Why stripping is dangerous

People are sick and tired of some things, and they want to get away. It's an escapism business. Liza: With the advent of the internet, it's a lot easier to get pornography or web-cam girls at your house for free most of the time. In my state and in my club it is illegal to do sexual favors; prostitution is illegal. If you are caught doing any of that, you are immediately terminated.

For the most part, the people who come into strip clubs are looking for companionship, and someone to talk to. It has been more and more difficult over the past five years to be compensated for such services in a way that is lucrative and reliable.

A lot of people don't come out for the companionship anymore. They can get it in other ways for much cheaper. That's happened a lot more. Liza: The clientele has definitely shifted.

I really wish I knew what was going on there, so I could shift whatever I'm doing. They think we're there for fun. A lot of times I hear from clients, "Oh what are you going to do for this dollar? I'm not working here for my health. We don't really get a lot of people who are paying customers anymore. We get a lot of people who are looking for girlfriends. Green: Do you think that people consider your job as an exotic dancer the same way they do the work of people with more conventional jobs?

Liza: Absolutely not. There's no respect for what we do. It isn't viewed as a respectable job. There are so many stereotypes about exotic dancers: They are drug addicts, or uneducated, or come from a poor background, or have daddy issues, and that's why they do it. In reality, it's literally the exact same thing. I show up, I go to work, I get ready, and I do my job dealing with people. The stage might as well be my office.

There are co-workers that I like more than others, but I still have to work with them. We face the same things that you would find in a traditional job, but most clients recently have been treating us as if we embody the stereotype. Green: You work alongside other women, but most of the management and your clientele are men.

Do those gender dynamics ever affect your work? Liza: All of the dancers are women. DJ's and managers for the most part are men, though I have seen many more women becoming DJ's and managers. To be perfectly honest with you, you get both extremes. You get the men in management positions who get it. They understand what you're doing, they respect the work that you're putting in, and support you. If there's a guy that comes in and he's gropey, he gets kicked out immediately.

You also get the managers who are kind of misogynistic and unfortunately there's nobody to go to. From experimenting with kink to just trying something new and wild, everyone experiences thousands of first times in the bedroom—that's how sex stays fun, right?

This week, we're talking to Holly Darling about her first experience of working in a strip club. When I began stripping, I was going through a period where I was really broke and struggling with money constantly and just trying to make ends meet. I had a lightbulb moment one day where I thought, I'll just become a stripper.

I lived near a strip club so I decided to go into one and check it out. I'd never been in one before. I went in and there was this sea of men in suits.

I remember being blown away by how beautiful the woman on stage was, and how sensual and erotic her performance was. I bought half a pint because I thought I had to buy something, watched and chatted to some of the girls, and then left because I felt out of place. I was carrying a lot of stigma and inherited hang-ups about stripping around with me. I was definitely one of those people who thought strip clubs were dangerous, bad places.

I thought that everyone there was a victim, and because they had no other choice. The day I auditioned, I arrived and changed into the one set of fancy lingerie I owned, and they played a song and I danced on stage for about a minute.

I remember thinking it would feel more like something, and it didn't. I thought I would feel more naked or exposed than I did. After that, they hired me. It was very straightforward. They gave me some forms to sign and some shifts for the following week. Working there was very different from what I'd expected.

The things I'd thought would be hard, like taking off my clothes, were easy. What was difficult was that I didn't realize I'd effectively signed up for a sales job. One hundred percent of your job in stripping is to approach people and sell you and your personal brand.

Learning how to do that was a process. I'd look at other girls and see what they were doing. Stripping has an interesting effect on your self esteem: you're selling a product, and the product is you. Although the money was usually really good, sometimes you'd have an off night. I mean, how is it that you can find something that will kill you instantly and buy it, just off the shelf? It's the question we discovered another family had asked some 20 years ago.

Twenty-four-year-old Brian Keller had been stripping paint off a car, using another methylene chloride-based product, Klean Strip Aircraft Paint Remover, also made by W. Barr, that he'd bought at a local auto body shop.

Then, he fell ill. Medical records show inhaling methylene chloride vapors led to Keller having a heart attack. He survived in a weakened state for five years, until his mother Judy says he had another heart attack. Before his death, Keller sued manufacturer W. The company denied responsibility in court filings, saying Klean Strip's label warned the product was "for use by professional, trained personnel using proper equipment and is not intended for sale to, or use by, the general public".

Not only that, but we found Klean Strip Aircraft Paint Remover advertised for sale to the public by numerous retailers, including Amazon. This is just, shouldn't be, today's society, when they know, that they know, that they know, what this is doing. I don't get it," said Judy Steiner, Keller's mother.