College student strippers: Myth or Reality?

Reality, I've read one stripper's dissertation and recieved another's graduation announcement (an accident of being in her e-mail addressbook), but probably overstated. Just about every stripper claims to be going to school. It often means they took a class or two at the community college and are now "taking a semester off".

Myth. I'm not familiar with these news reports, but I've even spread the myth myself. I've often posted about all the young strippers working in a college town, when in truth very few are currently attending full-time. Actual student strippers I know of are more anecdotal than representative. It does seem that many clubs in college towns have a lot more young strippers, but I think that must be due to the demographics of the area, including younger clubgoers.

I have met one that I am sure of. I met her 6 years ago. She now has tenure at the University of South Carolina teaching Theatre and Public Speaking. She still dances on occasion. Mostly during the summer break. I would rate her as an 8 in appearance and and 8+ in personality. I have heard that her marriage is on the rocks and the last time I spoke to her, she said that teaching was not all that great and she would rather be a dancer.

I think it's overstated. It's true that there are some because whenever I go down to Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas, the Out House always seems to have someone who goes there. And they certainly look young enough. Closer to home, in Lincoln, NE, home of the Cornhuskers and Shaker's, one of the dancers there has pointed out to me various girls who go to school at UNL. But I'm always leery of girls who say they are going to school if there is no obvious college nearby, which isn't to say it isn't true.

I think that most strippers are not college students but some clearly are. My ATF was (and still is) and I've known several others who also were. And many of them are obviously only part timers for whatever reason. Whether it's overstated or not probably depends on your definition of what is or isn't a college student. No doubt some of them take time off, but then that's true of non-strippers going to school too.

Interestingly today's Dear Abby letter is from a woman who stripped while in college and is now trying to forget it ever happened - it's actually pretty funny. And no I don't usually read dear Abby but the headline "Trying to Forget Her Topless Past" roped me in. No mention of laps though.

Whether it's overstated or not probably depends on your definition of what is or isn't a college student.<

The myth is about current, full-time college students. Taking a class or two makes you something other than a student who also takes a class. Taking time off makes you a former and possibly future student.

Why is the myth so appealing? I think PLs want to believe that the young women to whom they give large sums of cash are using it to prepare for a better future, not blowing it on a dead end life of drugs and icky boyfriends. Strippers understand this, and play to the myth in order to keep the cash flowing.

For me, the biggest appeal is imagining innocent looking young things carrying books around campus in the daytime, all the while leading a secret double life as disreputable sex workers, allowing any slimeball stranger with twenty dollars to paw their sweet young bodies.

Chandler, I have met some dancers who claimed to be (and probably were) full-time students. But most of the students I've met were part-time, they couldn't afford to go full time. To me anyone who is actively pursuing an education is a student, whehter or not they are currently taking classes. It's their mind set, not their happenstance that counts for me.

I don't much care whether dancers are currently taking courses or not, what's important to me is their ability to hold an intelligent discussion and whether or not they have any motivation. I'm not interested in any college myth any more than I'm turned on by a phony school-girl outfit (I'm not.) If I'm going to spend a lot of time and money with a girl, I'm interested in finding an inquisitive mind as well as a pretty face and nice body. It's why I've stuck with my ATF so long, she's about the most inquisitive person I've ever met.

FONDL, that's all very well and good, but you'll never see news stories about strippers with a student mind set, and the question was how much basis in fact such reports have. BTW, too bad the schoolgirl fantasy escapes you. As I've commented before, imagination seems to be regarded like a disease around here.

Chandler, the question I see in the original post is, "... the media seems to overstate the number (of college girls stripping) ... what has been your experience?" I have no idea whether or not the media overstates the number of college students stripping because I've never seen a number quoted. My experience has been that it isn't very difficult to find intelligent girls stripping. Some of them claim to be college students and some probably are, but I've never asked them what they meant by that - their intelligence is enough for me.

