Strippers Are Under-Paid

I like confessing here for some reason. When I was younger, I loved the Real World. I watched all the new seasons and everything. Pedro was my absolute favorite. I only knew him from what I saw on television, but he seemed like an amazing person. I remember how shocking his death was for me and I spent the rest of sixth grade and most of my middle school years obsessed with learning as much as I could about AIDS. Back then I honestly thought I would find a cure one day. I’m not sure when I realized I wouldn’t, but by the end of eighth grade I had given up that dream and moved on to others.

I bring up my Real World watching because I’ve watched it off and on for a long time. I’ll admit that I started being selective after a while. I usually watched the first episode or part of the first episode and then decided if I wanted to watch the season. I’m not sure why some seasons appealed to me and others didn’t but that’s just what happened. I saw the preview for this season with the clips of Joey flipping out and my need to know what the hell happened overpowered my promise not to watch this season.

I don’t watch the episodes when they originally air because I want to see the show, but not bad enough to see it instead of one of my regular shows. Anyway, I finally saw the flip out episode. Wow! I feel so bad for Joey. He’s been through hell and he has a family history of alcoholism and addiction. He randomly shares bits of information about his past and it seems like each detail is worse than the one before it. I’m happy he’s finally getting the help he needs and I’m happy that something good is going to come out of his time on the show, but I had a good laugh when the producers were telling him how much they cared about him. Perhaps the world has made me cynical because it’s hard for me to believe that they see Joey as more than just a character on their show. His roommates live with him, so I understand them caring but something about the way the producers spoke to him as if they had been rehearsing what to say and how to get him to stay just seemed a little artificial.

Ironically enough, it wasn’t Joey’s breakdown that stuck with me after the show. The part of the show that bothered me the most was when the two girls, Kimberly and whatever the brunette’s name is (I’m sure it will come to me eventually) were talking about strippers. I don’t like people who are so ignorant and closed off to hearing anything other than their own opinion. Yes there are strippers who do it to pay for a drug habit! But there are also strippers who do it to pay their way through college or to take care of themselves or their family. One of the women made a remark that people who strip don’t have to because they could just go work at MacDonald’s. I would never knock MacDonald’s. I may not have worked there personally but MacDonald’s and similar establishments were the first jobs of most of the people I know, but I will say that one night of stripping usually pays more than a week’s worth of full-time pay at MacDonald’s.

I’m not a stripper and I don’t know any strippers but I’m one of those people who try not to judge others too harshly when I’ve never been in their shoes. If I fell on hard times and I needed some quick money I could turn to my family and they would be there in a heartbeat, but everyone doesn’t have that, and then some people are too proud to ask for help. Whatever the reason, stripping is legal so I don’t have a problem with it. I think everyone would rather have someone become a stripper than have that same person trying to rob them for their money.

I always find it amusing how most people who completely hate strippers for taking their clothes off for money have no problem with models who often do the same thing. Most people would be ready to fight because how dare you compare the two, but I say why not? What, because one is done in some seedy location and the other is done to sell products it’s different? I try to look at it from the perspective that both strippers and some models take their clothes off for money. Both groups are making a living by selling their bodies, but one is seen as degrading while the other is seen as glamorous. I get that strippers dance and gyrate half naked and have to deal with customers with wandering hands, but when you put it that way, it kind of seems like the strippers should be making more than the models because the strippers work a hell of a lot harder and in far worse conditions.

I don’t know. I’m tired and I’m typing, that can’t be a good combination. I apologize to all the people who are undoubtedly offended by me making a correlation between strippers and models, and yes I’m smart enough to know that they are two completely different professions. My point, which was probably lost in my rambling, is that it’s often a matter of perspective.

Dirty Little Secret: I would strip one time if I had that device from Men In Black that would let me erase the memories of everyone there because I couldn’t face my parents if they ever found out. (If I followed my stripping by auditioning for American Idol, I could be the next David Hernandez. Sorry, I had to say it.)

Status: Accepting that even on my snobbiest day I’m still a tad bit too liberal.