Dancer Files Lawsuit Against Strip Clubs for Being Denied Work Because of Race

"She said she heard that the justification for these quotas had been wanting to keep the number of Black male patrons to a minimum."

FYI to club owners: I am white and am more likely to patronize a club with dancers of a variety of colors -- especially black ones. Just sayin'.

Agree with Eastcoaster. I love variety on the menu. I have my preferred dancer type but if that type is offered in blonde, AA, Asian, redhead, Latina, etc. I’m much more likely to stay and spend more.

There's a club in Peoria, Illinois where a dancer recorded the manager calling her the n-word. She reported it to the state, the club ended up paying thousands to current and former dancers for racial discrimination and other illegal treatment.

I've been in supposedly "upscale" clubs that clearly had a quota on black dancers, but seemed full of guys on a short fuse. I've been in clubs with almost all black dancers and customers with no apparent jackholes. People see pat-downs, metal detectors, license scans and think the club must attract a dangerous crowd. But all that seems to keep the jackholes away, they make lots of enemies, and don't want to go anyplace where they can't be strapped. It's not surprising that, if a club has dumbass management, they think they can have good security just by making the club a hostile place for black customers.

Black dancers seem often to be more shy of white customers, but I am fine with walking up to a dancer who's not busy with anyone else. Once the ice is broken, black dancers are often much more friendly. Black people generally don't seem to look down on fat people as much as white people do.

>FYI to club owners: I am white and am more likely to patronize a club with dancers of a variety of colors -- especially black ones. Just sayin'.

The club didn't say they didn't want any black dancers. They said they have a limit.
If you like variety in your dancers then there is going to have to be a limit on all races.

Not hiring someone because they are black is clearly racial discrimination. Seems like there should be some exception from it or boundaries of when it is illegal employment discrimination for physical entertainment or something. Like the hooters girls, which I know was the subject of lawsuits by dudes who wanted to be hooters servers, or maybe they just wanted attention and a payday.

It’s difficult to prove but it still stinks.

I know for Austin the owner of Palazio (who I never met) was well-known for his very narrow standard of beauty, and the club reflected that. Then the club got trashed for all the women looking the same (thin white blond) online so the club relented and started allowing other looks as well, except for black. Then there was a second wave of criticism and they started allowing a few black dancers to work as well.

I think that club in particular is especially sensitive towards online review trashing…they cracked down on everyone after somebody complained of a ROB situation where he got charged thousands on his card. I think the club refunded him and slammed down on everybody for that—with signs up in the dressing room of what type of behavior isn’t acceptable.

In general if enough customers throw a fit, things will change IMO. And it has already started…in the form of “standards dropping” Just dig through any nickifree thread whenever he comes on once in a while 😀

Also, IMO the longer I dance the more indifferent I get to the ~💕older white gentleman💕~ that I heard as a baby stripper I’m supposed to be enamored with. Granted, there have amazing individuals. And the regulars I’ve had been mostly that group also. But also that group has the most entitled and stupid douches too. Which is saying a lot considering I’m from a Hispanic town with Mexican egos out the wazoo. So put me down as somebody who is more than happy to have an ethnically diverse clientele too.

Anyways, these managers were getting too bold if they felt like they could say that stuff openly. I think the common thing that is heard is “there is too many girls” as polite bs. Also surprised that happened in Houston first, I would have figured Austin or Dallas would be worse as far as black dancer treatment (by reputation)

The club owners are going to lose big for this. You can't claim that sex work should be normalized but then claim that the same rules that apply to every other business don't apply to yours. There are very few exceptions in the discrimination laws that allow hiring decisions to be based on race. Strip club dancers are not one of those exceptions.

But the bigger reason they will lose is NOT because they apparently discriminated against black employees. The "too many black dancers" policy was really a "too many black customers" policy. And that will cost them even more.

BTW: As many comments above demonstrate - the "too many black customers" policy is based on a false assumption that only black customers prefer, or even get dances from black dancers. So they implemented an insidious policy (presumably) based on their own prejudices against black people and it probably hurt their business more that it helped. So they are not only racist fucks, they are poor business fucks as well.

Clubs that want to Market themselves as gentleman's clubs or upscale want white girls with teen boy bodies.

I’m not sure how this will end, but I doubt it will end equitably for the dancer.

