I always assumed strip clubs were tawdry places and the associated men who went to strip clubs were either 'sun reader' sleazy brash builder types or banker/politicians types with massive egos and money to squander. So both groups tending towards the misogynistic (to stereotype) and often in male dominated typically boys club careers. Was this your experience, ever seen any men apologetic or embarrassed to be there, any arty creative types?
Literally every kind of person (man or woman) I came across. From 18-80, all walks of life, all different kind of jobs and careers.
I imagine that both sets of men would be horrified if their girlfriend was dancing (unless they were voyeurs) as this would damage their egos?
Lots of men say "I wouldn't let my girlfriend do this" Which speaks of their own sense of ownership over their partner. Most would still have a dance.
Do you think as women enter more male dominated careers and equality in the workplace increases, strip clubs will go into decline or just go underground?
It's not illegal, so it won't be underground, it may become less obvious or prevalent and therefore close down, but I found the recession did a lot of that anyway.
You say that you wouldn't mind your daughter doing this as long as she had a proper career after it? Does this mean you are ashamed of it or don't consider it a proper career?
I'm not ashamed no, it's just not something you can do whilst about to draw a pension, and there's no guarantee about the money you will earn, so you have to have a back up plan the whole time. Savings are hugely important. Some women make careers of it (very few) but I don't consider it a career, I've said a few times, it's a job, for a relatively short time, you can be a high earner, but there's not any progression.
Or is it because once you reach a certain age the men loose interest as they want to see young lithe bodies?
No, men don't lose interest. They may be more intrieged but it doesn't stop them spending money, I know a dancer who celebrated her 50th birthday at work, you wouldn't have known she was 50. But again, it's not something you can do whilst waiting to draw a pension, there's no maternity or sick pay.
Isn't it also an ageist industry if this is true? These are genuine questions i'm intrigued to know your answer. It must be quote an ego boost for yourself to get all the attention and lots of money, but if people then lose interest as you get older this could also be quite damaging to self esteem, same could be true of modelling etc of course?
It was never an ego boost for me, it was work. It's about extracting as much as possible in the shortest time possible for as little work as possible. If the customer found me attractive, brilliant, but it didn't always make it easier to get the money. If you took each rejection personally or got upset, you'd spend a lot of time upset. Its literally every night, all night.
Watching a man jangling his bits about on a stage wouldn't do it for me to be honest much less pay him for it
Me neither.
I need a back story wink there are certainly less male strip clubs for women, why do you think this is?
Because most women won't part with cash to see a cock and balls.
And finally...what on earth sort of things did you chat to them about...hows the weather, do you come here often?!
Anything and everything. Often start off with the hello you having a good night lads? chatter. Find your target and then direct the conversation. So, what do you do? Are you local? What's that tattoo about? Where did you get that shirt? Have you been here before? Who are you out with? Is town busy? What's the occasion? Etc. Depends on the customer but I've had fascinating conversation about Greek and Roman mythology, conversation about politics, sports, the internet, space etc.