Let me cite 2 examples from my experience to illustrate my point: once in a Providence club I met a girl who claimed to be a graduate student from Australia - she was good looking and intelligent and I had a great time. Was she really a student? Who cares, the answer is unknowable. Another time I was in the club where my ATF was working as a waitress. I asked her who this new dancer was and commented that she was easily the best looking girl in the place. My ATF brought her over, introduced the girl who then sat down to join me. It took me about 30 seconds to determine that she was dumber than a fence post. Suddenly she didn't look very attractive anymore.

As far as imagination goes, I'm happy to accept that scantily-clad young girls will spend time with me in exchange for money. Dressing up in some costume or other doesn't add to the experience for me; I'd actually prefer that they were naked or in their underwear or a nice skimpy gown. My imagination consists of me forgetting my age for awhile. Feel free to use your imagination however you like, I see nothing wrong with that. I'm just not into the same fantasies that you are.

FONDL, although I know David's question included the word "number", he's clearly asking about impressions, not statistics. The impression that seems to be promoted is that actual, full-time student-strippers are fairly common. My experience is that they are rare, only a small fraction of the strippers who claim to be going to college. That's not to say that there aren't many other intelligent young women stripping & blah blah blah.

And thank you very much for confirming what I've said about imagination.

I think a lot of girls get involved in stripping while they are also ENROLLED in a course-work program of some sort, but are not necessarily "in college" in the traditional manner.

For example, a girl who is getting some credits at a junior college in her neighborhood, in a program that is directed towards an Associate's diploma in basic secretarial skills, who initially enrolled for the standard course load but dropped half of it and got some of her money back, and then finished her remaining courses while also beginning to be a stripper; she then got attracted to the easier money of the stripping lifestyle, and does indeed plan that "some time in the future" she will re-enroll for those classes which are still lacking from her transcript, but meanwhile she is not ACTIVELY attending or, if attending, is doing so only in a rather non-traditional manner, one class per term or fewer with a low to zero likelihood of her finishing a given course. She will describe herself as "enrolled in college" when by most of our definitions she has "temporarily ceased to attend college but may return if she's lucky."

Now, the law or med student going to class regularly, and making money by stripping? Highly unlikely. Those pre-professional programs require much more time commitment not only for attending, but also for studying outside of class, than a regular evening job, at 5 to 8 hours a night, would allow.

I worked at a (male) strip club while I was a graduate student. I was in a doctoral program in literature, and found I could only work at the club when I was not enrolled in coursework, because of time demands. And I suspect that my personal skills in time-management and goal-directedness are much higher than those of your average younger girl without a BA.

So, yes, they exist. But not to such a degree as is regularly reported. Basically, it's a myth perpetrated by the girls themselves, who wish to appear more educated and with more prospects than a cursory inspection might otherwise indicate.

In fact, I don't actually like the ones for whom the college story is true. They are much too cagey, and generally much more manipulative and underhanded, than the ones who have "fallen into" the lifestyle of stripping as a more full-time occupation. Dedicated strippers, whether beginners or old pros, have a mind-set that is quite different from people who succeed in doing it just for a brief period in their lives and then move on. The ability to move on, itself, is something contradictory to a stripper's mentality.

IMNSHO

I still secretly hold the fantasy of college-girl strippers, although I do believe it is largely a myth that a lot of strippers are students. I rarely go strip clubs during the week, but a few weeks ago I made it a point to drive to a large university town for "Amateur Night". I had high expectations of seeing a bevy of young college girls vie for the $500 cash prize. I was severely disappointed. Only 4 girls competed - none were college students and half were turn-your-head-away ugly.

Many years ago, one of my favorite dancers claimed to have Master's Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan. She claimed that without a Ph.D, she couldn't find a good job - and she could make more money stripping. I have no idea if she was telling the truth, but she did seem much more intelligent and mature than the other girls.

Kinda true about the good-job line; now whether or not she had the Master's is a different question. I'd find her whole story more plausible if she'd said "Medieval Latin" instead of "Biochemistry."