If she was suing a large corporation that was very concerned about their public image, I could see her settling for a nice payday.

She’s suing a strip club - and strip club management/ownership isn’t going to be very concerned about the wholesome image presented to the public.

If she succeeds and the judge has a sense of humor - maybe will have her damages be paid in singles…

Unless that supposed crackdown happened quite recently, Palazio is still a big time ROB joint. Like worse than Vegas bad.

It sucks but life ain't fair. The club has a right to market themselves however they think will get them the most patrons.

@Jimmy my opinion, clubs should just tell dancers to ask if a customer wants them to sit with them before they do it. Presumably dancers that nobody likes will quit soon enough, just got to make sure they don't get desperate and annoying. If they want to be in the club and never make money, what harm does that do? I think we can sure live without those customers, who've got a stick so far up their butt that they get torqued about some dancers being too heavy for them or something. I don't need those assholes in there, putting the dancers in a bad mood with their shithead attitudes.

@goodyman I could be down for that, except the government makes it so hard to open a new strip club. So if, there are only a few clubs around, and they all decide they want to be Club Stepford Wives, sucks bad.

Does the government force Subway to offer Durian Fruit and Casu Martzu? No, of course not.

The government needs to let new clubs open, let market forces fix this.

My take, which echos herbtcat, is that strip clubs can adapt or continue to become even more irrelevant in the industry. The only age bracket that had the biggest increase in white people is those aged 60+, which reflects the aging baby boom population.

Also mixed race marriages (which I consider a decent enough measure on attraction) have been on the rise in the past few years, so even white people are going to be less comfortable with the status quo as time goes on.

Source if anybody cares:
https://www.brookings.edu/research/all-r…

I’ll probably be done by then, so it doesn’t affect me personally and I don’t have any emotional stake. But I made a thread not too long ago speculating on culture reasons why the industry might continue to crumble. Whether or not that has any merit, alienating a more colored population that has already started to get into middle age is something big I forgot to mention. I do think clubs overall have already made strides there, but the next few years will be more crucial I think.

People have always said that strip clubs discriminate against black dancers. Like at the Pink Poodle, there are usually zero. And that is a nude club, may be more in nude clubs.

The people who ran Lusty Lady in San Francisco said they were the exception because it is dancer owned.

I have wondered if in some places they don't want black dancers for fear that they will not adhere to the rules, inherently defiant.

But then there do seem to be more clubs coming which are black clubs, and then more clubs now that are hiring blacks. Brass rail is gone now. It used to not have many blacks, but later it did.

Can't speak to what is up in Houston, but the issue seems to be diffusing.

Read stuff here, guys who don't seem to like black dancers. I think it is just a matter of social familiarity, and this is coming.

SJG

The fact that these cases even exist shows that sex work is becoming gradually normalized. It wasn't that long ago that a dancer would never think of starting a lawsuit like this because it would mean the ultimate shame of going public and committing to legal record that she worked as a stripper, and was (therefore) a dirty whore in the eyes of almost everyone at that time. It was also unlikely that a court would give such a lawsuit a fair shot, again because of the knee-jerk derision directed at dancers.

So, the fact that a dancer feels like she can make this case, and the fact that a court is likely to entertain the case in good faith shows that the workplace and discrimination laws are as applicable to strip clubs as any other business. And they should. The problem is that there's likely a surplus of owners and managers who still have that old mindset where they assume that dancers have to accept whatever bullshit gets handed to them. So, these club owners either need to accelerate their points of view, or get sued out of existence.

And, at least in some cases, there is some racism going on here. The belief that you can't have an upscale club if there's an increase of not-white dancers and/or not-white customers fits pretty squarely into the realm of bigotry.

motorhead said "Does the government force Subway to offer Durian Fruit and Casu Martzu?"

No, but that's because those things are condiments, and not human beings. At least not unless your local club is called Club Soylent Green...

Actually, neither of those things are condiments, but simply foods. The point remains, if poorly written.

FYI: Latest Wiki stats (2020) for USA population demographics: WHITE (Non Hisp.)- 57.8% HISPANIC/LATINO- 18.7%
AFRICAN AMERICAN: 14.1 % . Presumably, the remaining 9.4% would be such groups as Asians, Native American, Middle East (Arab), Pacific Islander, etc.

