Having Sex and Lap Dancing is Not Being a Stripper

Some strip clubs or burlesk theaters would allow the strippers to have sex on the stage with the customers - orally or otherwise. I worked at these places; but I never did have sex on the stage. The dancers would get a tip of a dollar or two from the guy. This was the cheapest sort of prostitution I have ever encountered. I told them they were nothing but cheap whores selling sexual favors for a dollar. Not all the girls did this. I am happy to say I was one of them who did not. I told them they were no longer strippers but cheap prostitutes.

It really makes me mad for a girl who lap-dances to say she is a stripper. To me, a stripper is one who artfully takes her clothes off, sexually, to music in front of mean. When the men start touching the girl or she starts touching him for sexual stimulation, that is where being a dancer crosses over the line into prostitution. I am not against prostitution. I really do think it should be legalized. But do not hide behind the word - stripper - to be a prostitute. It is a disgrace to a profession that I am proud to say I was a part of.

The new Book Trailer for Opal's new STRIPPER book:



Opal's new movie THE OLD STRIPPER:



Follow us on TWITTER

The Stripper who Accused Me....

I was working in Syracuse, New York as a stripper. All the other girls were here for just a week; but I was going to stay at the same theater for the entire summer because my kids were going to be out of school. It was handier and cheaper to be in one place instead of traveling around with the kids; so my boss, Al Baker, let me be what was called the stock girl for the summer.

He had done this ocassionally, especially, when I would ask for a raise. He would say, "Well, Star, why don't I just have you be stock girl for such and such amount of months? Then you can save money that way because you won't have the traveling expenses."

My duties as a stock girl were to, basically, "run the show" as well as do my show. I would always be the first girl to dance because I was there every week. Save the best for last! HA! The road girls would be after me because they were new for the guys to see.

I opened and closed the curtains and made all announcements such as welcome to such and such theater and thank you for coming. I announced each girl before she danced and played her records.

One day this black dancer came back stage and told me I was jealous of her and was intentionally messing up her music. This made me really mad because one thing I did was always try to do my job right. Besides that, I would not have tried anything like that, in case, of getting fired. I sure could not afford to lose my job with my kids to support and all. And I was NEVER jealous of any of the dancers. I always felt that I looked the best. I told her she was wrong; and that I did not do what she accused me.

Well, my answer seemed to not satisfy her; so later on she proceeded to bring her pimp backstage. He started in on me about how I was messing her music up.

Well, this was the first time I ever saw a black guy blush. I tore into him like a panther. I cussed him up one side and down the other. Needless to say, I did not hear any more complaints.

Sexual Harassment in the Burlesque Business

I would like to say a word about sexual harrassment as being present when I was a stripper. I am happy to say that, as far as I know, it was not even present on the Al Baker theater circuit or in most of the other places where I performed as a stripper. Out of being a stripper for approximately twenty years, I can truly say that I only encountered two major sexual harassment issues. I think that was above the average for any job during those years.

That is more than I can say for a lot of the so-called respectable jobs women had back then. A lot of the professional women I knew would tell me how they were intiminated into having sex with their employers in order to keep their jobs. I am talking about jobs such as nurses and secretaries. One lawyer told me, "We had a lot of girls apply for the receptionist job today. We hired the one with the biggest tits. That's what got her the job".

Being a stripper is not protected by the so-called respectable smoke screen as the highre uppitty jobs are even today. We bare it all - not only our bodies but, also, our souls. It is the most unhypocritical job in our society. I am very proud to have been a part of it and feel that I still am.