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Strip Joints

Much of our sexual history often follows European tradition, so, as it was, places first sprang up in port towns. Sailors would be at sea for long periods of time. They would return to port with money and a need for sexual release. They would head over to a "Bawdy" house for a good time. For their wages, they could get liquor and a woman, who at first partied with them, then went upstairs with them for sex. Because these women were so adept at what they did, they could empty several months of wages from a sailor's pocket in a single night. However, there wasn't always a ship in port, so these places also catered to the local businessman, who needed to be away from the wife and kids for awhile.

As the United States spread westward from the east coast, the bawdy houses followed, but more in the form of traveling shows. Because a small town wouldn't tolerate them for more than a night, the girls would merry it up with the local men briefly, then fold up and move on in the morning. These shows actually took two forms.

The first form was just a wagon full of women, who were unable to marry for some reason. In those days, most people were married by their late teens. When a woman couldn't marry, was uneducated, or was widowed, she had no other means to support herself other than the traveling show. The show would come to town, basically set up in and around the wagon, and the merriment would happen.

The second form was a traveling show of entertainers. These were people who juggled, did minor acrobatics, perhaps a magician, and they danced and sang. The bawdy part of the show usually came at the end of the show. The woman, wearing little to nothing, would dance behind a couple of large hand held fans, briefly exposing herself here and there. For young men, ages 10-18, it was usually the first naked woman they had ever seen. At the end of the show, the woman went to the highest bidder, or bidders. However, in the morning, she moved on with the show.

As the 19th century progressed into the "old west", there came another form of entertainer-the Saloon Girl. The Saloon Girl was usually a widow, who got the cowhands and farmers to drink. For a price, they went upstairs, if there were other Saloon Girls to entertain the clientele. In the larger Saloons, there was a madam, or house mom, who would monitor and arrange the upstairs part of the business. This kind of business went on into the early 20th century.

The early 20th century saw a transformation, not only with the Saloon Girls, but also with the traveling show. As population centers became more established, there was now two types of entertainment-the old reliable Bawdy houses and the new emerging Burlesque theaters. Instead of traveling, the entertainers moved into one structure. There was still singing, dancing, acrobatics, juggling, joke telling, and the female dancers. Although the locales tolerated the Burlesque theaters, they had a problem with the female dancers. In most places, the burlesque girls wore revealing clothing, dancing suggestively, in other places the girls were nude. The burlesque theaters were often raided by the Police. Although prostitution was tolerated in the bawdy houses, a naked woman, dancing suggestively, was too much for the locals. The burlesque girls, often were pimped out to a man of means, who had seen the show and made an offer to the theater operator. The burlesque girl had a mystique that the average prostitute didn't have. And so it went into the 1960's, when everything changed.

The 1960's was a decade of social upheaval. A coalition of feminists and the religious right went after both the bawdy houses and the burlesque theaters. The bawdy houses were, for the most part, shut down. The burlesque theaters, sometimes winning the artistic merit argument, stayed open. As the decade wore on, the male entertainers were pushed out of the burlesque theaters, which became strip joints. At first, the strippers would be briefly topless, and as time went on, more and more nude.

Some of the strip joints, following European tradition (again), had live sex shows. A couple of live sex shows thrived in New York city, and one place, Greg's, operated in Los Angeles. By the end of the 1970's, the live sex shows were gone, along with the (tolerated) bawdy houses.

The last known bawdy house, the famous "Chicken Ranch" was quite a place. Located between Schulenberg and La Grange Texas, it had it's origins in the mid 19th century. Because the local farmers couldn't afford the house fee, they traded livestock (usually a chicken), or food, in exchange for sex. Not all girls who worked the Chicken Ranch, were prostitutes, some took care of the chickens, goats, and cow, and worked the kitchen. The Chicken Ranch was actually quite self sustainable. In 1978, it came to the attention of a publicity hungry crusader, Marvin Zindler, that the Texas A & M Football team had been entertained at the Chicken Ranch with funds from the public till (an A & M booster and State Senator had arranged the party). Marvin went to extremes to embarass the local Sheriff and to prod the Texas State Troopers into closing the long known institution known as the Chicken Ranch. A play and movie came about because of Marvin's crusade against the Chicken Ranch.

