I would say they are about the avg w/ the population it's just that one may be taken-a-back when they say they are religious based on their job - but as they do w/ seemingly every aspect of their lives; they are "religious" on their own terms.
If I take all the people I know in my civie life, and all the strippers I've met in my SC life, strippers are more religious. Strippers come from broken families, usually conservative or faux-conservative ones. Many strippers believe God and spiritual beings control their $ and how much they make each night. Not that it is half business, half lottery (who randomly shows up as a customer). Strippers often arent smart enough to be atheists or agnostics, and simple people, and most strippers are simple people, turn to religion, and see the hand of God in every day life. They believe God controls how dice fall, how the lottery works. Many strippers also have internal self worth conflicts, and are never 100% comfortable with their job, so they look to spirituality for forgiveness for their lifestyle. A bit like a drug addict with prayer beads and a bible and constantly recites bible versus but disappears for a day or 2 without explanation every other day.
S88's observations mirror discussions I have with dancers, too. I would describe most dancers as believing in a god or a higher power(s). I would like to call it Deism except like S88 confirms, the dances DO tend to believe that the higher power does influence their luck, outcomes, and earnings and true Deists do not believe that.
So whatever the term is for supernatural Deists is then dancers may belong to that. Like many orbiter dancers I deal with, I do not feel welcome in most churches by the church goers either, so I simply do not go, and instead I self-reflect during my own quiet time.
I, too, have seen a lot of religion or spirituality in strippers. I don't see it as much in the club -- where that's literally one of the last topics I'm interested in having with a stripper -- but either comes about naturally as I get to know them better, or I see it on their social media. Their facebooks are full of "have a blessed day", "so blessed", etc.
What I don't have a good feeling for is whether this is Asian driver syndrome. That is, are Asian drivers really so much worse than everyone else, or is it that when a bad driver is Asian you just notice it more? I'm not sure if strippers are more spiritual than most people, or if I just notice it more due to the shock of the cognitive dissonance. I do think people from less-advantaged/educated backgrounds in general tend to be more spiritual, or at least making public statements of spirituality is much more common, so it could be that also.
Also, in the case of Asian drivers, they really are worse, but that's a completely nother topic.
I would describe dancers as being slightly less religious that overall society. They are also far less likely to feel welcome in a church, that's for sure. Many dancers have a "you can accept me as I am or fuck it" mentality. Rarely does that mentality work well in most organized churches.
I once had an Asian stripper at the Columbia Platinum Plus ask me during a lap dance "have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?" That ended the dance right there. In fact I left the club but I called back and spoke to the manager. He said it was not the first time she had done that. I never saw her again.
I posted a discussion topic some time back about 2 of my old stripper "friends" posting a lot of religious stuff on their Facebook page. Maybe they've been saved.
-->"I posted a discussion topic some time back about 2 of my old stripper "friends" posting a lot of religious stuff on their Facebook page."
I remember that. And it jibes exactly with my experience. I would not have any opinion on this, or would maybe lean towards "strippers are less spiritual than most"... IF I hadn't seen so many dancers' social media. That's where it comes out, not in the club. It could be posing, of course.
In my experience with strippers I've gotten to know well they are more spiritual than the average person. But there's a lot of variety in what that means. For example I've known several who are into astrology type stuff.
Dominic77, that's fine with me. I haven't been to church in years. I had the opportunity last Sunday to go to my parent's church, it's been a long, long time. My beliefs are a personal thing, I generally have no use for churches, but if I can meet some dancers there. HMMMMMM !
Understood, vincemichaels.
The secret to picking up chicks at church is to get involved with the Choir or by playing substitute on the organ. ;) That always worked for me.
Religious belief is negatively correlated with education level. Strippers disproportionately come from a poorly-educated background. Do the math...
Note that I've met a few strippers that are clearly quite intelligent so this isn't a blanket statement putting strippers down. Moreover, education and intelligence are different things. Nonetheless, it's clear that the proportion of graduates from elite schools that are conventionally religious is lower than the general public. And there are few Ivy League strippers
If you find one who seems to advocate religion, then it will probably be Evangelical Religion, and this means that she has problems with drugs, alcohol, and probably psychiatric medication as well.
SJG
^ Another shocking revelation from SJG! Next thing you know, he's going to tell us that Bernie Sanders is too conservative and that paying for lap dances is for chumps.
Its more the fatalism. Like with the guy I helped put in San Quentin for molesting his daughters. Of those in his church a high percentage have serious personal histories with drugs, alcohol, and spousal abuse. Now this was before they got save of course.
So say like their children are reaching adolescence and the parent sees the kids are doing what they want them to do, then they might get Saved in order to claim more moral authority.
But also, say one has a new job, and they don't want to lose it. Or an SO is threatening to leave, or CPS has taken the kids. So the cost of drinking or using is now very high. So they can get Saved by making the professions, and get rounds of applause.
But they don't feel any different, they are just clean and sober. And they don't understand why they were drinking and using, they just know that they are supposed to keep dancing around and calling out the name of the deity.
But then say they do lose the job, or the SO does leave, or the kids are not to be returned. They are primed with all this fatalism, and so now they believe that they did not really get Saved, and might not be Savable. So they are primed for much deeper relapses.
I explained all this voluminously to the DA's Office, and to journalists.
And then most of the church members have their own scapegoat child and their own scapegoat sibling.
And the pastor talks in his sermons about all the trials and tribulations of life, and always including, "When your child is turning away from the God you worship."
And I always told the DA and the Court, that the defendant never said anything to me which directly indicated guilt of the charges. But I was blown away with the emotional energy he had invested in scapegoating his eldest daughter, and so I knew that that did not start overnight, but that she had been living in an abusive family.
And in his church there is no such thing as child abuse, as the child is always wrong. And anyone who does not forgive and walk with Jesus, is wrong to begin with.
I told the DA and the Court about how much of a menance that church is, and I wanted the defendant to get as high a sentence as possible, and it did go high.
And I have told patrol officer after patrol officer about that church, and most of them already know about it. They cause lots of problems. And this case I got involved in connects with a local patricide.
Street hooker I sessioned with , 20years ago. Latina, but screwy. How can you spot a screwy Latina family? They are Pentecostals. When you hear that know, Drugs, Alcohol, Criminality.
After we were done we talked, she goes to a local nut case Pentecostal mega church. We really were not able to talk, incompatible.
Most Latina's I get along with, but not Pentecostals, because they are screwy.
SJG
Middle Classes
[view link]
26 comments