I can't believe all the Ginger hate. Doesn't anybody realize she was a send-up? And a pretty fun one, I thought. Full of herself? On the surface, but she turned vulnerable pretty quickly. She was the only character with any depth (pathos, even) on a cast full of cartoons.

I suspect Mary Ann would be the really cold bitch in any kind of intimate encounter. I'm second to no one in my devotion to girl-next-door types, but I don't trust that too-chirpy act. I do have to give her high marks for her slammin' body and wardrobe. Didn't Mary Ann even wear high heels?

IMO, Loni Anderson was a horribly crude version of the kind of thing Ginger did so well. Low humor and no style. I never saw anything she was in, but I thought she looked repulsive, with that shiny, sunburned face and swooping plate of hair that looked like some blonde marsupial died on her head.

Oops!

I've seen a few news stories about strip clubs. I have also known a few dancers who were in college. I don't think it's any kind of dominant statistic nor have I ever heard a news story that claimed it was. I prefer older dancers so I don't know any ladies directly who are currently dancing their way through college. My current favorite dancer did put herself through college dancing and making porn movies in the late 90's.

I've met a few dancers who claimed they were a college student or taking classes studying something to get a degree. However the number is very small which makes sense. I believe over 99 percent of college girls do not strip to make ends meet. However if you had 26,000 students and half were female. You could possibly have 100 strippers and the percentage would be less than 1 percent. Ok, we can all daydream now about the horror of being stuck in a class full of college strippers. Actually I thought the college girls I remember looked a lot hotter than most girls I see in a strip club. I remember one chemistry class where I had the unfortunate luck to be assigned to a seat right behind about 8 girls spread around in different directions. When they all wore short shorts to class, I could really feel the chemistry. :)

I don't remember what the teacher was saying. It was stadium seating and every time I looked down, I couldn't help but see girl after girl in her shorts. It was a rough class. :)

Meanwhile in another class, I remember my lab partner told me she was one of the runner ups for homecoming queen. I can't remember if she told me or if I read about her. When the temperature hit 80 degrees, you could smell the coconut oil from the suntan lotion 6 stories up in my dorm building due to all the girls lying out in the sun.

College life seemed a bit hectic at times I remember now. Fire alarms and drills 2 to 4 times a night. I remember bomb scares, a few fires, one explosion, lots of pranks, presidential helicopters doing flight runs over campus, the president and vice president visiting along with a gazillion news cameras and secret service, news crews right across the street, a geyser of water shooting out due to someone turning a bolt the wrong way in a girls bathroom (flooded the lobby 3 stories down within minutes), water fights, a snowball fight with about 5,000 students, and on and on. I guess just the normal college stuff.

I do remember seeing one Apache helicopter doing a low hover over some of those girls lying out in their bikinis. He must have spotted something. :)

There are quite a few dancers at the Cheetah (Atlanta, GA) that are college students. GA Tech is literally right around the corner along with plenty of other schools in the surrounding area. I would dare say the ratio is maybe 40:60 students to non-students. Of course I tend to be attracted to the younger dancers so maybe my observations are a little skewed. Even if I'm a little off, the Cheetah seems to be the exception. I can't say I've met very many students at the other clubs I've visited. Although academic status doesn't always come up in conversation, the general impression I have is that most dancers really aren't all that ambitious.

40:60 is roughly the apparent ratio at a college town club I visit. After getting to know some of the "students" better, it turns out that only about 5 of the 40 are actually going.

I think a more meaningful question would be whether or not the number of college students dancing is increasing. Here I would say yes, for several reasons: the number of women in college is increasing, the number of upscale clubs that attract a more upscale dancer is increasing, and the number of local commiunity colleges has grown rapidly. I also think it's harder to define who is or isn't a college student today because of the community colleges and the number of people who take courses now and then. Going directly from high school to college and graduating in 4 years is no longer the norm. And I think the percentage of strippers who are full-time students is pretty small.

