

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    Veteran Member laplover69's Avatar
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    As far as "strippers" and the nurses, theres a lot of similarities in pay, flexibilty and work hours...

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    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Yeah, it's just a gender thing. Those are typically female fields in the first place.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I have a bs in computer science, which I got BEFORE I started dancing. But I applied to nursing school recently, and am looking forward to nursing as a career in the future.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    i love my job with my kids.. but i wouldnt do that full time. no way. not for that kind of pay. i like money.

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    Veteran Member bibacle's Avatar
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I think it has to do with two of the very basic needs of humans, right along with food and shelter:

    The need to love, and the need to feel loved. The two are often related. One could say the latter is one unconcious reason women get into stripping and the former is why they go into helping professions.

    Its too bad our society pays so much more for stripping than for helping or teaching. Imagine what the world would be like if the best teachers made as much money as Elliot Spitzer's "escort". I'll be thinking about that while the legislature debates his proposed cuts in education and health care.
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    ^ um. i dont know many strippers who are dancing because it makes them feel loved.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    tons of people want to 'help' and 'teach'. plus, anyone can help and teach. humans have been showing other humans how to do stuff forever. it's kinda like a built-in function. that's why the pay is not what people complain it should be.

    if stripping were just a bit more socially approved, the pay would be pretty low there, too, without even the chance to make 500+ in a single shift.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Quote Originally Posted by britt244 View Post
    ^ um. i dont know many strippers who are dancing because it makes them feel loved.
    Hahaha, no kidding! Stripping isn't about helping people, its discretionary entertainment. Nursing and teaching are very different. Most women are in such "soft" industries, stripper or not. Cute idea though , kind of like the notion that girls become strippers because their step-dad had boundary issues (that's from Family Guy, btw). Its pretty patronizing.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I've thought about this too, given my recent desire to switch into nursing (so 180 from my academic career thus far).

    I had an idea that it might be something to do with societal expectations. Maybe so much crap you get for being a sex worker, instilled into you from the culture at large, makes a woman's psyche desire approval...Approval in a big way. Subconsciously. I don't think stripping and nursing have anything to do with one another, for example. Other than dealing with the public and having (in some cases) a high tolerance for what might turn other people's stomachs. I think, rather, that you start wanting to regain societal appreciation.

    Or else, maybe so much 'meaningless' self-directed labour starts to make the money feel a bit empty...I think, though I can't pinpoint it exactly, that it all has something to do with getting what society tells us we should want (money), but in an unorthodox way. And then not feeling very fulfilled by the cash, and thus seeking something that might feel more worthwhile. Or even just *thinking* you'd like to do something like that. The grass being always greener, etc. I don't know.

    Then again, me going into nursing is not what my family wants for me, in any case. It's not considered 'successful' as a career. And then I wondered why not...It's hard work. I began to bristle at the negative connotations associated with traditionally 'women's work'. What's wrong with wanting to help rather than earn vast amounts of personal wealth (if the two things can't go together)? What's so bad about wishing to be an empowered member of a team, rather than take a leadership role with lots of responsibility? At first I felt all Virginia Woolf about myself, feeling guilty for wanting to do something so girly and traditional...And then I thought "fuck that, there's nothing wrong with care-oriented careers". The implied inferiority of these positions is a patriarchal myth, IMO.

    So I don't know what the answer is, but these are all the things that crossed my mind.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Yep, I am a money hungry bitch at work but later would like to go into a healthcare profession where I can help many people.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Quote Originally Posted by britt244 View Post
    ^ um. i dont know many strippers who are dancing because it makes them feel loved.
    Seriously-that's one of the funniest things I've heard in a while. If it made me feel loved, I wouldn't need a freaking vaca about now.

    ETA:No boys in SG! Pls.

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    Featured Member Starfire's Avatar
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Quote Originally Posted by bibacle View Post
    I think it has to do with two of the very basic needs of humans, right along with food and shelter:

    The need to love, and the need to feel loved. The two are often related. One could say the latter is one unconcious reason women get into stripping and the former is why they go into helping professions.

    Its too bad our society pays so much more for stripping than for helping or teaching. Imagine what the world would be like if the best teachers made as much money as Elliot Spitzer's "escort". I'll be thinking about that while the legislature debates his proposed cuts in education and health care.
    OMG. The need to be loved? Give me a break!! Then another obnoxious customer comment implying that dancers make too much money. I haven't been around much in the last few months but I thought the customerweb phenomenon was dying down.
    Back to the matter at hand. Everyone has brought up a lot of really good points, including the fact that a lot of women in general choose these careers. I think what mollyzmoon said about societal acceptance might play a big subconscious role too. Very interesting.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    I'm the opposite where I"m in a "helping" major, but would secretly like to go into stripping. I wish I knew more strippers studying in the psychology field..Ha, I asked my therapist "So do you know any psychologists that were former strippers?" She said no, and even if someone was a stripper..they wouldn't tell anybody in their field. She was telling me, "What if a client was your former customer?"

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Quote Originally Posted by cameron_keys View Post
    I have a degree in Psych...got it WAY before I started stripping though.

    And yes, these majors are more female oriented in general....I bet you'd find a large percentage of secretaries or waitresses with the same majors/degrees.


    Undergrad or grad in psychology? If you don't mind me asking?



    Yeah, the majority of my classmates are female. There's like a handful of males.

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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Quote Originally Posted by britt244 View Post
    ^ um. i dont know many strippers who are dancing because it makes them feel loved.


    I can see it happening, but most people wouldn't admit it (because they probably would feel insecure).


    I admit though..the attention that you get does seem appealing, because they're mesmerized by you and some people might interpret that as "being loved."

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    Featured Member mina loy's Avatar
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    i went to a women's college and my degree was in psychology, so i can't say that there was a larger percentage of women versus men in my major. many of us wanted to be therapists yet i met many women who wanted to do research in psychology (actually, research is the #1 priority in the psychology field. even people who want to get doctorates in clinical psychology [therapy] have to do scientific research to get their degree.

    i've only met a few other strippers who want to be therapists. i've come across nursing students, a sound art student, a medical student, a biology student, and so on. i myself am currently going for a dual masters' in marriage and family therapy and art therapy.

    i agree that there is a patriarchal view that says helping-oriented professions are weak. in actuality, they are not. human beings and their behavior are two of the most complex things to study and we're nowhere near figuring out everything that makes us do what we do. doing therapy with two clients is just as difficult as selling dances to two different customers: they have different desires, needs, and experiences. figuring out how to work with what they have (and don't have) is challenging.
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    also, i dont know if this has been mentioned, but a lot of the helping professions DON'T pay well. so some of us need stripping to pad that income.

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    Featured Member thechaosfairy's Avatar
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Nursing is actually a great profession for the money-hungry, as far as I can tell. It's one of the few I know where common salaries are at $30/hour + for working part-time...
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    Default Re: a lot of dancers want to go into "helping" professions

    Woo! Thanks for all the insight on nursing. I never really looked at it that way.. I'm starting nursing school in the fall. AND I love the fact that you can work when you want/where you want.. just like stripping.

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