The 1980's saw strip joints become big business. Chains of strip joints started becoming the norm. Although strip joints were raided by Police and briefly shut down, the local District Attorney saw something they hadn't seen before in relation to the strip joint-the high power lawyer. Judges and juries heard First Amendment dissertations, and saw attacks on weakly written "public nuisance" laws, in opposition to just "this place is a disgrace" arguments. Lots of strip joints were allowed to stay open and legislators tried to write ironclad laws regarding the strip joints.

As the 1990's went on, strip joints actually found tolerance in some jurisdictions. When a crusading City Councilman tried to shut down the only strip joint in Colorado Springs Colorado, the public turned on him in a very ugly way. It was also about this time that a quiet nod to activity within strip joints started happening. Formerly feminist housewives realized their husbands were happier when the husband made the occasional trip to the strip joint. Sociologists, seeing the trend happening, began studies.

The Sociologists found that men require, as part of their mystique, a fantasy woman. This fantasy woman, was just a temporary diversion, not someone he needed, or wanted, to take home, just someone to spend hours with every week. The Sociologists also found, that women with kids, often are "affectioned out" by the time the husband gets home from work, so the husband needs a release, hence-the strip joint.

So, here we are, a decade into the twenty first century. We are still, very much into an age of transition, as far as strip joints go. The court battles are far from over, and societal evolution goes on. It's probably safe to say that strip joints will go on in some jurisdictions, but are endangered in others. We the customer, wish them to go on, but we find ourself in a war in which we have little part. For our part, we must ensure our favorite establishments stay open by using our discretionary income. A woman with poor judgement is depending on us.

We’ve all been to the top-of-the-line “gentlemen’s clubs,” and more than a few joints where the rats double as bouncers. But how does the business really work? The adult club industry moves more green than a pot dealer.

Gentlemen’s clubs in the U.S. take in $15 billion each year. A typical club in a major city can gross $10 to $20 million per year. By one estimate, 10 percent of the country’s economy is tied up in smut. Atlanta has more nude clubs than any other city in America, and these businesses bring more employment, personal income, and state and local tax revenues to the city than the Braves, Hawks, and Falcons combined. Also, the staff look a bit better in their undies.

Security is usually off-duty cops who wear T-shirts that say SECURITY in big, angry letters. Surprisingly, insurance adjusters say adult clubs are less violent than regular bars. Why? Because you don’t want to call your wife from jail and tell her you were paying to look at a stranger’s ta-tas. Pay: One and a half times whatever their cop pay is.

Stripper Wisdom How should a guy act in a club? Dancers Kelly and Gennifer give us the inside scoop. Kelly: Don’t grope all over us. And keep your sexual thoughts to yourself. I don’t want to hear the vivid dream you had about me last night. Gennifer: Don’t go in thinking you can save a stripper from her job. Most of us don’t do this work to be rescued by you. Kelly: An ideal customer looks at our job as a place of employment. I’m doing this for a living. It’s not glamorous for me. Gennifer: Don’t try to cross boundaries and say, “C’mon…no one is going to see.” I will always reply, “We aren’t fucking because I don’t want to fuck you—not because anyone will see us!” Kelly: A nightmare customer is the guy who thinks he’s your regular and gets jealous when you speak to other men. Gennifer: I’ve dated customers. There is no real formula. You could be that loser that every dancer talks shit about in the back, or you could be the one that I go out with that weekend for free. It’s best to go in thinking you won’t get any… because if you go in any other way you probably won’t get anything but an empty wallet and a pair of blue balls. Kelly: I think a soldier in uniform can impress you the moment he walks in. They set themselves apart from all the other customers because you know they are out there putting their lives on the line for us.

