The stigma really is gone when it comes stripping

It has become more mainstream than it used to be, but the stigma is far from gone. The number of dancers that are online and showing their faces is a fraction of the total number of dancers in the clubs.

And if you look at the stripper-focused reddit subs there's still regular questions about ways to protect their privacy and identity, and plenty of dancers providing solutions and recommendations.

There's stigma and there's privacy/safety. I think stigma is probably at an all time low. Having to be concerned about safety, too bad that's also not at an all time low. Really too bad.

AMERICA! What a COUNTRY!

I would say tattoos evolved right along with stripping in terms nobody cares anymore.

But yes there always is a thing about safety, no doubt a factor.

From what I've observed the girls sticking their faces out there are the ones who want to be OF type models, often with poor mileage in the club. The dirty girls aren't the ones putting their face out there.

100% accurate. I book strippers for parties, first site was up late 1995. faces because no one was online lol then no faces for a few years, then mid 2010s, everyone shows their face.

Stripping doesn't seem to have the same stigma. But at the same time politicians are passing more laws against the clubs and restricting the activities in strip clubs. The City of Detroit is a good example where the clubs when from wild to mild and the Penthouse was closed down.

^ I agree with you Jack, and to your point the extreme right wing is fixated on abortion restrictions, gay bashing, trans people and unusual sexual preferences this country is becoming more dangerous for sex workers in general and women in particular.

^ I meant to write: "Stripping does seem to have lost some of its stigma."

^ I think the lessening of that stigma is the cause for the increase in bashing

The dancers post to impress those in their circle. In those circulars, it IS prestigious to be a dancer / be hustling.

However, if/when they attempt to obtain mainstream job, particularly a professional job, the skeletons will be harmful.

There are still many people who either feel superior to dancers, or even worse, the pearl clutchers who feel such activities must be banned. Even in clue collar circles, girls are frowned upon. I know of one girl who took a lot of heat at her cashier job for being a dancer.

How many of us disclose our activities to those that we know in the real world? Not many, I imagine, particularly in this PC world.

I Wish The Strip Clubs Would Play More Old School Music Of Rock/Rap/Techno/R&B. I Like 90's/80's 🎶 🎶 🎶 Music + Random Oldies. However, I Do Selectively Like The New Music. ⚡ 📱 📱 📱

My guess is the the lack of stigma/shame is stronger for the really young dancers who aren’t too far yet removed from the K-college bubble, and regardless of whether one considers that a good or bad thing, shaming and consequences for what has traditionally been considered bad behavior has been severely diminished in that environment than it used to be.

But Instagram and TikTok have shadow bans for sex workers, or even outright account removal. And there have been a lot of Reddit strippers who have bemoaned getting banned off of other subreddits not related to sex work, despite having on-topic posts/comments to the sub as a normal member. And they were surprised that it happened to them.

In my opinion, the shame is there. The young ‘uns just don’t realize it as much. But also, it may be that the shame gets lowered as a future consequence in a “they can’t punish us all” kind of way. Time will tell.

I have several friends on social media who danced 15 to 20 years ago and many still say “former entertainer at Club xyz” on their profile or regularly post photos and reminisce about the old days.

So it seems the stigma must be a lot less.

A fairly recent twist is hysteria about (the real problem of) human trafficking. Very similar to how the drug "war" was hysteria about the real problem of addiction. It's the main reason for the banning of sex workers online, more so than the simple stigma of sex work. Legislation that Trump signed into law has made the banning much worse.

Probably the worst part of being stigmatized is the isolation. But the internet makes it easier for people to break our of isolation.

My current #1 fav owns the house where she live, and also owns rental property. Since, for working class people under 40, home ownership is something from long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, stories like that do a lot to counteract stigmas.

So online sex work goes away, and trafficking suddenly becomes a thing of the past? Far from it...and the alternative is worse.....the girls get pimped out for face-to-face encounters.

@ilbbaicnl: 20 some years ago, I knew a dancer at the now defunct Bottoms Up club here in Louisville. She was a dancer and a hooker. She also had some kind of certification/degree in some kind of interior decorating think, and she actually did do a fair bit of that work in her spare time. She said it made an excellent way to make her hooking money legit, since there were lots of non-material things, travel time, gas, consultation time, etc. that could be padded to hide other income. Between that and her also mostly legit income from dancing, she retired at about 35 I think, and is now living on some tropical island somewhere with gobs of money. Last I heard from her, about 5 years ago now, she was writing a book about being a hooker.

The stigma traditionally came from the political right but in recent years more has come from the left due to radical feminist types. Strip clubs have been around a long time and in some ways there is something old fashioned about them in their emphasis on women as sex objects.

Apparently nice doesn't consider herself to be a youngun anymore. I guess it's all relative, but still, hard not to laugh.

Apparently there is still some stigma. The girl I had a dance with yesterday at Risque, Bristol PA made it a point to tell me that no one knows what she does. And I've had numerous dancers tell me that they drive an hour or more to a club because they don't want to run into anyone they know.

Stigma is still very much there. It may be vary or even be lesser in some crowds but it’s there. I asked an 8 server at a SC why she didn’t strip, “one day I’d like to have a decent husband”