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Strippers' greatest protection is each other

Leigh, Caroline
http://organizing.work/2022/08/strippers-greatest-protection-is-each-other/

Publisher:  Organizing Work
Date Written:  22/08/2022
Year Published:  2022  
Resource Type:  Article

Caroline Leigh describes her experience working in the stripping industry and the urgency of organizing it.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:
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The history of formal organizing within the industry is slim, with an apparently singular example of a certified union at the Lusty Lady in San Francisco in 1996, with SEIU. In this campaign, the workers at a peep show protested against racist scheduling procedures that limited the number of Black dancers who could work per shift, as well as the installation of one-way mirrors that enabled customers to nonconsensually film the workers. They won their campaign and a union contract, until eventually forming a worker cooperative in 2003. They closed after not being able to make rent around 2013.

This lack of unionization is partially due to strippers nearly always being classified as independent contractors, which excludes them from mainstream labor organizing. The societal stigma around sex work often not being considered a "real" job, even though it makes "real" money, can also make unions wary to taint their reputations, which makes workers devalue their own labor. As a result, the strip club industry has been capitalizing on the power of owning and banking on your own desirability and sexuality while still keeping workers vulnerable to rape, violence, lifelong workplace injuries, rising house fees, and firings for everything from gaining weight, getting pregnant, not allowing customers to film you, being a woman of color (particularly when you are Black), asking for your contract, wearing the wrong outfits, not taking enough of your clothes off, talking back to your boss, being accused of soliciting sex, not having your nails done, being late despite illegal scheduling, or charging customers too much. These are just some of the firings I have seen or heard about. Strippers often develop an air of invincible confidence - but we need confidence in ourselves because there is virtually nothing else you can rely on in strip clubs.

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