Is Stripping Harmful? Part Two

There is a debate within the industry over whether or not the strip club is actually a microcosm for the "real world." Before you balk at this assumption, hear me out. The cold hard reality of life is that more people are moved to action by greed and desire than by love for their fellow man. Moreover, in the real world, a man can usually lure a woman with enough money and success, no matter how repulsive he is. The other side of that same coin is that for women much more than for men, looks matter, and a beautiful woman can usually get by without any particular talent. I am not talking about you or me; if you are in my life you are clearly an amazing, evolved person, not superficial or money-driven. I am talking about a certain mentality that is exemplified by the average strip club affiliate.

How does this harm me personally? Well, after five years of dancing, it'd be a stretch for me to claim that this mentality hasn't rubbed off on me at all. I am emphatically not a gold-digger--I don't care if my partner is rich or poor as long as they have similar values to my own, i.e. s/he is educated and socially conscious. But I like nice things, I like to eat well, I like to travel, and after five years of having money basically thrown at me non-stop, it's hard for me to swallow the notion that I don't necessarily deserve these luxuries.

Again, the best defense against developing this entitled mentality is to actively work to strike a balance between what I'm surrounded by at work and what I consider to be a healthier world view outside the club. I think I do a pretty good job appreciating the material goods that have resulted from dancing; also I try to spend my money on things that will benefit me for a lifetime, such as education and travel, as opposed to objects that will lose their luster with age.

I want to note that there are probably a lot of other ways this job is harming me that I'm pushing down into repression rather than deal with at the moment because currently the job's perks far outweigh its costs. I plan to get some therapy to deal with it all, but not until I'm done with the business. I'm afraid that if I try to work on all the issues too much while I'm still working there it'll make it too hard...and I still have a lot of things to do with this opportunity!