Strippers actually go to school?
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
Toronto strippers among 'most intellectual'
By Tom Godfrey, QMI Agency
TORONTO - Toronto has some of the "most intellectual" strippers in Canada.
On any given night, about 50% of the city's exotic dancers on the job are fresh-faced college or university students who are shedding their clothes to earn degrees, industry officials say.
A ban on imported foreign dancers in 2006 forced Toronto-area strip club owners to recruit elsewhere, and they now have hundreds of students from top colleges and universities taking to the stage after classes to earn tuition money.
"We have one of the most intellectual workforces in all of Canada," Tim Lambrinos of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada said. "Almost half of our dancers at some clubs are students."
Lambrinos said the students are recruited through word-of-mouth and make good dancers.
"They are professional, know what they want and are good workers. Some are very intellectual and want to know every aspect of the law."
Lambrinos said about 500 of the 1,500 registered dancers are students from Toronto, Ryerson and York universities, and Humber, Centennial and Seneca colleges. He said they represent about 50% of the 700-dancer workforce on any given night in Toronto.
Club officials said students can get a flat rate of $75 for a seven-hour shift, plus money earned in tips and table dancing.
Lambrinos said most of the students dance for about three years until they graduate.
"We were very surprised by the amount of students who work in clubs," he said. "These girls are very intelligent and they want to better themselves."
One downtown club owner said more than 50% of his dancers are students.
"We have had girls who are studying to be doctors and lawyers," the longtime owner said on the condition his name not be used. "They work very hard and are here on time."
He said one former dancer was given a scholarship to prestigious Harvard University in the U.S.
One dancer, who goes by the name of Nicole, said she stripped for four years while studying business administration at York University.
"It was very hard but I managed to do it and I am very proud," Nicole said. "I came from a poor family and dancing gave me an opportunity."
The single mom is now training to become the general manager of a club.
The Adult Entertainment Association, which represents 53 of the 140 strips clubs in Ontario, has been calling for more dancers ever since former immigration minister Judy Sgro resigned after extending the visa of a Romanian exotic dancer who had worked on her election campaign. Until then, foreign strippers had their visas fast-tracked to Canada.
In 2004, foreign strippers got 423 work permits and extensions. By 2006, the number was down to 17.
By Tom Godfrey, QMI Agency
TORONTO - Toronto has some of the "most intellectual" strippers in Canada.
On any given night, about 50% of the city's exotic dancers on the job are fresh-faced college or university students who are shedding their clothes to earn degrees, industry officials say.
A ban on imported foreign dancers in 2006 forced Toronto-area strip club owners to recruit elsewhere, and they now have hundreds of students from top colleges and universities taking to the stage after classes to earn tuition money.
"We have one of the most intellectual workforces in all of Canada," Tim Lambrinos of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada said. "Almost half of our dancers at some clubs are students."
Lambrinos said the students are recruited through word-of-mouth and make good dancers.
"They are professional, know what they want and are good workers. Some are very intellectual and want to know every aspect of the law."
Lambrinos said about 500 of the 1,500 registered dancers are students from Toronto, Ryerson and York universities, and Humber, Centennial and Seneca colleges. He said they represent about 50% of the 700-dancer workforce on any given night in Toronto.
Club officials said students can get a flat rate of $75 for a seven-hour shift, plus money earned in tips and table dancing.
Lambrinos said most of the students dance for about three years until they graduate.
"We were very surprised by the amount of students who work in clubs," he said. "These girls are very intelligent and they want to better themselves."
One downtown club owner said more than 50% of his dancers are students.
"We have had girls who are studying to be doctors and lawyers," the longtime owner said on the condition his name not be used. "They work very hard and are here on time."
He said one former dancer was given a scholarship to prestigious Harvard University in the U.S.
One dancer, who goes by the name of Nicole, said she stripped for four years while studying business administration at York University.
"It was very hard but I managed to do it and I am very proud," Nicole said. "I came from a poor family and dancing gave me an opportunity."
The single mom is now training to become the general manager of a club.
The Adult Entertainment Association, which represents 53 of the 140 strips clubs in Ontario, has been calling for more dancers ever since former immigration minister Judy Sgro resigned after extending the visa of a Romanian exotic dancer who had worked on her election campaign. Until then, foreign strippers had their visas fast-tracked to Canada.
In 2004, foreign strippers got 423 work permits and extensions. By 2006, the number was down to 17.
27 comments
But only if you decide to give it to them. LOL
But, of course, if the "small brain" pre-empts the "large brain" then all bets are off.
That is a very provocative statement and I disagree with it very much. I have no university education, just a rural Grade 12 high school education. I am very well read and continue to read to satisfy my curiosity and catholic tastes. During my long business career I have been surrounded by multitudes of university graduates. My experience with most of these people suggests that those of higher education have a more narrow focus on the world; viewing the world through the blinkers of whatever specialty their education has given them.
Most of the interesting people I have met during my life are generalists, people who have many skills, people who have traveled, self-made individuals, people who have had many different jobs, people who have more than one language, creative people, people who can THINK. University education does not necessarily give a person the traits that I value so much; in fact, I would argue that higher education discourages these talents, particularly creativity and independent thought.
Society desperately needs the expertise of university-educated people but society also desperately needs the sort of people I have described. As I view the world, society has too many of the first group and nothing like enough of the second group.