I'm also curious to know if the reason you have chosen in the poll, is the reason why you originally started stripping.
xxx Claire


I'm also curious to know if the reason you have chosen in the poll, is the reason why you originally started stripping.
xxx Claire




Actually, money and in suits my lifestyle take care of my kids during the days go to college when I can lol work at night. I chose other cause I apply to more than one.
Show me the money, BABY!
I love the industry - the people, the performance
It suits my lifestyle - flexi hrs etc.
![]()
(Other) please explain: I can work a job where i can feel like i own the business! No dress code (if i chose to be only topless for example i can) I call the shots with the customers.
AND....I love to dance, club or not!
Pamela
I started dancing at 18 because my boyfriend was a male dancer in california. he got me into the biz. once i started making gobs of money, i couldnt stop. so i sold real estate during the day and took my clothes off at night. i love the flexibility, the sensuality, the feeling of lots of men wanting me to be their fantasy. i enjoy peforming, meeting people and having a job where i can use my face and body to make money. dont get me wrong though, if you dont have the mind as well, you will never make it in the industry. you have to know the game and play it well. i am now 31, dont look or feel like it, and still make as much if not more than the younger girls. the day i have to retire will be a very sad day for me. xoxoxox Shawn

I always wanted to do it. Really. As soon as I learned what "exotic dancer" meant, I wanted to do it. I was chickenshit for years and years, though I was going to clubs semi-regularly as a customer since I moved back to Portland about three years ago. (Before that, I was in Seattle where they don't have alcohol in the strip clubs, and before that I was underage.) Then a little over a year ago, I found myself unemployed, and decided that that was the time to just go be a dancer. I tell people, "I know if I wake up when I'm 50 and decide I want to have the experiance of skydiving, I can go skydiving. But nobody wants to see a 50 year old stripper get onstage for the first time." I'm still doing it because I enjoy it, a lot. I'm in charge of my hours and my schedule and my vacation time - I don't have to wait to acrue hours before I can take time off if I need it, I can just take a week off. I love dancing - I've been a club kid since I was about 15. I love the pole - that's actually a lot of what pushed me over the edge into actually dancing. I wanted to learn pole tricks, and installing a pole in my apartment is really not possible. I also love performing, I love an audience being focused on me, I love it when people comment to me after I get offstage "You're a really good dancer - you move very sensuously." or comment on my pole tricks. I *love* it when I do a difficult trick and a woman who's been sitting in the corner with her boyfriend not tipping anyone gets up and gives me a buck because I did something cool. It's just so fucking fun and cool to me.
When I started, I decided that I would always make it easy to leave if I decide I want out of the industry. I work a normal part-time job every six months or so, so I have some semblance of a work history and I won't be faced with "Oh, shit, how do I explain what I've been doing for the last ten years?!" And when it stops being fun for me and I start dreading going to work, I'll quit. There are a million jobs out there I could have and hate that don't involve taking my clothes off and talking to idiots. I'm going to have to find a place to live I can put a pole in before I retire, though - I cannot see giving that up. It's the only exercise I've actually enjoyed in a long time (well, regular dancing aside) - I have arm and back muscles for the first time in my life!





I actually have a degree in Respiratory Therapy, and could be earning $25 an hour or so working in hospitals (which I used to do in NY and NJ) - HOWEVER - when you're someone else's employee and you live in a high tax state you can easily wind up taking home only 50 cents on the dollar after federal, state and local taxes are withheld. Being self-employed results in much lower effective tax rates and also allows writing off one of my cars, my computer, my plastic surgeries etc. As a result I can wind up with just as much after tax income working two or at most three days a week as a dancer or on the internet as I used to make working full time in the hospitals. On top of this my schedule is totally flexible in terms of both hours and days, which is totally impossible in an employee situation. In fact, last week I just decided to take the rest of the year off, so other than doing one photo shoot and website update for Christmas I'm free for the rest of the year! However, I can't take time off from my diet or exercise schedule, because it seems that for every year that passes it gets harder and Harder and HARDER to lose weight and shape up again if you let yourself go even a little bit.





