An Insight into Life as a Sex Worker [Part Three]
💌 This blog & our related emails and social media posts were created with the input from 3 current sex workers/strippers who work across Aotearoa and overseas. These three are a part of our Altitude Sex Worker Panel who are contracted to help guide us here at Altitude on how best to honour our pole roots and show up for our local sex worker communities.
It’s important to acknowledge that every individual's journey and perspective is unique. This blog reflects the experiences and opinions of those on our panel, but it may not capture every nuance or viewpoint - nor is it meant to be a reflection of the industry and worker experiences as a whole, but more of just an insight from a few.
Therapist, Artist, Entrepreneur. Each of these titles are often viewed with high regard. And yet the title of Sex Worker, someone who encompasses all of these titles within their role, is viewed in a very different light.
Sex workers/strippers face stigma from society on a daily basis. They can experience unfair working conditions, dangerous environments and judgement all because society deems their job title less than. As pole dance studios, we exist because of the sex workers and strippers that paved the way for us. We're here to help fight with and for our sex worker communities and remind everyone that sex work is real work.
We asked three local sex workers, Ivy, Sabeen & Lilith six questions about their experiences within the industry. These questions were aimed at providing an insight into what it's really like working in the clubs and to shed some light on the challenges they face being a part of the industry.
In our final part of this series we ask our panelists what they wish society understood about sex work and what they would say to a new pole dancer. Check out their answers below 🩷
Haven't read the first two parts? Find them here:
Question Five: What is one thing you wish society understood about Sex Work?
Sabeen: "I wish society understood that sex work does not define our worth or morality. Strippers are capable, creative, resilient, and resourceful people navigating complex and often unsafe work environments. Stripping has taught me confidence, boundary setting, and agency. It has enabled me to pursue opportunities and passions I might not otherwise have had. I also have worked alongside many who have turned to sex work out of survival, shaped by the pressures and inequalities of capitalism.
Despite this, society often judges and diminishes us based on a limited and negative understanding of our work. Stop and consider what you are saying before you comment on a sex worker’s job. Statements like “I could never do that” or “are all your customers dirty old men?” are not neutral. It is shaming in actions and asks us to carry the burden of your discomfort and judgement.
The media often reinforces this by treating us as objects of moral panic rather than people with agency and complexity. If you want to avoid causing harm, educate yourself through sex workers themselves, not through those who talk about us but are not us."
Ivy: "I wish as a society we understood intersectionality. So we are better able to understand privilege, marginalization and systemic oppression. So that we are able to approach these groups with compassion, rather than condemnation and judgement.
Sex workers are a marginalised group that intersects with soooo many other forms of marginalisation; Race, Gender, Mentally and/or Physically Disabled, Social Class, Sexual Orientation, to name a few. Condemning the industry and the workers, rather than the myriad of systems at play that cause unsafe working environments, corrupt establishments, the marginalised groups to often enter Sex Work and the misogyny that informs views on Sex Workers."
Lilith: "Stigma and shame often comes from a place of insecurity, unfortunately it is normally other's stigma and shame that affects us, not our own.
I have not met any SWers who are ashamed of their job. What I have met though, are people who disrespect women, their bodily autonomy, personal boundaries and use fear tactics and disrespect to assert false dominance."
Question Six: What is one thing you would want a new student starting at a pole dance studio to know?
Sabeen: "Pole dancing has deep roots in sex work. Strippers, especially Black and Trans workers, were the innovators who developed many of the movements we now see in studios and competitions. Many of the first pole studios were created by strippers who saw the potential for pole dancing beyond a club setting. Without their mahi, pole dancing would not be as accessible as it now is to mainstream audiences.
As pole dance gained popularity, many studios began distancing themselves from the stigma associated with stripping. This effort to cleanse the image of pole dance ignored the contributions of sex workers. It also reinforced the harmful idea that pole dancing outside of the club was somehow more legitimate than the work strippers do. Learning this history will help you understand why there is tension and hurt between the sex work and pole communities.
Approach your learning with respect and awareness. Celebrate the skill, athleticism, and artistry in stripper style pole. It is just as valid and demanding as any other style. If you enjoy the work and want to practice it ethically, make space for sex workers’ voices. Take classes from them, pay them for their time, support their activism, and amplify their contributions.
Pole is not separate from sex work stigma, but it can be part of dismantling it. The more you learn about the history and the lived experiences of the people who built it, the more empowered you are to be a respectful, informed student and ally. Treat the people teaching you with respect. Remember that learning a skill comes with the responsibility to honour the community that created it."
Ivy: "Just to do some basic education of the insidious nature of whorephobia**. It can be easy to not identify with these labels that carry weight like ‘whorephobic’ ‘racist,’ ‘misogynistic,’ etc, but we as a society need to really understand how insidiously these narratives are conditioned into us from the onset of birth through so many various means: Media, family, schooling, etc.
Delving into how this can show up for you and acknowledging that if pole fit is something you want to participate in and pursue, then you do have a responsibility to engage ethically and educate yourself in the history and tribulations of those that enabled this art form and sport to become accessible in mainstream spaces.
Please consider if you want to start an Instagram account for pole, does it need to be on public? Do you really need a “stage” name? Instagram is so vital for a large portion of Sex Workers' financial livelihood. It’s how we can advertise ourselves, network with customers, contact clubs/establishments, network with other Sex Workers and garner potential performance opportunities. With the introduction of FOSTA/SESTA and the oversaturation of pole accounts, we are becoming more and more censored and ousted from something we rely heavily on for our livelihood."
**Definition of Whorephobia: Whorephobia refers to the negative stereotypes, stigma, and marginalization sex workers face, which stems from the pervasive condemnation, judgement. and hatred of sex workers. Resource here.
Lilith: "That being compared to a stripper is not a bad thing. Anyone who is treating it as something to shameful should start their journey on reflecting as to why embodying sensuality is a negative thing.
Remember to thank your foremother strippers for bringing pole into the mainstream, for more people to experience the love of pole. Be respectful, kind, and always further your knowledge on how to be a better person."
So much of the sex worker and stripping industry is based on assumptions and falsities caused by the media. Communication is power. As pole dance studios and hobby pole dancers, we can honour our roots by supporting our fellow sex work communities. Follow the organisations advocating for change, learn from strippers when you have the opportunity to do so, educate your friends and whānau on good strip club etiquette. Take the suggestions on these pages as an opportunity for growth.
Everyone deserves to feel safe and supported, and if we can do our bit to help make that happen, why wouldn't we? 🩷
A big thank you to Sabeen, Ivy & Lilith for their vulnerable, honest and real answers for this blog series. We have so much appreciation for all of the mahi you do and hope by sharing your stories we can help make a difference in your life too x
If you'd like to learn more, and help support our Aotearoa strippers and sex workers, be sure to follow the organisations listed below that are fighting to reduce stigma and create better working environments within the industry.
Blog proudly written by a human, not a robot x
