Self medicating

17 comments

• jackslash

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  8 years ago

  "This profession is certainly dehumanizing"
  
  Most professions are dehumanizing. There is a reason why so many people hate their jobs.
  
• Imamutt

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  8 years ago

  True. But how many PLs could get on stage and swing their junk for the world to see wo being stoned?
• dw.buck

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  8 years ago

  stripping aint dehumanizing, if you think of it as an art form, the same people say that about sex. it is not natural or right to have many partners just one but that is BS. it is natural to explore and sex is natural. dancing nude for money is like any other job that requires you to be there at a certain time- do things you probably dont want to do for the peanuts they pay you.
  IJS
• Imamutt

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  8 years ago

  Interesting. Happy slaves of antebellum, anyone? Let me try again... Maybe it's just the dives I frequent or maybe I see things others don't. If it's so natural, why do _some_ have to get stoned to perform?
• motorhead

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  8 years ago

  
  "If it's so natural, why do _some_ have to get stoned to perform?"
  
  One could argue it's the chicken and egg thing.
  
  Addicted women turn to stripping & prostitution because it's great money for little time and effort. What other profession can they drink and drug and still perform?
• Cashman1234

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  8 years ago

  You make a good point. I think it's objectifying - in terms of the way dancers are viewed as almost commodities? That being said, it's not for everyone.
  
  My thought is - the dancer must have a positive view of her job. Many folks sense of self worth is primarily rooted in their work. If the dancer looks at her job as one step above a street walking hooker - that's not good. If she perceives her work as empowering - because she controls the situation and she has power over guys who pay to see her dance - and who know she has a great body - that is much healthier.
  
  The folks who work in mcdonalds are dehumanized - and their pay sucks. So I feel much worse for those folks.
• JohnSmith69

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  8 years ago

  Very few of the dancers that I hang out with have a need to be medicated in order to work. Some smoke vapes with me, but that's cause they like to party not because their job is so horrible they can't stand it otherwise.
• a21985

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  8 years ago

  One dancer at the club I frequent prides herself on being sober for a few years. I don't get dances from her, but she's a good friend of my ATF (so she knows I'm off limits) and has had some deep convos with me about how she hit rock bottom with drugs and drinking, and how dancing is what actually helped clean her up, believe it or not. Just water and a cigarette here and there for her, which I find extremely impressive and rare in a club.
  
  My ATF on the other hand is a caffeine and nicotine fiend, so that makes her par for the course with the self medication methods for most other occupations.
• sharkhunter

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  8 years ago

  The entire working middle class are working like slaves for a paycheck. Year after year only to have yearly performance reviews where they try to get satisfactory ratings even if they've worked 60 to 70 hours some weeks for no extra pay and the pay increase only matches the cost of living adjustment and then if the company profits are below the ceo's expectations, they might stop matching 401k or even say they are going to delay the time of the pay increase for everyone. Then they do this again and again effectively robbing you over a year of pay increases. Do anything less than full time slave labor and they decrease the pay adjustment even more. In effect the middle class has been working for years and their real paycheck is likely less than it was 20 years ago with inflation.
  
  Now look at strippers setting their own time and schedules and working only a few days a week, drinking, talking on the job, who's job is really demeaning? I've had bosses talk to you if you talk to another worker too long on the job and that's not unusual. We're all so used to being slaves we hardly even think about it anymore. We just get told you're stopping someone else from working and to cut it out if you're not talking about work.
• Imamutt

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  8 years ago

  Sharkhunter - your premise of a dwindling middle class is valid, but the supposition that independent operators have it made is misguided. Everyone would be self employed if it was that easy. As a contractor, if something breaks, I have to repair or replace it. If I pay subs hourly to work for me, they will be working rather than visiting, if that's a problem I can replace them. There is no 401k matching for contractors, nor vacation pay, sick leave, etc. Now a girl who has it halfway together has about a grand invested in hair, makeup, nails, outfits, shoes, then there are tip outs to the club, DJ, house mom, bartenders, And in some clubs if they don't meet their mandatory schedule there are fines, and fines for being late. As with most things it is easy to diminish the worth of what someone else does to maintain their occupation. The main point, however is that there is a higher stress level for many in this market than there is associated w clocking in at McChakin Fangers. I expect that more girls are using substances than most people can imagine.
• Papi_Chulo

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  8 years ago

  I'd say it may be stressful for many in that for the mospart it's not in a woman's nature tp feel good about being gawked at & gropped by strange men all while putting a pretty happy face as if rhey enjoy it - add on top of that having to continuously have to convince custies to part w/ their $$$ which adds extra anxiety.
  
  Self medicating seems to be a big part of our society but I do think dancers have to go thru things on top of what most people go thru in an typical job.
• twentyfive

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  8 years ago

  This is just a thought, but it seems many different types of entertainers self medicate, look all through the music industry, actors of all types, comedians, it seems to be a common thread throughout the entertainment industry, not to say it isn't available everywhere, but why should dancers be different from any other group of entertainers. Just a thought I had.
• shadowcat

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  8 years ago

  Ever given a stripper a lap dance? Several years ago on a very slow day shift, 3 of them talked me into giving it the old try. I was a flop. They said that I had no rythem. Thus ended my career as a professional entertainer. :)
• twentyfive

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  8 years ago

  ^^^But you got soul baby, party on my man, glad you are feeling better.
• Papi_Chulo

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  8 years ago

  I self-medicate via strippers
• NinaBambina

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  8 years ago

  Depends on what you consider self-medicating. If you count alcohol (which I do, as it's mind-altering), then I would say the majority of dancers do. A lot of dancers have a "shift drink" at the beginning of their shifts, to relax before the shift starts. She might not be getting wasted, but it's still self medicating. Most of the Detroit clubs I worked at even would give dancers drink comp cards when they got on the floor, encouraging the dancer to enjoy a free drink before they start working. If you were on time for day shift at Players, you'd get two. Girls would be drunk by 1.
• dw.buck

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  8 years ago

  another factor no one has considered - if we all could drink during the day at our jobs would we? stripping jobs allow it, our jobs discourage it but if we could the whole work force would be a drunk force by 4pm