Chandler, I also wanted to comment further on the point about imagination that you made earlier. In my case, my favorite fantasy is that it's real, that the girl really likes me as a person and that I'm more than just a customer. Things like fancy costumes and role playing reminforce the fact that I'm just a customer and detract from my fantasy. Which is probably why I don't like them. So I believe in imagination, it's just that my fantasy is very different from yours.

FONDL: Those are very good points about trends among strippers and college students. The myth that captures the popular imagination is no longer as practical, and what's more meaningful - catching a night class here and there - just isn't very exciting to think about. I still say it's all wildly overstated by the strippers, and these media stories seem to accept their version for the most part.

About imagination, fair enough, although I would call that more resignation or self-delusion. I've tried to explain that costumes and defined role playing are not central to the kind of fantasy I engage in. They're just the most obvious catalysts. This is bound to sound really pretentious, but I see all of life as having symbolic, mythic overtones that I can't help but touch on when interacting with others, be they strippers, women or anybody. It's a rich, ever-present source of fantasy, irony, humor and meaning. Most people I know feel much the same, but on this board it can seem like I'm talking about music I hear where everybody else only hears some notes.

Having been unemployed on many occasions, I have to say, I sympathize with a stripper's need to puff herself up a bit. People generally will respond negatively to any statement that is equivalent to, "I'm a stripper," no matter how euphemistically the language is chosen. "I'm an exotic dancer" and "I'm a burlesque artist" still mean, to MOST people whom she will meet, "I'm a slut who can't hold down a regular job; I have a drug habit and I hang out with unsavory people." I have regularly lied, whenever a casual interaction has led to me discussing what I do for a living. I either say I do what my previous job was, even though I'm still not in it; or I say I'm attending Law School, even though that's many years away for me, if ever; or I say I am a teacher; or I say ... anything that's more impressive than, "I just got fired. Again."

While I still think there are a few full time student strippers since I've actually known a few FONDL's point remains. When I went to college (undergrad) I reeegularly carried 18+ credits and graduated in 4 years. Now 12 is considered a full load and many students take 5 years. There are also those who take a year or two of classes at the community college a few years after high school to make up for what they didn't study in high school so they can get into a better full time college. I'd consider them legitimate students. It is probably also overblown by the srippers themselves as BG points out. I can't think of more than a handful of strippers that after some talk won't mention something other than stripping she does (implying that stripping is just to fill in for money till the other career takes off).

As for why the myth endures I think it's like the myth of the co-ed call girl. We want it to be true.

Myth. I'm certain that there are a few putting themselves through school by dancing, but I'm also certain that even more lie about it to get your sympathy, push your buttons, or both. I'm not sure why it's a fantasy except that women look really good when they're college age.

AN: For you, is the appeal of the myth that the call girl you get is also a co-ed, or that the co-ed you see on campus is also a call girl? (No fair saying both.)

And everybody's been saying that strippers overstate it. I think we can all understand why. The more interesting question, I feel, is why so many people believe it.

The conversations that I've had with favs who happened to be students were all too mundane to be imagined. One of the most beautiful girls I ever met was a Cheetah girl who was a Physics major. Who in the world would lie about that? Besides the hot Co-ed fantasy, I've grown to appreciate the fact that there are intelligent women in the world who choose to do this rather than the stereotypical victim of society who seemingly had no other reasonable alternative.

I remember meeting one dancer who told me she had a college degree but chose to dance or moonlighted by dancing since it paid so well. She seemed to be a very intelligent dancer. However, a college degree doesn't count for too much when it comes to me deciding if I want to get a dance. I'm sure several guys have met several college strippers. They just weren't stripping for money.

I think it's easy to overstate it. One could go to cosmetology school, claim to be a student and have it be true. That is not the same as learning aerospace engineering, or even English (my ATF's college major), but it makes you a student all the same.