I started dancing because I didn't think I had any other options - I grew up in/around the industry and when I found myself suddenly on my own and too young for a "real job" it was just the thing to do.
I paid cash for my first house last year when I was 20, so it must have been a good decision :-)
Now I dance because it allows me to do other things. I have a dog training business (I love training dogs) and dancing helps me through the slow times and falls by the wayside during the busy times.
Also I just love dancing... especially when I'm wearing red :-)
Lena





I started stripping because I was broke. I stayed with it all through college the hours fit my schedule.
I had go-go danced before - no biggie - you just dressed sexy and got paid $250/night while making extra tips at a hotspot nightclub. I did that, just for extra cash and for fun.
I originally was in the corporate HR field, on Wall St. After 9/11 (I was 2 blocks south) it hit our business hard, and 40% of my income was also hit with that. You can't live in New York City with a menial base salary. I was a makeup artist 6 years ago and freelanced, and decided to go back into it - full blown - but you need a lot of time, effort, flexibility, and money to burn for makeup photoshoots, etc. SO long story short, I started dancing. Comes naturally, i work 3 nights/week and have my days free, and I also make in two nights what I made in 2 weeks at my other job!
my reason: combo of $$$ and flexibility!
bisou!
j
"You have no idea what a long-legged gal can do without doing anything." -Claudette Colbert




I've previously stated how and why I started stripping in another thread.
McCain



the reasons i started stripping and the reasons i stay are two different thing
i started dancing almost 4 years ago (seems like 2 they went by so fast)
i started dancing because i lived with an abusive boyfriend who was also my sons father..before we had our boy everything was fine then after he never wanted to sleep with me he said i was too fat..the same routine i'm sure you've all heard before...so after about a year and a half of shit i thought i gotta get out if not for me than for my precious boy...so he was a shift worker and when he went to work for days so would i..i'd take sam to a neighbor and i'd freelance for a couple hours at the bar,,it did absolute wonders for my already low self esteem, god i can feel the tears now, here i had an old man who would'nt pay any attention to me and at the club i had guys paying me for time and dances..how unbeleiveable....after dancing for about three months i woke up to my boyfriend choking me with my son in the bed next to me! i said thats it, next time he'll probably kill me, i called the cops when he went outside to put the sprinkler on (how psycho eh? choke your wife and then go water the grass) anyways it gets better...he had to leave the house even though it was his (another thing he used to hang over my head 'this is my house...') so i kept dancing while he had to live somewhere else, then he kidnapped sam but thats another long story..i have my son.
so to finish my story i lived in his house for 6 or seven months until i got a place of my own ..i had a beautiful bitch pad with ten foot ceilings, ive lost 20 pounds ive got new clothes and i rock...guess who comes back i'm sorryand at this point i was so lonley from being a single mom, i didnt date because i was scared to meet another loser and i had to be careful who i had around my son..so who better to give another chance to but my sons father...so i move back in..yes cringe y'all! after the last box was unpacked he was back to being a bastard and here i've uprooted my son AGAIN so i put up with the shit for another year..the rule was i couldnt dance..so i busted my ass working 2 full time jobs (he stayed home because he decided his back hurt) so 2 full time waitressing jobs still didnt even come close to what i was making my cheque was 379 for two weeks. for awhile i'd tell him i was going grocery shopping or to agirlfriends and i would go dance and sock the money awau, he controlled all the finaces so i never had pocket money . then came the night he tried to throw me down the stairs, i took him down with me of course, and then he tried to drag me out the door by my hair..enough was enough..my son came into the bed room after and asked if daddy hit me.. i thought i'd die..he was arrested again after that..i only stayed in the house for a month after that and i got my own apartment, that was last may and i'm still on my own and i love it , i still dance four hours a day 5 days a week, my son is in kindergarden so i only need so be babysat for 2 hrs after school...if hes sick i stay home ..last week i made 1800 working 20 hours, where else can you make that kind of money and still come home smelling good, looking good and still have energy to play with your kids, and i've also met some of my best friends through this indusrty, dancing is where its at for me
hollyday![]()
blessed be
I strip because of the money, the flexible hours AND the industry. I go to school full-time and dancing allows me to work whenever I feel like it (or whenever I am BROKE). The money part almost goes without saying. I also like being another person while I am at work. Usually I just roll out of bed and go to class without so much as brushing my hair, but at work I get all dolled up and I LOVE the attention I get when I am on stage and the place is packed....it is a definite confidence booster. I must say my self-confidence has gone up dramitically since I have started dancing.
I started as a way to put myself through college. I used to work long, hard hours at so many innane, unappreciated jobs for barely nothing, this is FUN! And the money is good too, and I have an excuse to shop and buy cute underwear!I'm also proud to say, "I'm an exotic dancer, baby!"
![]()
Pies- para qué los quiero, Si tengo alas para volar?... Feet what do I want them for, If I have wings to fly? - Frida Kahlo


I have been working in the Adult Entertainment Industry since I graduated high school. A friend of mine was a dancer, and I was just talking to her one day (while unemployed) and she said I should come work with her. Alrighty then, walked in, hired on the spot, and that is how I got started. I have a many faceted dancer lifestyle. I have managed, housemomed, made clothes, sold clothes for a company, did alterations, telemarketing for the club, you name it, I did it!!
I enjoy housemoming more than dancing. I am a natural at it. I enjoy the money (depending on the club) and I enjoy watching out for my girls. When my girls are happy, I am happy. When I dance now, I do mostly private shows...I no longer dance at clubs. I am going more online now, website, photography, things like that.


