Comments on: Making Money At The Strip Club

By: Svetlana Ivanova

Svetlana Ivanova — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:52:58 +0000

Hobo Stripper’s website is really interesting - both the stripper articles and the van dwelling articles. I don’t expect to ever do either, but I still like reading about it.

By: Angela Caperton

Angela Caperton — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:05:05 +0000

Sadly, it honestly sounds like the stripper licenses are one more social constraint on those that might seek that profession. I live in an infamous area where the county lawmakers went through a ridiculous and expensive process to define nudity - and therefore restrict the bathing suits/thongs the local strip club dancers could wear (although the commissioners swear up one side and down the other that’s not why they pushed the issue). I’ve also seen this local government give the adult clubs incredible grief over liquor licenses, parking permits, advertising…

It’s amazing to me that in this day and age, this country still manages to lead the way in hypocrisy when it comes to sex.

That said, I am not surprised to hear that strippers are made to have licenses and background checks.

Maybe they should do the same with oil company executives. They’re far more likely to screw us illegally than some woman or man hanging from a pole.

By: Bacchus

Bacchus — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:44:43 +0000

Thanks for the information! It was the fingerprinting, I think, that caught my attention. But I’m really struck by the way all these things (fingerprinting, background checks, sex offender status, criminal history, drug history) are the sorts of things we-the-society usually impose on people in positions of special social trust or on people who have special social power: teachers, police, day care workers, private investigators, lawyers, volunteers who work with kids, employees who will be handling corporate funds, that sort of thing. I wonder what this says about the functional social role strippers are felt to occupy, by the people who pass licensing laws?

By: ACorruptMind

ACorruptMind — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:06:01 +0000

This might seem a bit off but bear with me here. In the Firefly/Serenity verse there is legal prostitution but they call the ladies Companions.

They have laws about what is acceptable, health care and are a major player in economics as well. And this is all done legally within the government.

Perhaps it is not so far off.

By: Hobo Stripper

Hobo Stripper — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:47:06 +0000

Oh, all kinds of places have stripper licenses. It’s most often a county thing, and ranges from $15 (Pheonix) to $400 (Seattle and Atlanta). Some places they do background checks to make sure that you aren’t a sex offenders, other places it’s no felonies, or no felonies for the last X years, or no drug related offenses. This is the only time I’ve been fingerprinted.

By: Brennus

Brennus — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:56:09 +0000

Well it just might an entertainers license, if it wasn’t required of all entertainers in the locality I think the ACLU would be all over it. Anyway the main reason I stopped by was to agree with boredom factor, strip bars are boring, expensive and a waste of time.

By: sam

sam — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:05:52 +0000

i work in an adult club in atlanta… i am not a dancer, but i earn money in the back room of the club, providing makeup services for the girls. even i have to have the said “stripper license”. you can not get one if you have any outstanding tickets or past felonies. plus, its a ton of money: per year, per job, per club.

By: Bacchus

Bacchus — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:30:35 +0000

No. License to practice law, or be a private investigator? Yeah, in some states at least. Security guard? Maybe. Stripper? Seems designed to have a chilling effect on the profession.

Hobo Stripper didn’t say what state she’s in at the moment, but from her description, this isn’t just a local thing, because it’s clear she’s gone and got her stripping license in other towns.

By: Jax

Jax — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:33:46 +0000

I don’t know why they finger print strippers, do they do the same for those that want a fishing license, a drivers license?