No. Making money makes me feel happy.I don't talk about my income with my friends unless they ask, though.
No. Making money makes me feel happy.I don't talk about my income with my friends unless they ask, though.
If you think school is hard, try being stupid.
Greedy?! God, I deserve every dollar I work for.- what Anastacia79 said.If one of my friends is toiling away at a minimum wage job, thats her problem.
I'm confused, but the Chewbacca Truffle Shuffle cleared it up. - Emily





Sometimes having lots of money makes me feel guilty, no matter how I got it. Like guilty in the sense that I feel the impulse to give it all away to charity. Which isn't a good impulse, not really. I'm no saint, I just feel overwhelmed. When I first started dancing, I literally gave away thousands to Oxfam because I was hypnotized by a Peter Singer book, and also just completely out of touch with reality. That was dumb, and I try harder to be more realistic about what I should do these days.
I don't feel bad for my friends though...I mean, compared to girls my age, my looks are average at best. If I look better than average, which looking around campus I don't think is the case, it's cuz I put all this effort into working out and stuff (insofar as I look a lot better now than I did in high school, for instance, where I thought red eyeliner was a good look). So if I'm getting naked and going through the humiliation of lap dancing, lying to my family, having a blank resume, etc...then, well yeah, i deserve this money. They never claim otherwise, because they know they could make that trade-off too.

I am really mad when I leave with only $200. My average hasn't been that low since I was a newbie.
Not only that, we still have to pay taxes, health insurance and other costs out of pocket. Unless you are one of those strippers who pleads poverty and goes on medicaid and avoids the IRS (which, quite frankly, gives us all a bad name) $200 bucks a night isn't very much - subtract 30% for taxes right off the top.
Sometimes the allocation of wealth in the world depresses me; like I think it is sad that what we do is valued more than a kindergarten teacher or environmentalist or... you know, other worthy social issues. But - it isn't our position as dancers that creates, facilitates or even causes us to participate in that system. It's not like if we weren't dancing and there were no dancers kindergarten teachers would get paid MORE.
So, I definitely don't feel "greedy" and I don't feel I "deserve" my cash because my job is hard. I feel is "deserve" my cash because the way we understand "deserve" in terms of salary in our society is, absent compelling external reasons, related to market. This is what my job is WORTH.
I have taught that the sky in all its zones is mortal and its substance was formed by a process of birth




^^^It makes me super depressed to think that when I finish with school, my starting salary will be less than my stripper salary. I'll probably take home about 1/2. I'm doing master's/phd at a top program in my field at a great school. But it's public health research...yeah, no money.
However, fuck no I don't feel guilty about the money I make. And $200=not so mad on a Monday, but super hell raising pissed on a Saturday.
I am the only student I know that is building up a nest egg while in school. Thank G-d I started saving 20-30% of my income (sometimes more), I will be so grateful for that habit later on in life. My best friend from home is in law school, her parents still support her, and she still goes and blows money on bags and shoes when none of it is her own. WTF, control yourself, your parents are working really hard to keep you in school.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]



I honestly don't feel bad at all. Let them keep their crappy jobs so they can give me more money in the VIP room!
Isocrates: “Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress.”



I don't feel at all guilty or ashamed to be getting paid to do the job I signed up for. In fact, when you break it down dance by dance, only $20 for touching and grinding with a naked woman isn't much to be paid at all. Thank God it adds up to a lot more by the end of the night.
It does bother me that some of my friends haven't had the opportunity to get themselves out of the hole like I have, simply because they haven't been born with stereotypically good looks. For a lot of people, needing a $300 car part can throw them off their budget for months, for us we just have to work a few extra hours. Sometimes it seems that there's an attitude here that 9-5ers are just poor saps foolishing slogging away at their jobs like lemmings. God Forbid you want to be a teacher or social worker because you actually give a rat's ass about kids or the elderly or making a difference in the world. I think it also sucks that society can't handle you doing both. For example, a teacher who loves her job but can hardly support herself so she dances on the weekends, would be a total scandal and would get fired.





i feel LUCKY that i can do it.




