The sex industry is stricken with coronavirus and slowly starting to die

33 comments

• nicespice

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  4 years ago

  Just yesterday I had a great shift at a strip club in my area. It’s not shut down but there are restrictions like no alcohol sales past 10pm. I can’t speak about the FSSW venues around here, but I assume they are doing well enough also. That being said, areas that rely on too much tourism probably aren’t the best right now. With the supply side staying in one spot and the demand not coming in. Would it be possible for you to bail to a different area? There may be tougher challenges at the moment, but I consider the industry very alive.
• winex

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  4 years ago

  I would guess that Las Vegas is being hit harder than most places. Not only is tourism down significantly, but a lot of the locals make their living off of tourists. That adds up to less money flowing all around.
• Mello50

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  4 years ago

  I think some of the current club owners may close, but new ones will spring up. May take time, but it will happen. There’s nothing that takes the place of real physical contact. IMO
• mike710

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  4 years ago

  OP. I hear what you are saying. It is difficult to find steady work in the sex industry with many dancers/escorts, as well as customers, having some level of fear about the current pandemic. I went to a couple of clubs after opening in May and June and they were a shell of their form selves. They have since closed down again since they were in areas where cases spiked again. It's also hard to decide to pick up a relocate to an area that may close down again at any moment. I have been in contact with a dancer that was considering doing this and she decided not to do it at the last moment. This will all pass at some point. Things will eventually get back to closer to normal. I doubt that this will happen in the near future, however. There will be a lot of damage lives in the meantime. People will always crave one on one contact. Just a matter of when that will happen again.
• poledancer83

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  4 years ago

  i sure hope it picks up soon thats for sure
• twentyfive

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  4 years ago

  You have my sympathy, it will return eventually, but it will take some time. In the meanwhile you might want to find another revenue stream,when it finally does start back up, it is going to be a long hard slog.
• Cashman1234

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  4 years ago

  PD I agree the sex industry is hard hit by the shutdowns mandated to avoid the continued spread of the virus. There are several businesses hit very hard, and it’s not going to improve soon. Indoor dining, indoor gyms, strip clubs, and other indoor businesses that require close physical interaction with customers, will remain hard hit. I’m sorry it continues, but the virus spreads in the ways strippers and escorts interact with customers. When the virus becomes less of a threat, will some clubs reopen - yes. But many won’t have the resources to last - and that’s sad. The travel industry is a mess. I wouldn’t want to hold stock in a cruise ship company either. I hope things get better sooner, but I doubt it. This is a long and painful pandemic. It may be 12 months before the world starts to seem more normal.
• winex

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  4 years ago

  Airlines are getting hit hard too. Air traffic is down over 90%.
• goldmongerATL

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  4 years ago

  If clubs close down for good, there may be others (or the same owners) willing to open an new club in 2021. The problem is going to be where. Many, many clubs are grandfathered into their current locations. In Atlanta at least, there have been almost zero new locations opened in the last 15 years at least. I think what is now Ace of Spades has been there for maybe 5-8 years. Other than that, I cannot think of a club that is not in a location that has been a club for decades. I an not that familiar with the AA clubs, so there might be a new one or two there. How is it in other areas with lots of clubs? Are new clubs opening anywhere in the last few years?
• Jascoi

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  4 years ago

  we are in unusual and tough times for many people. i hope we get back to normal and a hopefully more fun situations.
• Warrior15

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  4 years ago

  From your headline, I thought you were going to talk about the sex workers getting Covid 19 and dying. Gosh, I would not want that to happen. But since most sex workers are younger and probably more fit, Covid would not affect them too much health wise. Financially, I am sure it is having an impact. Any business where there is close human to human contact is suffering. We need a vaccine or legitimate treatment NOW.
• Electronman

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  4 years ago

  I agree with your concerns. But, every crisis also brings opportunities for the creative. What if we developed an accurate and rapid COVID test, hopefully better and less uncomfortable thatn the current COVID tests. I know that the nasal swap test produces results in 15 minutes but it is also uncomfortable. Maybe we can do better? What if a club offered rapid COVID tests for all employees and customers and allowed admission only to those who tested negative. Would that allow a return to "normal" intimacy in the strip club? I know, a lot of "if's" but that's one way to envision a goal for a more acceptabel future.
• NAAAASTY

