This JUST came to me. I was cleaning the room I share with my three-year-old, in my parents' house. I'm 26 years old, and pretty down and out, and I'm wondering if this is a possible alternative to a more independent lifestyle.
Stripping didn't end well for me. The last time I worked as a dancer was in summer 2011, when I was living 900 miles away from home, in the Midwest. At that time, my situation was even worse. I had a shitty part-time job in retail, and I couldn't make rent. I didn't have a car, so I had to have a friend drive me 20 miles to the nearest decent strip club. I had to have another friend watch my son while I worked. The imbalance of giving and receiving made me a lose a lot of friends that year.
It was my first dancing audition. Once I got the job, the pressure of doing well began to mount. So much of my future relied on how much money I made each night. If I came home and I didn't make a lot of money, my friend/babysitter bitched at me. My confidence wavered, and I began taking each rejection on the floor personally. I stopped making significant money pretty quickly.
It was all like a snowball effect that just kept getting worse. The club closed for renovations for a month, and that's where things all went to shit. By the time it re-opened, I was being threatened with lawsuits and eviction. The club raised its house fees to exorbitant amounts. I couldn't even make enough to work there anymore. I had to make the decision to pack up and leave town with my baby. I moved back in with my parents on the East Coast.
The next few years found me and my son in varying stages of poverty. We moved back to the Midwest--big mistake, because the job situation there wasn't any different. In that college town, all the students had a monopoly on the good-paying jobs. I moved three different times. I lived in co-ops and rented out rooms. Finally, this summer, exhausted with spinning my wheels and having nothing to show for it, I packed my few possessions in a rental car and drove 900 miles back to my parents' house to regroup.
Things have been working out well so far. I have a full-time job at a hotel chain, and my mother's retired so she watches my son while I work. I just bought a car, and I haven't owned one since 2006. So, here's why I'm thinking about going back to stripping--I would like my future to belong to me, and not be someone else's vision. My father, a state worker, has gotten me a job interview with the state, as a toll collector. It's part-time, so that means that I'd be working up to 50 hours a week at both jobs. That sounds exhausting, and it means that I would hardly ever get to see my son. My parents would rather see me work to the point of collapse rather than go back to school, because that's how they lived their lives. I understand that they want the best for me; I just know that there are other ways to do this.
Stripping Pros: Money, obvi. Possibly a shitload if I realize and learn from the mistakes I made last time. There is also less pressure than there was before, because if I fail at dancing, I can just quietly continue to work my hotel job. My job is also a great cover, because they have overnight shifts. I now have a car to get me from club to home and back.
Stripping Cons: My parents have been amazingly supportive in helping me get back on my feet, and I don't like deceiving them. Plus, my mom isn't stupid and there's a chance that I could be caught before I'm able to move out.
If anyone has any thoughts on this, or has been in a similar situation and could help me out with advice, I'd be really appreciative. Thank you.



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I used to dance in WI, but I'm guessing that they are more curve-friendly there.

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