Miss Congeniality of Strippers

I started dancing thinking I was the exception. I had it in my head that all of these other girls were high school drop-outs who were ditzy and immature. I thought that since I was a university student in a serious relationship, who has two very prestigious and well-known government worker parents that I would be the odd one out. Over time I have come to realize that I was very, very wrong.

Yes, there are some girls who are not the brightest, or the most mature, or the friendliest, but for the most part, these women are the epitome of what our society is built on and about. These women, like me, work as strippers but that's not who we are. During the day, we are well-adjusted members of society who you may or may not even notice as anything but ordinary on the street. We do our groceries, we take our dogs to the park, we go to the bank and we get stuck in traffic. Just like everyone else.

In fact, I've come to realize that a fair amount of these women are some of the smartest people I have ever met. And by smart, I mean the whole package: street smart and book smart. In the last year, I have met several dancers who are either in school for or have already earned degrees in humanities, business, engineering and even medicine. One woman runs her own business during the day and earns extra money once or twice a week at the club on the side. One woman is graduating from medical school next year, and does internships at a local hospital during the day, and pays her tuition through dancing. Another woman racked up $60 000 in student loans getting her undergraduate and masters degrees, so she dances in order to fast track her payments.

I've learned over the last year, not only in this situation, that not everything is what it seams and you absolutely cannot read a book by its cover. Some of my closest friends now are dancers, and they're some of the most incredible women I've ever met. I now have the utmost respect for women in this career and even more for those who are using this job to further themselves in life through education.

There are good days and bad days but in the end, I love my job and the women I work with.