Despite the glamour and money that may come to mind when you think about stripping, the reality is there many very difficult factors involved in being a stripper.
Now, with the advent of bottle service and scantily clad bartenders, the stripping industry is evolving in a way that many strippers aren't too pleased with, Washington Post reports.
Cue Gizelle Marie, a New York City stripper who has organized a strike in hopes of raising awareness about what she and many of her colleagues feel is unfair competition that has led to a loss in take home pay.
The dancers claim that "startenders" and "bottle girls" have begun to dress in revealing costumes that are similar to the outfits the dancers themselves wear. They claim that these startenders block patrons from the stage, dance provocatively and worst of all, take the money patrons throw onto the stripping stage and keep it for themselves.
Clubs have begun inviting startenders, who are often Instagram famous, because they bring their internet followers into the club.
The strippers participating in the strike say that these startenders do not have to pay the same club fees they have to pay in order to perform. These fees range from $50 to $250, depending on the club and the night.
“The bartenders tell the customers not to tip us. They block us from the customers while we dance or they are sweeping our money off the stage while we dance,” Marie said.
Many of the dancers claim that racism is involved, since most of the startenders are white, while the dancers are black.
“The dancers used to be the most respected in the club, and now it’s like the dancers are at the bottom of the barrel. And the dark-skinned dancers are all the way at the bottom of the barrel," said one dancer who goes by the name Panama.
Marie took to Instagram to propose the strike, which has been going on for a week.
The strike's goals are: reduced house fees, for startenders to pay house fees, for black dancers to get the opportunity to become startenders and for startenders to stop taking money meant for strippers.
“There’s no union or HR, but at the end of the day it’s still a job and they just want to be respected," said Mona Marie, owner of Poletic Justice, a dance studio at which many of New York's strippers come to train.
It isn't clear how many dancers are participating in the strike. Many dancers say that while they support it, they can't afford to even take one night off. Some also fear being blacklisted.
Marie noted that they are right to have that fear. She says she has been blacklisted since starting this movement. “I’ve received a lot of backlash from the promoters, so I’m not allowed to work in these clubs,” she said.
“People were in fear of losing their jobs if they spoke out. A lot of these women have other careers, are parents, are putting themselves through school so that fear factor absolutely played a part in it,” Marie continued, adding that she's begun to travel to make up for lost income.
She says dancing out of town "made me think to myself that a lot of the great dancers aren’t dancing in New York anymore. They moved away to other cities to work or they just completely stopped."
For their part, club promoters are simply charging it all to the game, and one particular promoter denied the racism allegations.
“The whole industry itself has changed,” said Sean Simmons, promotional director for Aces New York. “Some clubs are bartender-driven, but that’s just because the bartenders are beautiful women.”
Rapper Cardi B, who was once a dancer herself, spoke to Power 101.5 about the issue. She believes that these troubles are part of a fad. “People want to follow the trend. Even if it’s a badass stripper, like the baddest of the baddest, people still want to throw money at the bartender because it’s just, like, the trend.”
Simmons said that there should be rules and regulations between dancers and bartenders in order to keep everything fair, but didn't see things changing any time soon. “Nothing will come from the strike,” he said.
However, Marie doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.
“All we want is respect at the end of the day,” Marie said. “If it doesn’t change by us going to the owners we’ll take further matters legally.”
