Strippers Are People Too – Things You Might Be Surprised At

There are a lot of misperceptions that people have about strippers when they come to a gentlemen’s club like Rhode Island Dolls in Woonsocket, RI for the first time. People have their own ideas but it’s hard to find actual information. Sure, most people know they are people, too – but they don’t realize how much strippers are really just like everyone else. They just happen to take their clothes off for a living.

Here are some things you might not realize about strippers that may surprise you:

• Stripping may not be their main job/career. Many strippers have other jobs. Also, it’s long-standing “joke” that all strippers claim to be doing this job to pay for college. But, in fact, 1 in 3 erotic dancers really are going to college during the day and dancing at RI Dolls and other strip clubs at night. 
• Stripping for a living can be a long-term job though. The average age of female strippers is between 23 and 24 yrs old, though there are dancers who stick it out much longer. Professionals have noticed a trend in the strip club industry, which is if a stripper continues dancing for more than 5 years, then she’ll never get out of the business. To break it down further, at any given time:
  • 12% of strippers are in their first year
  • 55% have been in the business for 1 – 5 years
  • 19% of strippers have been dancing for 5 – 9 years
  • 6% have made it through 20 or more years as a stripper

• 86.% percent of dancers consider it to be a legitimate career. Considering the flack that strippers get sometimes when they tell someone what they do for a career, or the stripper-bashing that can be easily seen online, this statistic surprised me the greatest. Though, it makes me happy to know that deep down, the majority of citizens understand that stripping at RI Dolls or other strip clubs is a real job. Especially since it puts real money in the pockets of many girls each night! 
• There are way more female stripper than male strippers. The industry is currently skewed—of all the strippers in the country, 92% of them are female and only 8% are male. I guess that’s because men are more visual than woman, so the demand of having establishments for men to look at naked ladies is higher than the demand for places that provide women with the ability to look at naked guys
• A large portion of exotic dancers were raised in religious home – 89%! To make this statistic more interesting, 91% of strippers are very close with their parents. So, contrary to popular belief, girls aren’t going out stripping to rebel against their religion or their parents. 
• Strippers aren’t all rich and raking it in. There’s a large degree of variety in the amount of earnings. While strippers often make more money in one night than the average person does in an entire week, their pay isn’t always consistent. A girl’s pay at the end of her shift varies greatly by the time she worked, the day she worked, the customer turn-out that particular shift, and other variables. That’s why when you look at websites like PayScale.com, a stripper’s average salary is between $19,590 and $138,250 a year. Now that’s a wide range!
• Some exotic dancers actually get health benefits! For some reason, most people have the impression that strippers make millions, but don’t get the benefits of a “regular” job. Neither claims are true. The average stripper doesn’t make millions, and about 1 in 8 strippers get health insurance. An estimated 4% of erotic dancers also get vision insurance.

How’s that for interesting. Did you learn something new about strippers and the industry? It’s fascinating when you see the facts because then you realize that it’s an actual career with some very regular people on the stage. 

Knowing these kinds of things about exotic dancers in gentlemen’s clubs helps customers remember that there are real people up there on the stage. Treat them as anyone else that you would come into contact with in your life – servers, retail people, or business people – and remember that they are just doing a job. Just because that job involves taking their clothes off for your entertainment, does not mean that you can treat them as lesser human beings. Be nice and it will come back to you tenfold!