Editors Note: Names of some sources are listed as their style persona. Real names remain confidential to protect their identities.

The secret world of students working at adult clubs

Secrecy and vagueness are common traits of students working in adult clubs, former stripper and student Ursula adamantly states.

Ursula, a former stripper now attending University of Phoenix, says management at all of the clubs where she has worked regularly reminded all of their dancers and staffs to keep everything that goes on in the clubs and their addresses confidential for security reasons. She goes on to say the reason is to keep anyone from finding out the clubs involvement with illegal drugs and prostitution activities.

Stacci and Shayla, both students and dancers, give similar statements. Both are in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions. Both are concerned about fellow students becoming aware they work as strippers Hot Chocolate, a male dancer, has no qualms about marketing himself as a stripper or disclosing where he works. He says he feels it helps promote his services for private parties. It is a different atmosphere at male strip clubs because male clubs are open to the public whereas female clubs feature restrictions based on fees paid on the customers tab.

The dancers commented that there is a double standard between male clubs and female clubs. Reasons include money paid and services provided. It is all about money, Hot Chocolate says. Tips are bigger at female clubs, where drug and prostitution activities are more prevalent than at male adult clubs.

Stacci, a TSU graduate and current student at UH-Downtown, also dances at the Mens Club. She explains that one of the reasons for high security at clubs is because so many male customers are deviant. Dancers have to take care, even wearing disguises going to and from work.  Like many of the dancers, Stacci explains, I also found myself using drugs, which led me into prostitution, a part of my lifestyle for nearly five years. She has been clean and sober for two years, but it is a day-by-day thing as drugs are so prevalent at work and it is so easy to fall back into old habits.

Stacci has been working as a stripper for almost 10 years. Many dancers work in the field for as long as they remain appealing to customers. Dancers can make much more money stripping than with any other kind of work without a college degree, she says. Staccis reason for returning to college is to provide a more secure career for her future.

Shayla, who attends HCC, says she started dancing when she was 20 while attending college in California to impress a boyfriend. It was always a fantasy of hers to work as a dancer, she says, but she admits there are times it is hard to separate the entertainer persona when attending classes.  She dropped out of college when she was 21 and really did not know at the time what she wanted to do with her life.

At that time she believed that the only reason she was attending college was to please her mother. She dropped out just three months short of receiving her associates degree in business management. In hindsight, she says, it was an easy decision because the money was so good for dancing, and I did not believe I needed a college degree.

Shayla goes on to say that she fell victim to heavy drug use and prostitution until she decided she would join a recovery group. During her recovery she made the decision to return to college and only work weekends as a dancer. She says the money is lucrative and she still enjoys dancing. It helps me work towards what I really want to do, she says, which is writing and acting. She plans to graduate and open her own business.

Ursula is the inspiration for the origin of the story. I began dancing in the late 90s to help pay for college tuition, she says, and help support my two daughters. I was trying to get out of a seven-year abusive marriage to a husband who forced me into the world of adult clubs, drugs, wife-swapping and prostitution. She explains that illegal actives prevail in adult clubs and the only way you can discover what is going on is you have to be an employee. Otherwise, everything is very vague as management will not allow outsiders to discover their secrets.

Ursula is very emotional as she describes this part of her life. Starting in 1997 and for nearly 10 years I smoked crack and drank alcohol and did anything I could to get money to keep me high, she says. She knew she was addicted to cocaine, crystal meth and alcohol and could not stop using either.

In 2002 Ursula was arrested for delivering drugs and for forgery. She spent two years in state jail. I found many others [in jail] like myself in need of counseling, she says. I begin studying to help understand what I went through, which ultimately helped beat my addiction to cocaine, meth and alcohol.

Ursula says after she finished the prison sentence she returned to her hometown San Antonio and made the mistake of stripping and hanging around the same people and friends. This led her back into her old habits and in and out of prison for the next five years. After her last stint in 2008, she realized she could not continue down that path if she wanted want to live any kind of productive life and be there for her daughters. I made it a point, she says, to avoid all of my old associates and friends that were using drugs and were into prostitution. With God and the help from a very strong support group in my life now — even it is still a day-by-day process — I will beat my addiction.

Ursula says she has been clean and sober for 27 months and is now looking forward to graduating from college next summer. She comments that many women work as dancers and go to school successfully because they learn their lesson — to stay away from drinking and drugging — the hard way. When I first started dancing I did not mind if other students knew I was working at strips clubs, she says. If I was dancing today, I would try and keep it a secret. I see so many self-righteous people that frown upon stripping that I would have to keep it secret in order to stay in school.

Managements and staffs at The Pent House, Treasures, and The Mens Club –all located in Houston — were very vague and sensitive about sharing any information involving employees. Reporters get more from interviews with established source relationships, allows them to get details they are seeking.

Jessica Simmonds has been working as a full-time stripper in England and the United States for many years. She has an income of over $400,000 a year, working just four nights a week. She is one of the top-earning exotic dancers in the world. She still works, but now also teaches girls how to earn the type of money she has earned.

Jessica also agrees that reporter contacts are important but, for her contacts, are for different reasons than those of reporters.
Secrecy and vagueness are common to students and staff working in female adult clubs. The hiding has more to do with the clubs clandestine illegal actives, than with the protection of their employees. In short, club owners want to stay out of view of law.