Sometimes you want a hot girl to confide in. Sometimes you want a guy who can tell sports trivia and chuckle at your stupid jokes. Either way, the club wants someone who can move volume. And all bartenders know how you love your lemon drop shots, you lush. Pay: As much as $8 an hour, plus tips from customers.

A Floorman's first job is to help monitor the club for the regular security staff. They also get customers to buy drinks, persuade them to visit the champagne room, and then get the girls moving on as soon as a dance is over. Pay: Usually $100 per six-hour shift, which comes from a 15 to 20 percent cut of the dancers’ nightly profits.

The Cigar Girl sits at a nicotine minibar slinging stogies and Marlboros. And since she doesn’t wear a skimpy outfit, and she’s clearly not an exotic dancer, she constantly gets propositioned by cocky guys who want to know what it will take to get a lap dance. You don’t have a chance. Pay: Around $10 an hour, plus tips.

Clubs need their own handyman to wander into the place in the early hours, before customers begin arriving. What’s there to fix? Busted chairs, burned-out bulbs, and loose stripper’s poles, of course. Despite keeping the joint in good working order, checking out the talent, sadly, isn’t one of their perks. Pay: $30,000 a year.

A Bookkeeper is usually in a high-security back room or just down the block. Her office is always close enough for when the staff need change but far enough away to keep the piles of small, nonsequential bills safe. Her main job is to keep the books perfect in case the IRS drops by for a visit. Pay: Around $40,000 a year.

Whether he uses his own setup or a computer with a programmed catalog, the DJ introduces the girls and sets the mood with his music choice. If the music’s good, the dancers dance better, and if they dance better, everyone benefits. Pay: Dancers tip him $20 apiece. The club pays the song licensing fees to groups like BMI.

She moves product like a Wal-Mart manager in pasties, cajoling men to drop $50 for a shower show or $100 for special attention in the champagne room. Pay: A good dancer can earn up to $1,000 a night in tips. But she’ll have to give the house a cut, plus “tip-outs” to the house mother, DJ, and makeup girl.

A good makeup artist can be a selling point for a high-dollar club to bring in smokin’ hot talent because she makes the dancers feel extra special nice. Scabby C-section scar from her last kid? No problem! And implant scars are hot, but they’re even hotter when you can’t see them. Pay: $10 in tips from each dancer.

The House Mom is usually a retired dancer, she hands out curling irons and tampons while listening to dancers gripe about their lives. And she gets them out of the dressing room and onto the stage. If they’re griping in the back room and not shaking their booty in your face, no one gets paid. Pay: No salary, just tips of about $10 per dancer.

High-end places hire him to plan a palatable menu and generate buzz in the media. The best chefs get rave reviews and know that we like steaks prepared like our women: hot, juicy, and rare! Pay: Usually about $25,000 a year, plus a percentage if the kitchen generates a profit. A good club chef can earn up to $100,000.

Paul Bibeau. Strippers, Inc. . August 2005.

Carnival Strippers From 1972 to 1975, Susan Meiselas spent her summers photographing and interviewing women who performed striptease for small town carnivals in New England, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. As she followed the girl shows from town to town, she portrayed the dancers on stage and off, photographing their public performances as well as their private lives. She also taped interviews with the dancers, their boyfriends, the show managers, and paying customers. Meiselas' frank description of the lives of these women brought a hidden world to public attention. Produced during the early years of the women's movement Carnival Strippers reflects the struggle for identity and self-esteem that characterized a complex era of change. Originally published in 1976, this book is considered a pioneering publication for it's frank and honest look at women on the margins of society. Original editions of the book now sell for up to $900.00 on the rare book market.This revised edition contains a new selection of Meiselas' black-and-white photographs together with the original excerpts.

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