Recap, Afam's account for ~ 1/7 of USA population. Question: If club has 7 or more dancers on shift with no blacks, is that club racist/non-diverse? Hey, I don't see any Asians filing discrimination lawsuits, they account for maybe 1/20th the USA population, yet I've seen a 50 plus dancer shift with no Asians. Must a club dancer shift match the ethnic profile of the USA, or else be subject to racial discrimination charges, or some customer boycott ?

Dancing isn't what it use to be I think mostly because of camming. Some guys want individual attention and to see the goodies, but don't get that much out of touching the goodies. I can't see any of my fav strippers escorting or working in a brothel (or an extras club that's effectively a brothel). It's hard as fuck to find a good escort, the best ones I"ve seen were former strippers in their 30s. I'm skeptical that, over time, women in the US are going to become more comfortable with being escorts. I'm also skeptical the US will ever legalize or wink at lots of women from poor countries coming here to do escort/brothel work.

Most clubs are mediocre because local governments stop any competing clubs from opening. The number of puritanical people is dropping. But they are getting backup from people who are generally indifferent to sex work, but are disturbed by the number of Jeffery Epstein type people among sex work customers. Hopefully at some point they'll realize that you can't really stop sex work, only marginalize it, making it harder for sex workers to protect themselves from the Jeffery Epsteins.


If the government will stop fucking things up, I think we'll see clubs where you can get anything from a table dance to Greek, depending on what each chick is down for. The stage will likely still be there, with multiple poles, the dancers will get up on it when and if they feel like it. Clubs will cool it with the borderline-pimp stuff, let the customers decide who they think is good looking, let dancers work how they think is best for them.

If I live long enough to see this, I'll probably just be getting lap dances with good 2-way, cause the dancers I find most appealing won't be down for more than that.

—>“ Recap, Afam's account for ~ 1/7 of USA population. Question: If club has 7 or more dancers on shift with no blacks, is that club racist/non-diverse?”

I won’t automatically say yes, but even in ultra white Portland OR where blacks are 5.8% of the population every club I know of had at least one on shift. I briefly visited a club in Medford OR where stats say black people are 0.87%, saw one black dancer during a slow dayshift. Springfield MO blacks 4.25%, there were a couple on shift the time I went somewhere as a customer. So if there are zero black dancers, even in tiny/remote clubs, yep I’m suspicious that is on purpose.

Dancers are more likely to come from lower income households, so more likely to be black than the general population.

^^^ I don't know how true that is anymore. I've met several dancers who came from middle class (or higher) backgrounds. But I don't take survey questions during every single lapdance, so my conversations aren't exactly confirmed data. But the fact is that younger women see less stigma associated with sex work, so it's no longer a job for poor women. There are plenty of women on both Seeking and OnlyFans who are not lower income.

But the whole point here *isn't* that a club's dancers should reflect that area's racial demographics. The point is that if a black person walks into a business and asks for a job, then they shouldn't be denied work because they're black.

Left wing news consistently publishes news about the filing of lawsuits, but is so dishonest that it never publishes news regarding the fact that 99% of these are pure crap and go nowhere. Of course idiots still believe, i.e. Palimony. People think its a thing because of Lee Marvin, but the case was turned over on appeal and she lost. The woman who sued mickey d's over scalding coffee in her lap? Got millions, right? Turned over on appeal. This suit goes nowhere, if it succeeded, then every black club is getting put out of business.

Some food for thought: On a google search for "what men prefer", of the 4 groups listed (White, Afam, Asian, Latino (a ?), Asian women were the most sought after by all races of men. Black women were the least sought after, with white and Latina women falling somewhere in between.

Face it, strip clubs are a very subjective environment. Dancers of all races are going to be turned down for a variety of reasons. The ultimate bottom line is what the customer $$ will most likely buy. Clubs want to hire (or let in if independent contractor model) the most attractive/desirable dancer from customer perspective. This thread really belongs in the politics section. I'm not privy to the accept/reject ratio of club dancer applicants. So far I've only read subject dancers side of the story, which is mainly based on her opinions, and unsubstantiated allegations. (he said/did not say). I don't want this thread to be litigation/SJW central. My concern is that too many suits like this open up the potential for clubs to pass lawsuit costs on to the customer, and/or be forced to comply with racial quotas in hiring practices. Whether or not this case has actual merit, or this is someone looking for an easy payday remains to be seen. This stuff is furthest from my mind when scoping out club talent on my visits.