In my 40+ years of going to strip clubs, I can only recall 3 strippers who claimed to be full-time college students. And I'm pretty sure they all were. But that's a tiny percentage of all the girls I've met in clubs. I think my ATF is more typical - she's been going to college off and on for 12 years and is still doing it. She'd have been a full-time student if she'd had a parent who would pay for it. I've met a lot of strippers who were somewhat like that.

Chandler, I completely agree with your 2nd paragraph above. That's exactly what I mean when I say it's all fantasy. And I often have similar feelings to those you've expressed.

So what do you guys think. Who has a higher graduating percentage; Strippers or Basketball Players?

"AN: For you, is the appeal of the myth that the call girl you get is also a co-ed, or that the co-ed you see on campus is also a call girl? (No fair saying both.) "

Never having engaged a call girl I'd have to say (based on the stripper corralary) that the fantasy is more that the co-ed is a stripper or call girl. Once I'm in the strip club and see her naked I'm not as interested in what she does outside. I am usually interested in seeing a pretty girl naked or having sex with her.

Theyre there, but not too many. I find many who are either paralegals, or re sales.

Yoda, I think basketball players who attend classes full-time are a myth.

AN: That's the appeal for me, too. Whether she's a call girl or a stripper, learning that she's also a student doesn't really turn me on. One exception was a girl who had just graduated high school the week before I met her when she started stripping. Something about that gave me a little extra thrill.

Chandler posted the following: "Why is the myth so appealing? I think PLs want to believe that the young women to whom they give large sums of cash are using it to prepare for a better future, not blowing it on a dead end life of drugs and icky boyfriends. Strippers understand this, and play to the myth in order to keep the cash flowing.

For me, the biggest appeal is imagining innocent looking young things carrying books around campus in the daytime, all the while leading a secret double life as disreputable sex workers, allowing any slimeball stranger with twenty dollars to paw their sweet young bodies."

Chandler I hope you are speaking for yourself. If you believe you are a PL and a slimeball that is fine. I do not see myself like that. I go to strip clubs for some entertainment. It is not my lifestyle, compulsion, only social interaction or any other catagory that fits you.

Perhaps some of the posters here could benefit from your examples of what not to do or how to view one's self. Otherwise it seems to me that every thread you are on all you do is whine, complain, be negitive and try to make the subjrct all about you.

Hahaha ... waitaminnit, that's MY job, to "whine, complain, be negitive and try to make the subjrct all about" me. In fact, I think it was Chandler who reminded me kindly to stop doing that ... :P

Umm, excuse me. Something I said?

Maybe we should be glad that the media spreads this myth. Maybe that encourages more hot students to earn money stripping. I don't care if my dancer is a student but I do enjoy her more if she has a reasonable amount of intelligence. And having more students dance should improve the odds.

apsht45: What's your beef with Chandler? I know he doesn't need anybody to come to his defense, but I don't get your complaint. I think his posts are usually among the more humorous and insightful comments on this board.

I don't know what brought this on, because I don't see Parodyman/Apesht posts. I'm just here to discuss strip clubs, not so much other posters. At any rate, thanks for the kind words, David.

Actually I think the college-girls-becoming-strippers myth is closely related to the idea that strip clubs are becoming more mainstream, which I also think is a myth. But we've had that discussion before.

Read something somewhere that the Wall Street Journal reports, that the whole porn industry is NOT the big-business that everyone seems to think it is. Same development, bigger story.

The upshot is, that the 10-billion per year figure is hugely inflated and probably created BY the adult-video purveyors IN ORDER to get other factors in the industry (cable TV, mostly) to invest in the type of infrastructure and data that benefits adult videos. More likely, it's annually more like 500 million total gross revenue, there are very few major participants, most adults don't spend long hours gazing at internet porn and aren't addicted if they do check out one or another single video at some random moment, and basically we're all just as sexually active as we were before Betamax was invented, no more, no less, all other things being equal. The big change in sexuality is the youthfulness and the fact that extra-marital behavior is now OK; not, that porn has become an essential or even mandatory part of the mix, which it hasn't.