Thank you all for your fab, detailed answers.
Many hugs & kisses
I started to put myself through college. Now I am getting back into it because me and my fiancee are buying a house and don't want to be saddled with payments for the rest of our lives.
I can work two nights a week, doing something I usually enjoy and make nearly as much as our combined incomes after taxes. Never thought I'd be dancing after we both got our Bachlors, lol.
Most of the time I love dancing, I feel powerful, strong and beautiful. The best bonus is the legs though. They really start to look good after a couple of months. Better than any gym moves I've ever found!




Well, I voted "other" although "a little of all of that' would be a better answer. I started on a dare, and found that I LOVED it. I've been to some other places and bars (we live in Seattle now, which sucks for a bar scene) and found that I was VERY lucky where I got started (Phoenix) cuz other places can be lousy. Once you get into it, it's kinda hard to beat. The hours are great, the money can be SUPER if you hustle a little bit (and I've seen SOOOO many girls who DON'T) and frankly, in the better bars, I actually love the working environment (although I've seen plenty of the not-so-good bars).
The sex was so good, the neighbors needed a cigarette!
http://susanfromseattle.wordpress.com
http://www.ksexradio.com/images/fans/susan_with_hat.jpg
Explaining "Other"... I chose other because I just found myself unemployed, I'm a single mom and it's around the holidays...jobs are scarce. I'm also in school full time and in 10 months, I'd have to quit my job to student teach for my Master's Degree anyway, so I keep thinking - "why not". I'm good looking and have a great body without even having to exercise (believe it or not!) and my boyfriend keeps asking me why I don't do it. He's been around the industry for years and doesn't find anything wrong with it, so I have his support. The more I read on this site, the more I'm really leaning more towards actually doing it. Thanks everyone for their honesty and opening up.
Jessica
1. m$o$n$e$y
2. i'm a very sexual person this is a good outlet
3. i love dressing sexy and i love dancing!
4. it's fun 95% of the time
5. i can wander around stop and chat with whoever i want on the job
6. i come and go as i please
7. i feel very comfortable and in control
8. m$o$n$e$y
![]()
I used to dance topless, nude modeling, and do the pro dominatrix scenes (no extras)....
I would have to say that my reasons were all of the ones listed in the poll,,,
especially for the money.
In the very beginning, I was so shy and felt/knew that I had no other way to pay my bills,
I had been homeless on and off from the age of 14 to 23, the typical sad story of abuse and neglect....
At the age of 23 I was fired from another conservative job, (i had been working since I was 14)
after I refused to sleep with the boss... this had happened to me a few times before.
That same night I saw jerry springer or something similar on tv, where this girl with like 2 teeth in her head
was bragging that she earned over $300/day only dancing...I was lucky if I had Ever brought home more than
$200.00 per week while working 2 - 4 jobs at a time.
I started dancing that week, and for the first time ever I had enough money to pay rent, food, and even buy some
new outfits for work. Yes, I even wore embarassing walmart bra and underwear my first night to dance in.
I was amazed, and I was even more amazed and appreciative at how I was treated as a person that had
the right to earn money, at the clubs by the managment.
Dancing gave me opportunities that I never even knew existed, my goals keep going higher and higher...
I was able to quit dancing by the time I was 26 (total of 4 years) and opened my own technology company.
I really got alot out of dancing and enjoy opportunities that never would have been attainable for me,
because of the dancing. Any one who had ever complained or attempted to make me feel bad for dancing, I
can honestly look back and see they were ignorant or they did not have My best interests in mind.
Well, I origionally started waiting tables at a strip club for the hours and the money. It was something that I could do in the least amount of time to make the most amount of money. I had a part-time day job, and a school-age child at home who I wanted to spend time with. My husband (at the time, divorced now! Yah!) was out of work for 3 months and we were facing bankruptcy. I received a lot of encouragement to start dancing, and I needed the money. Then, I continued to dance because I was a single mom who wasn't getting any child support from my sorry ex-husband. Today I dance for many of the same reasons (hours, pay), but I also dance because I have a 2 year old daughter who I don't want to put in daycare. For this reason, I no longer work my day job, so this is my only source of income.
Bookmarks