I want to talk about sex work
There I said it.
Now before you get all high and mighty on me let me explain what I mean. I want to talk about sex work because it is one of the world’s oldest professions yet the most taboo. How can the world’s oldest job be so tough to talk about?
It’s a profession I’ve always been aware of as some of my earliest memories were in my Catholic elementary school playground starring at the back parking lot of a prominent local gentlemen’s club spitting distance away. Sex was always taboo in the Catholic Church which made the location of our school quite puzzling. Nevertheless, the influence of the church and it’s opinions around open discussions of sex and sexuality stayed strong with me until my early 20s when I was re-introduced to these adult playgrounds.
A forbidden fortress, the strip club offers the ultimate capitalist fantasy. Complete sexual desire at a commodifiable price. As a young suburban girl with disconnected and disillusioned religious roots, I had to see what it was about, I needed to taste the forbidden fruit. Going into a club is one thing. That is all fine and good... Now, what if I could tell you there was another way to learn more about how this industry works?
Meet Stripper Vlogs.
I know, that sounds crazy. Hear me out. I love YouTube right. I love the capability of this search engine to find the weirdest in entertainment and education. I revel in the weird, I marvel at it. Well, a few years ago in my quest for the obscure I searched, ‘A Day In The Life of A Stripper,’ and to my surprise, I found an entire subculture of docu-series and how-to videos about being a stripper. I struck gold.
I was mesmerized. I had to learn more. What was pole dancing like? Did they enjoy their line of work? What was the day-to-day like on the job? What are some examples of when it gets difficult to do this type of work? I had to know everything.
I absorbed stripper content. My homepage reflected that. I met creator after creator from state to state, country to country. It was fascinating. I learned so much.
Learning about sex workers through their YouTube content was interesting because while I consider learning a lot about the culture and industry from first-hand experience, I knew it wasn’t getting the full picture, it would never be the full picture. While I am not looking for the full scope of the industry I think it was interesting to consider what the workers included and omitted from their videos.
Now that practice is not new to the internet, but as what is essentially the voice of strippers online it is interesting to see what that looks like. From my limited research what I saw was a collection of often women of colour or ‘independent contractors’ traveling from club to club. At the same time, these independent contractors on perpetual night shifts had these large growing audiences online consuming their video content en masse.
The biggest thing I took away from watching those videos was the sheer diversity. Everyone had a different story and wanted to share it with a larger community. Whether it was tips on how to get home safely with lots of money or ways to grow in the adult entertainment industry sustainably and successfully, nothing was off the table. From an outside perspective, the internet’s strippers seem to have each other’s back in every possible scenario.
It makes me wonder, why do we continue to make certain types of sex work illegal and other types legal? Sex work is work. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be regulated the same way other industries are regulated.
Adults should be able to make the decision for themselves if they want to work in this industry. There should be minimum age requirements along with frequent health and safety inspections. Sex work doesn’t have to become a glorified industry to be able to maintain an environment where people feel safe and enjoy making a living. People live in fear of being penalized or risk their life for participation in an industry that should receive the same regulation as any other profitable industry in the private sector.
We need to have an open dialogue about working in industries that are considered taboo. While I know that may seem like a lot for people I think it is an important part of a larger societal discussion that should happen overall. We can’t live in extremes and then be surprised the world has a horrible track record for how it treats women and sexuality or what is considered different. That is ignorant and shortsighted.
After Covid is over I would love for us to have large collective talks as a society and really ask these tough questions. Do we want to spend the next 10 years or longer with archaic ideas about sex work? I certainly don't.
If you’re looking to check out some stripper content I currently follow a lot of content from NinaUnrated you can find her latest video here.
What do you think? Does watching stripper content interest you? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear your perspective.