I doubt this lawsuit will go anywhere. There is a a thing called a bonafide exception where someone can legally only hire a certain race or gender. Like only hiring female fashion models or hooters waitresses.

There are a few comments in this thread about how clubs need to hire more black girls. I don't think all club managers are racist personally they are just good at business. They know (the data backs this up) that most people are far less attracted to black women than other races. They just hire what will make money for the club as best they can.

We actually had a club in my local area with black owners who had a policy of hiring any race. It started as a mixed club but once black girls heard you could get hired there they all flocked there and they became the majority. Then customers the customers left. Eventually the club pivoted and just became a black urban club.

I think what the data says is that people are naturally more attracted to things that are more similar to themselves and their comfort patterns and less attracted to things which are not. The more dissimilar the less attractive. It's a nature and nurture thing, but conventional wisdom (aka common knowledge) turns it into something a little more basic.

Congrats Minny. You have explained “the market” what you did not do was refute anything I said already about where the market is headed. If any previous posts is too many words the tl;dr is that white people for whatever reason didn’t procreate enough, and the cheap immigrant labor brought in the US starting from decades ago did. And with a shifted population, come shifting beauty standards.

Clubs do have a quandary to deal with of how they want to proceed. I have my opinions but I’m fine watching from the sidelines. If they want to go the way of the taxi-dance hall did after the 1940s then that is fine.

@i bai That is one possible reason. I’ve also noticed that a LOT of black dancers travel dance, so some might have went there specifically to get to a club.

@8tm forgot to respond 😅 Yeah that’s not my favorite club either. I was just trying to have an example of the power of putting somebody under a microscope. I could be wrong but while some tactics are a bit…high pressure at that club I don’t think there’s anything pulled in that club like, for example, that Hustlers movie with drugging customers or anything.

@wallanon - The data is actually much more interesting than just "people are attracted to their own race". See for yourself:

https://www.gwern.net/docs/psychology/ok…

If given my choice and because I like dark hair and eyes, I will choose the black or hispanic spinner first. Thick women of any race are getting chosen....never and since more black women are thicker they are going to be on my dance card less. Even though asian women are usually spinners, they are simply not what I seek. No idea why, ask my dick if u need to know.

Sorry, Paul, I don't play pick my favorite research. There's a shit ton of scientific studies on this sort of thing that's looked at behavior in babies on up.

On a side note ... I'd be really disappointed if I walked into a club and saw only one type of dancer. So boring.

Yeah, even when talent was top notch at the high end Vegas clubs it was a little too cookie cutter. That's why I preferred Little Darlings and Olympic Garden because it had more variety (okay and mileage).

It's sick to try to justify clubs not hiring minorities coz they think white women are more profitable. Thinking that attracting white men who want boyish white girls will make them more money.

The mindset behind it is racist. Coz it's framed by instotutional racism.

Lawsuits may not always be won but they hit the racists where it hurts and brings attention.

I think Paul Drake got closest to the issue. It’s the lost of their preferred clientele which is white males. And not due to the reduction of white dancers for black dancers but due to the increase in black clientele. They fear that black dancers/music attract black clientele and too many black clientele mean less white clientele and eventually little to no white clientele. White flight is not just a real estate thing. It’s not something the free market for dancers can address.

I think clubs should let any woman who knows how to act reasonably polite give it a shot. The more the clubs empower the dancers, the less pimpy they are, and less suspicious non-customers will be of our scene.

@nice Yeah, I don’t have any stories of drugging in Palazio, but I’m pretty sure I read saw an old Yelp review to that effect - might be what triggered what you talked about. Wouldn’t be shocked if it still happens from time to time.

I don’t have much to add to the thread topic. I went back to one place after taking a break from it and now the dancer lineup is like 50% black. It sucks mostly because my faves have all moved on or been pushed out. It used to be my favorite club in driving distance before covid and now it’s like my Plan C

I’d assume it’s 99% business and maybe 1% racism – if club owners thought/felt they can make more $$$ having more black dancers I assume 99% would go in that direction.