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  4 years ago

  @ electronman Low cost, frequent, quick turnaround testing should be the aim. Some of the ones out there (Abbott's ID Now) point of care have been blasted d/t low sensitivity, one reports as low as 50. That sounds awful (a coin flip) in theory until you look into the studies. What's happening is it's missing very low viral loads that RT-PCRs detect, but much more sensitive (and important) at moderate loads when the virus is more likely to be contagious. FDA mandates 80 percent sensitivity for these point of care tests, but is handcuffing itself by setting standard to clinical level, limits of detection vs surveillance. IE levels that are transmittable. Not only would we return to a level of normalcy in the SC, but to work, school etc. NAAAASTY
• Mate27

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  4 years ago

  I can’t navigate this site very well. Tuscl will die a slow death because of it.
• rickdugan

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  4 years ago

  The end is nigh! OR... Clubs will come back as restrictions are lifted and the economy improves. I'm guessing the latter. Adult entertainment fortunes rise and fall with the economy. They got whacked in '01-'02, '08-'09 and now this. Since it's purely discretionary entertainment spending for most guys, it's the first to go when times get lean and the last to come back as things improve. The same horny guys who were blowing money on this stuff a year ago are still as horny as ever, they're just too broke right now. And yes, there are some clubs that aren't going to survive these forced government shutdowns. Nobody ever runs a business thinking that it will be forced into zero revenue for several months. But as the economy improves (whenever that will be), demand will increase and new entrants into the industry will pop up to meet that demand. Capitalism abhors a supply vacuum. ;)
• whodey

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  4 years ago

  Sex has always sold well and always will. The restrictions will end .... eventually. Many involved with the industry may sadly not be able to afford to wait until it comes back without finding alternative employment in the meantime. As long as men are horny freaks who want sex more than anything else the sex industry will survive. If men stop valuing sex above all else the human race will die out.
• JamesSD

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  4 years ago

  It may be bad long enough that some of the current girls leave forever. I like comparing strippers to sports; a league average 29 year old who loses a year may never make it back. There will always be 19 year old girls who start stripping. They money being a cocktail waitress or even cam girl can't compete. The clubs need to fight the urge to juice their existing customers and dancers to replace missing cash.
• Salty.Nutz

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  4 years ago

  Strip clubs are going to change, all the money that was made on the floor is gone. The bozos that like to make it rain are probably going to take their stacks to regular clubs due to limited contact. All the money will be in the VIP. Days of going to the club and poppin bottles are probably over. Times are going to get tough, theres going to be an influx of young hot talent but its going to cost you money. During tough times women resort to what they do best, monetizing pussy by marriage or by selling it. [view link] men restort to violence, suicide and/or selling drugs. If youre a man doing okay you wont be able to flaunt your money in a SC without getting robbed, takeout or VIP.
• goldmongerATL

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  4 years ago

  To Salty's point, even the Mons Venus has now installed VIP booths where a dancer and custy can get zero or even negative 8 inches apart.
• wallanon

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  4 years ago

  Interesting topic and definitely get where the OP is coming from. But the sex industry is immortal. It will find its way again.
• Meursault

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  4 years ago

  Just to be clear, it is not the virus (which poses so little risk to women of sex worker age that it is irrelevant), it is the response to the virus that is the problem. Whether or not life can get back to normal for sex workers (or bartenders, or waitresses, or bar owners etc.) is entirely a question of how long those workers are willing to sacrifice their livelihoods to the political avarice of their governors.
• gSteph

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  4 years ago

  I agree with wallanon . This ain't the professions' 1st tough period.
• Electronman

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  4 years ago

  Naaasty: Thanks for the tutorial on testing. It would be a game changer to have a rapid and accurate test!
• Cashman1234

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  4 years ago

  Since PD mentions it’s the oldest profession - it survived the crumbling Tower of Babel and a giant flood - both of which were much worse on the world population. I think it will survive the pandemic as well. Clubs may close and strippers may need to do some horrible dirty work - like McDonalds or WalMart - but it will come back once this is over.
• shailynn

