FAQ

Look for the strip clubs in your town online and then write and email the owner, or just show up one night and ask the bouncer if they are looking for new dancers. Getting hired in a strip club is usually informal and pretty spontaneous, but some clubs are saturated, so do not be discouraged if they tell you no. Not all clubs are the same, different clubs have different vibes, you just have to try it out and see if that specific club is for you or not. If not, just try it with the next one. If you get an audition in a club, ask the dancers there about safety and management. The only advice we would really give is trust your instinct on the atmosphere and management and think about your boundaries and what you are happy to do beforehand. For more info you could take a look at stripperweb.com on their ‘Newbie board’ page (some of this is specific to the States but there is a lot of very good info).

Regarding starting to strip, we try not to give specific details on clubs as people have varied experiences and a ‘good’ club for one person may not necessarily be a ‘good’ club for another. We are not affiliated with any specific clubs.

This is a question we cannot and do not like to answer. Earnings depend on many factors: the club, the country, your hustle, the season, luck… Strip clubs rarely pay hourly wages and your earnings will be based on commissions. If you want to become a stripper you have to come to terms with the fact that every time you go to work you won’t know how much money you will go home with.

This is something we cannot tell you, you are the only one who can know. If you quit your other job for stripping, know that you are going for an occupation that has a lot of ups and downs, particularly in uncertain times. Stripping, like the entire global sex industry, is highly vulnerable to political and economic changes and relies on other people’s disposable income. You will not have a fixed income or a safety buffer beyond any savings, and you might have to take breaks because of burnouts. Governments will rarely arrange any kind of unemployment support for strippers. And then there’s the elephant in the room: the stigma that sex workers experience, particularly if they don’t have other “conventional” streams of income or projects (like the mythical College Degree that some strippers will be asked if they are saving for!) to “legitimise” their sex work. The advantages of quitting your day job are freedom and flexibility in terms of scheduling. As you can see there are many elements to consider.

Absolutely not. Paying for your time or for a dance does not mean buying your consent. You establish the rules, and nobody can force you to do things you don’t want to do. If any manager tells you the opposite, report him and change club immediately. If you sell a dance to your customer, set your boundaries and let him know before he pays, in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Hustle. Strippers are entertainers and salespeople. Dancing is just a small part of the job and your earnings will come from what you manage to sell: drinks, lap dances… If you are wondering if you have to offer erotic services other than lap dances, that depends on the club. Some clubs allow more erotic services, other don’t. Some clubs allow touching during lap dances, others don’t. But remember: you don’t have to do anything that crosses your boundaries. Once again, look for the club that suits your necessities.

This is like asking if it is ok for a vegan to work at a butcher’s. If you are really not okay with bodily exposure an physical contact, we would recommend considering other areas of work.

Get in contact with Hydra, a non-profit and nongovernmental organisation set up explicitly to advise and protect sex workers. They even have a section on their website called “Sex work from A to Z”.

Forget the stereotype of the creepy old man. Clients come from many different walks of life, backgrounds and age groups. Many are looking for conversation as well as visual entertainment, which is why we emphasize that the work of stripping is not just presenting your body on stage, but also a lot about being able to persuade verbally and keep them company. Our member Edie has written an insightful commentary on strip club clientele, which you can read here.

To become a member of the Berlin Strippers Collective, you should fulfil the following requirements:

• Be based in Berlin

• Identify as a FINTA person (female, inter, non-binary, trans, agender)

• Have experience (past or present) working as a stripper in a strip club

As our name implies, we are a strippers’ collective and our activism and shows are closely related to the problematics of strip clubs and aim at achieving work independence from strip club managers. Therefore, experience in the field is relevant. Even though we are against any kind of whorearchy and we believe that all types of sex work are morally on the same level and are deserving the same resepct, every branch of the industry has its own specific issues. It is for a practical reason and for not losing our focus that we would like to keep this collective for current or former strippers.

Exceptions to this requirement are trans-sex workers who would like to work as a stripper, but who have faced discrimination finding a job or a safe space in strip clubs.

No. Being a nude model or a pole dancer doesn’t make you a sex worker.