I can def understand the ebony dancers’ POV and frustration having more-limited options and having a harder-time getting hired at certain-clubs – but given they rather work at a mostly-white-club gives some food-for-thought as to why club-owners may be wary of their clubs becoming mostly-black – i.e. if black-dancers don’t wanna dance at all black-clubs …

I def don’t think a club should be void of any minority dancers (and I’m not just saying that b/c I’m into chocolate) – if a club has a fair # of dancers and no minorities particularly no AA-dancers, that’s a problem and unfair an AA-dancer has almost zero-chance of getting-hired – but it can get difficult – i.e. how many AA-dancers is a “fair #” if the owner wants to keep a certain profile for the club – i.e. if a club has 15 or 20% AA-dancers; one would assume there are gonna be AA-dancers still being turned-away and thinking it’s unfair.

"No, but that's because those things are condiments, and not human beings. At least not unless your local club is called Club Soylent Green..."

@CMI:. Bite me....😆

Her allegations are correct. The problem is proving it legally.

The manager at PT's n Louisville has long had a rep for vastly preferring skinny white girls with few few to no tats. He's gotten shit for that for years. Recently, that manager seems to have moved to Indianapolis, and has been replaced with someone who recognizes that variety is the spice of life.

It's been a *lot* busier lately, and the girls are loving it.

They don't necessarily have to prove it. If the case winds up being sufficiently troublesome or has the whiff of something they could lose, then they could settle out of court possibly at great expense. We know this because the Ali and Hassan Davari have gone that route before:

https://setexasrecord.com/stories/511011…

I really think strip clubs should be able to cater to a niche if they want to. There are a ton of clubs in Atlanta but I’ve never been interested in more than 5. Admittedly though I like young spinners primarily white. I also don’t like hip hop or making it rain in the club. I don’t get why it’s a travesty if a few clubs specifically cater to that.

We have one local club that is so bad it pretty much has to hire whoever applies for a job and can't discriminate at all. On my most recent visit I saw a black dancer hobbling as she walked. I looked down and she was missing a leg. She had a mechanical leg as a replacement. Another time I saw an incredibly obese black dancer get up on stage there. When she started her striptease, there were seven guys in the club. While she was up there, one by one they got up and left and by the time she left the stage I was the only customer left. She actually drove almost all the customers out the door.

This club has very few customers. All successful clubs discriminate in various ways when hiring. Black dancers are traditionally less popular and therefore less hired but with the changing demographics in urban areas managers have to change with the times. Georgmicrodong in a previous comment mentioned that the Louisville PT's manager had a reputation for preferring to hire skinny white girls and the club has gotten busier since he moved to Indianapolis and the Louisville club started hiring more nonwhite strippers. I live in Indianapolis and saw this manager arrive here from Louisville. He dropped the hip hop music and changed to a rock format and started hiring more skinny white girls. I liked it but I'm an old white guy and am not at all a typical customer there these days. The skinny white girls didn't make money and left, the numbers of customers dropped and this manager was replaced. His middle aged rock playing white dj was replaced too by a young black dj who now plays all hip hop music.

Again Icee the fucking retard comes up with Institutional racism as an excuse for not hiring dancers that don't bring in money. Wah, its not that I weigh 300 pounds, its because I am black, wah. Wah, its not because everyone is entitled to their preference and it isn't me, its because I am black, wah. Lets pass a law making older white men have to like women for whom they have no attraction, because if you don't like what progressive douche bags like it should be illegal. If certain communities worked as hard as they whined, they too would succeed. Wah.

A fugly white dancer once accused me of only buying dances from black chicks. You can't win.

The club could always go the Disney route and call the dancers "cast members". That is how Disney hires based on looks, avoiding unattractive and fat people.

As strip club could claim their "product" includes a certain racial mix of "cast members".

@gold I think it would be hard to get that to fly. You could claim it wasn't a strip club, it was a historical reenactment of a brothel of Tudor England. But then some historian would probably testify there were kidnapped African women in those.

I seriously doubt it that a quota on black dancers really part of a good strategy for a club make more money, or is part of a good strategy to have good security in the club. So market competition would help to solve this (as well as other), common problems with clubs. But then the gubment would have to stop its brain-dead policies of making it hard to open a club, and pulling their licenses on a hair trigger. Fat chance.