I don't think the average stripper makes enough money that she should feel overprivileged or greedy.
To gross 100K, you'd have to average $400 per shift, working 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year. (I don't know about you guys, but I haven't known very many dancers who work 5 days a week 50 weeks a year. One of the great perks of the job is that you can take more time off for other pursuits than you can in a regular job...)
If you pay taxes and social security on that income, as an independent contractor is required to in the U.S., you're probably looking at--what? Something between 50 and 75K after taxes? It's a good income, especially for a job that doesn't require any fancy, expensive degrees or technical training, but it's hardly fabulous wealth.
Taking into account that the overhead is high (lots of expenses related to staying competitive in the business), and that we don't receive any of the benefits of a mainstream job--no health insurance, no retirement fund, no paid vacations, etc--I'd say we don't have much to feel guilty about.
It feels that way when you have those $1000+ nights, but that's really just an illusion.
Now, if I were the CEO of, say, Exxon-Mobil Corporation, I might have something to feel guilty about...
"Doc still loved true things, but he knew it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress." - John Steinbeck, Cannery Row
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]


i don't feel guilty because we earn what we make, as they (most likely) earn what they make. Also, keep in mind the fact that we don't get benefits, such as health insurance and other perks that might go along with those types of jobs, including money towards our cell phone bills, etc. those things add up quick!



NO WAY!!!! I actually find myself bragging sometimes. But we DO deal with more shit.
wow. im suddenly embarassed to be here.
im the only one who feels a lil shitty that friends work their asses off in 9-5 jobs and make pittance? that in the real world, people work 50 hours a week and still dont make what we make? that we have such financial freedom for doing shit all?
sorry guys, i hate it when strippers rant about 'how hard it really is' and ' how much shit we have to put up with' reality chcek!! working a few hours a each night and making a few hundy and hour is hardly putting up with shit. yeah so what if we get groped and abused, i still dont see how that makes our job hard.





^ See, that's the thing... my friend bitches and bitched about making no money and being jealous of how much I make. I've given her the agent's card. She just foofoos it for no reason whatsoever.
Nobody else's money is my problem. It's theirs.
They chose to not be strippers and I chose to be one.
Look like a woman
Think like a man
Act like a lady
Work like a dog
- My Great Grandmother Bessie's Recipe for Success





If you want the present to be differant from the past, study the past.
Baruch Spindza
It is what it is, not what you want it to become, that's important -- at least for now. Today, remember that things worth having are worth waiting for!
The Stars
Minds are like parachutes: They only function when open.
Thomas Dewar
Dont throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water.
Swedish Proverb





They could always be strippers.
I have to disagree that being groped and abused would not make a job hard. A lot of women leave this industry severly damaged from the shit that they have to put up with - so one might look at it as danger pay.
I think I deserve more than i get to give some loser the priviledge of seeing my naked body and having me pretend that I am remotely interested in him. I mean seriously if it wasn't for women like us all he would have to look at would be some 2 ton tessy.
Dont feel embarressed - I feel pretty much the same as you Mermaid. Not all of my friends because some are doing very well for themselves and are happy but I think alot of people deserve to get payed more for what they do. Like all of the carers in our community for instance - where would we be without them yet why are they paid so low?
I also consider myself very lucky that I LOVE stripping - its the easiest most stress free, enjoyable job in the world to me so I find it hard to see what the big deal is most of the time. Its a body, everyone has one and isnt it crazy how we can make so much money from something that over half of the worlds population has?!!! It makes me sad that everyone cant do something they like and be appreciated for it and payed a worthy amount, but I guess thats life unfortunatly.
(Note that in Australia are conditions are pretty good generally and in most states theres no contact at all with customers.)
Umm, how can everyone "always be strippers" - not possible for everyone, and definatly not practical (-:





Actually for what us strippers have to deal with and what we do and hear I think $200 for a shift is being underpaid. We have to deal with alot of shit to get that $200 while people at their office jobs tapping away at the keys with all their clothes on not having to swat away the grabby sweaty hands of strange men are being paid just fine is ya ask me.
At $200 I strive to make double and if I still have time in my shift make even more. I dont feel guilty at all.
you live like an ivy vine
you can only survive by clinging onto trees
that's your flaw
put down some roots so you can stand on your own
-Kenpachi

I think dancing is a hard job and not everyone can do it. Therefore we SHOULD get paid more



I don't as long as I spend my money wisely.
I hear you, MermaidNZ. My guilt lies less with people close to me (they're all hot, they could strip), than with people who just don't have the opportunities.
Like, on a 1k night, I'll think about how many people worldwide died a painful death from starvation while I was making my money.
But, of course, my making less money wouldn't help the global income disparity in any direct way. I'm better off having money and doing something positive with it than not, so...
Feature costumes for sale!




Agreed, and they can choose to dance should they want to (or find some other high paying job or creative endeavour), It especially pisses me off when people subtly look down at me for my job, and then whinge about thier lack of income, or expect me to foot the bill. I won't do it, and I lose them quick smart!
Fools laugh at others. Wisdom laughs at itself...Osho
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