The Ethical Stripper | Stacey Clare | TEDxCoventGardenWomen

Summary

Stacy, a stripper for nine years, shares her experiences working in high-profile clubs while highlighting the empowerment and challenges she faced. She discusses the industry's exploitative conditions and her journey to activism, leading to the formation of the East London Strippers Collective. The collective aims to improve working conditions, protect dancers' rights, and challenge negative stereotypes, advocating for the recognition of stripping as an art form and the importance of creating the right conditions for value in sex work.

Takeaways

• 💃 Stacy, the speaker, has been a stripper for nine years, working in various clubs and experiencing both the highs and lows of the industry.
• 🌍 She has traveled extensively and made significant money, forming friendships and enjoying her work despite some challenging moments.
• 🤔 Stacy acknowledges the discomfort some may feel watching her perform due to the sexual objectification inherent in her job, especially in a room full of feminists.
• 🔓 She introduces her alter ego, Claire, who is multifaceted, working in various roles and pursuing interests that give her a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
• 🎭 The speaker demonstrates compartmentalization, being able to switch between her stripper persona, Stacey, and her personal identity, Claire.
• 👚 Stacy discusses the unrealistic expectations and pressures women face due to sexual objectification in media and society, quoting Jean Kilbourne on the dangers of objectification.
• 🚫 She expresses her resentment towards the exploitation of women's bodies for profit and identifies as a feminist, raising the question of how she reconciles her job with her beliefs.
• 💪 Stacy shares her journey into stripping, starting at 19, and how she found empowerment and financial stability in an industry that also presented challenges and exploitative conditions.
• 🤝 She founded the East London Strippers Collective to advocate for better working conditions, legal protections, and recognition of the value of their work.
• 🎨 The speaker sees stripping as an art form, requiring a range of skills from athletic performance to emotional labor, and believes it should be recognized as such.
• 🤝 The collective aims to challenge negative stereotypes and stigma associated with stripping and sex work, advocating for a cooperative venue run by strippers to create better working conditions.
• 🌟 Stacy concludes by emphasizing the potential for value creation in stripping and sex work, provided the right conditions are established, and asks for recognition and understanding.

Q & A

How long has Stacy been working as a stripper?

Stacy has been working in the industry for about nine years.

What are some of the high-profile clubs Stacy has worked in?

Stacy has worked in clubs such as Spearmint Rhino and Stringfellow's.

What is Claire's daytime occupation when she is not performing as Stacy?

Claire is self-employed and works in various roles including as a bookkeeper in a gallery, an Events Manager, and for an academic at the London School of Economics.

How does Claire describe her experience of compartmentalizing her life as Stacy the stripper and her other identities?

Claire describes compartmentalizing her life by having a 'stripper persona' named Stacy that she can 'wheel out' when needed, separate from her other identities and roles.

What is the main issue Claire identifies with the portrayal of women in the media and society?

Claire identifies the issue of women being bombarded with images that pressure them to conform to unrealistic expectations and the objectification of women's bodies for capital gain.

How did Claire's first experience in a strip club at the age of 19 affect her?

Claire's first experience in a strip club led her to get a job as a charity fundraiser instead, which taught her about social justice and led her to activism.

What role did pole dancing play in Claire's life before she became a stripper?

Pole dancing was something Claire learned and carried a pole to house parties, which led people to ask her about her occupation, eventually helping her get a job as a stripper.

What is the East London Strippers Collective and what are their main goals?

The East London Strippers Collective is a group Claire formed with other strippers to improve working conditions, protect dancers' rights, and challenge negative stereotypes. They aim to review the law, improve working conditions, and possibly open a cooperative, worker-run strip club.

How does Claire view the stigma associated with being a stripper?

Claire views the stigma as a form of secondary objectification, where society labels strippers and sex workers as victims, which she sees as an unchosen and harmful stereotype.

What personal experience does Claire share regarding her childhood and how it relates to her work as a stripper?

Claire discloses that she is a survivor of childhood abuse and neglect, and she has used her 'stripper persona' as a coping mechanism to reclaim her identity during her recovery from breakdowns.

What is Claire's perspective on the value of stripping and sex work under the right conditions?

Claire believes that stripping and sex work can create value in people's lives if the right conditions are created, and she sees her job as an opportunity to create such value.