Excuse me if this comes off a bit rant-ish...it's not meant to be a rant per say; it's just something I've observed over the past couple of weeks and recognized as something important to address amongst customers and some dancers.
We are entertainers. Call us what you will; strippers, dancers, whathavenot, our job is to entertain men. However, I've noticed a very unpleasant effect amongst a certain demographic of customers, and that is not treating us as respectable human beings, but as objects which serve no purpose other than to entertain them, if only for a short while. I would like to share with you some of my experiences, as well as those I've gathered from a few dancers while having this discussion.
Last week, a nice enough looking gentleman approached the stage, tipped me and told me to "come see him" when I was finished with my set. I nodded and was excited, as this usually means I've lined up a successful sale with little to no effort. Keyword: usually. After sitting down and chit chatting for a little bit, he cut to the chase. He says, "can I ask you a question without you being offended?" I saw what was coming a mile away, but nodded and honestly, I wasn't quite prepared for his question. I actually choked on my laughter when he asks, "how much would it cost me to get some lipstick on my dipstick?" not because I appreciate the inquiry of prostitution, but it was somewhat light hearted and humorous. I smiled and told him, "that's not for sale, sweetpea." He gets a shit eating grin on his face and with heavy sarcasm, waves at me and says, "Bye bye! You can go now!".....I thought about sending my hand across his smug fuckin face.
Similarly, the other night, this jackass waves a wad of what appears to be several thousand dollars in my face but still leads me to believe we'll be spending it on champagne bottles and dances. WRONG! He wants to pay me $5000 to spend a weekend with him. This man became very angry when I told him I am a dancer, not a prostitute; he declares that "I don't make the rules; he makes the fuckin rules" and I walked away, hailing a bouncer as I went.
That very same night, I watched a group of college students wad up dollar bills and THROW them at the dancers which, in my eyes, could not be more disrespectful. THIS is a prime example of what I'm talking about; they do not treat this beautiful girl with the respect and admiration she deserves but instead, toss single dollar bills in her face like throwing food to an animal at the circus.
Off stage, we vent a little bit about customers and whatnot; she shares with me that she will not give dances to girls because she had been violated by a girl in the VIP room. Similarly, I have a stigma with (and I hate to say it) Hispanic men, because one crudely grabbed me by my hips, would not let go and forced me to dry hump him until he pulled down his shorts and ejaculated on me. (That was back when I first started dancing; now, I tolerate NO forceful grabbing and will yell for a bouncer if it does happen.)
I've seen this same effect on celebrities, when we pry into their lives, harrass, vandalize and defame them; we fail to realize these are PEOPLE we're talking about and they exist for more than our own cheap entertainment. Well, the same goes for strippers.
I bring this up because I feel it's important to remind some women that this is not normal treatment. This behavior is sad, cruel and completely unacceptable; "strippers" are not interchangeable with "prostitutes," and we're damn sure not naked monkeys that will dance around for a single dollar dripping with sarcasm and disrespect.
Some veteran dancers at my club felt I was overreacting, but you know what? They're only enabling this behavior. Any dancer of any age and any level of experience can be victimized to this degree, and it's no more acceptable if you've been dancing for 10 years vs. 1, seen it all, been there, done that. We can't allow these men to treat us as objects which can be purchased and used.



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Everyone's going to think you're a total tool right?

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