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Thread: When strippers take over the club

  1. #1
    Veteran Member Sultry Siren's Avatar
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    Default When strippers take over the club

    When strippers take over the club

    Fri Mar 14, 8:25 AM

    By Erin Siegal

    SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When dancers at San Francisco's Lusty Lady turned the exotic club into an egalitarian co-op, they found it tough to reconcile their lofty ideals with the aesthetic realities of the sex trade.

    One of the first things the dancers did was to toss out rules about maintaining the same body type as the day they were hired, and ones regarding height-weight proportion. A list of acceptable hair colors was scrapped, along with a policy regulating the quantity and location of tattoos.

    Now, larger dancers and those who might not be stereotypically "pretty" are welcome on the Lusty stage, but this emphasis on inclusion has brought difficulties for the 60 or so dancer-owners.

    The performers -- many of whom take on stage names -- run from tall to short, and thick to thin.

    Lilah Mayhem is pale with long dark hair and a thin frame, while Cinnamon Rose has shorter, red-streaked hair and a darker complexion. Wendy works the stage in striped pink knee socks and glasses, while another dancer wears old wedge sandals and a cheerfully curling brown wig. Many sport multiple piercings and tattoos.

    After buying the club for $400,000 in 2003, the next step was to put themselves through guerilla business school.

    The Lusties, as they call themselves, enlisted the help of other local co-ops such as Rainbow Grocery and Good Vibrations, a local female-run sex-toy shop.

    They learned the ins and outs of running a collective business and hammered out articles of incorporation within days.

    Seven committees were created to oversee mundane but necessary business items such as insurance and licensing, finance, incorporation, bylaws and media relations.

    All new proposals, from bylaw modifications down to buying new carpets, would need approval from general co-op membership and the board of directors. Every worker, whether support staff or performer, had the right to submit a proposal, and decisions would be made by majority vote via paper ballot.

    But the theater's mission statement, which seeks to break down hierarchy, made the creation and enforcement of managerial policies difficult.

    "It's hard, because we'd elect people to enforce our performance standards, but we hadn't yet decided on what those are," said former dancer Lili Marlene, who was involved in the transition. "Hygiene rules are easier."

    Dancers learned how to take disciplinary action against each other via new policies such as peer-based performance reviews. Each week performers evaluate their onstage colleagues, considering general appearances, customer interaction, and levels of eye contact.

    The first years of self-governance were the most difficult.

    "On a good day, it's like Peter Pan," said Lili Marlene. "On a bad day, it was like Lord of the Flies. We can do whatever we want, and there's nobody to tell us what to do."

    (Reporting by Erin Segal; Writing by Scott Hillis; Editing by Eddie Evans)
    Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears. The woman came out of a man's rib. Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved."
    Hebrew Talmud


  2. #2
    Veteran Member the_dfb's Avatar
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    Default Re: When strippers take over the club

    I JUST got done reading this on Reuters and was going to post it. Good thing I did a search first.

    They should have gotten more in-depth about how they're coming up with the standards for joining and maintaining membership in the co-op. Also, there was no proof stated for why allowing strippers of different shapes and sizes might be difficult for the club. Honestly, horny folks like their women in all shapes and sizes so I would think it would be a BLESSING to take on different girls.

    The article also states that they are breaking down bureaucracy, but honestly, there're tons of co-ops with that mentality, too. though, in some ways a stripper co-op is more of a novel idea. What's REALLY novel, though, is their drive to push all sorts of chicks into our mainstream conceptions of beauty. I think "The Lusties" set a good example for the world over- don't let the proverbial man hold you down!

  3. #3
    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: When strippers take over the club

    ^^^^
    if the club succeeds, you and they will be proven right

  4. #4
    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: When strippers take over the club

    Sounds nice in theory, but I've been to the Lusty Lady. Let me tell you, when peep-show dancers get seniority and don't have to maintain their appearance, it is not a pretty sight.

    BTW, the LL isn't a strip club, it's a peep show.

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    God/dess Casual Observer's Avatar
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    Default Re: When strippers take over the club

    Also, there was no proof stated for why allowing strippers of different shapes and sizes might be difficult for the club. Honestly, horny folks like their women in all shapes and sizes so I would think it would be a BLESSING to take on different girls.
    Um, perhaps they thought it unnecessary to delve further into the patently obvious because the absurd myth being perpetrated here--that suddenly men will discover they really do like overweight and/or poorly-inked girls with bad hair and/or teeth--is just that...a myth.

    Physical beauty is not subjective.
    Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

    William F. Buckley, Jr.

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    God/dess xdamage's Avatar
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    Default Re: When strippers take over the club

    ^^^

    We've had a few other threads here about that very topic, and I agree, beauty is not purely subjective as evidenced by cross cultural testing

    That said, there are always exceptions, people whose tastes don't fit the norm (they are in the minority however). It is a big world and there may be room for one or two peep shows in a given area that appeals to fetish groups. Which also means, you can't simply look at this case and draw a conclusion that it would appeal on a more massive scale.

  7. #7
    Glamazon
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    Default Re: When strippers take over the club

    For anyone who doesn't venture into SG, this was my response in a thread about the same article:

    I've been to the Lusty and currently work in the same neighborhood. Without hesitation, I can say that I would take my high house fees Deja Vu club over the hourly wage, semen/bleach scented (no kidding) peep show that is the Lusty Lady any day.

    Those girls make a fraction of what the girls just downstairs (it's even in the same building) at Hustler make.

    Just a thought...

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