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  4 years ago

  Who knows what will happen, does this virus stick around for years and lots of the clubs we currently know close down? Or will everything be open back up come next spring - business as usual. What ever happens - things will go back to normal EVENTUALLY, and when they do, if the current clubs are long closed, some genius will open up new one(s).
• Salty.Nutz

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  4 years ago

  we arent going back to buisness as usual, theres going to be a shit load of poor people. [view link] Everyone thinking they have it good because theyre teleworking. Corporations/Companies are going to eventually outsource your $25 hour job to someone in a third world country to someine thats going to do it for $5 an hour.
• Salty.Nutz

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  4 years ago

  Outsourcing is already happening [view link]. If you have the money you are probably going to have lots of funny when strip vlubs open up
• Mate27

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  4 years ago

  It’s a world of the haves and have nots. That gap is growing wider so the pool of PLs will shrink, and even out the lack of supply for a time. Although I can see some guys who haven’t spent any money lately have the extra cash to blow on a few ladies like they did in the roaring ‘20’s, post Spanish flu era.
• mjx01

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  4 years ago

  "new ones will spring up" ... not going to happen. As goldmonger already pointed out, most clubs only exist because they were grandfathered in when local official passed anti-strip-club regulations but couldn't legally enforce the new regulations retroactively on a pre-existing establishment. The industry was dying before COVID. COVID has only accelerated it.
• rickdugan

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  4 years ago

  ^ Sure it will spring back. Maybe not in the same places that they were before, but the population has been shifting for some time anyway. For example, in NY, CT and NJ I agree that replacements for dying clubs are unlikely. Not only are those places more hostile to new clubs, but the affluent population base has been shrinking in favor of places like NC, SC, FL and TX anyway. In some of my favorite CT clubs it was a veritable ghost town even during the pre-COVID economic peak. Conversely, TX and FL, by way of two examples, are much more friendly club environments. If the supply of clubs exceeds the demand from affluent guys once the economy improves, you'd better believe that more clubs will spring up. Here in J'ville we had three new clubs spring up during the last economic runup. Horny guys with cash to burn have not gone away. They have just shifted to other venues and many are staying out of clubs now for a variety of reasons. This industry may not return to its peak prior to the Great Recession for a long time or even ever, especially as a greater % of working age men get older and retire out of the workforce, but I don't see this industry ever dying unless something viable comes around to seriously replace what it provides. SA has no doubt provided it with some competition over the past several years, but it's far from a replacement.
• Papi_Chulo

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  4 years ago

  It's a different normal right-now; this is the first pandemic current society has been thru, wacky-shit/displacement will occur - I don't think we can make projections about the future based on the current abnormal situation - no reason to think we won't get out of this either thru a cure/remedy, or just learning to live with it. w.r.t. the sex-industry, there is a double-whammy of the economy shutting -down, plus a virus that requires social-distancing; these are abnormal temporary times. In the end it all comes down to betting on America and the fact America has always bounced-back and thrived to new-highs - for me personally my biggest concern for America's future is the Progressive "everybody gets a trophy" movement/policies that IMO are the biggest threat to the economic future of America.
• twentyfive

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  4 years ago

  The real threat to the economic future is the overwhelming national debt, If it isn't paid down, this progressive, liberal, conservative shit that you idiots are ranting about isn't going to mean squat, you won't have much of a choice, either you are all going to default, then no-one is going to provide you with consumable, goods, or the interest is going to consume so much of your disposable income, ain;t gonna be anything left over to enjoy.
• Mainster

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  4 years ago

  I hate to think about, but I believe the WuFlu will be used as a pretext to let the clubs in Phoenix die on the vine. As stated above, most of the local clubs have been nothing but strip clubs since forever, and I imagine few of them are carrying a mortgage. I think the mechanism in AZ will be "can't have that girl on your lap, back her off six feet, take this downtime to install cameras in the VIP" and a dozen other cuts that will cause the businesses to bleed out.