TikTok Is Glamorizing Stripping—Is That a Bad Thing?

TikTok creators working in strip clubs often highlight thongs, high heels and the stacks of dollar bills after a night at the club. The audience seems to love it, too, as these posts are getting a lot of eyeballs. The hashtag #skriptok—intentional spelling to dodge TikTok's censorship algorithms—has more than 362 million views while #skrippertok has 870 million and counting.

As in a lot of pop culture posts, the narrative on #skriptok is one-sided. Not all dancers desire fame and fortune. Most just have bills that need to be paid, while others might be experienced performers simply looking for a side hustle. And others still, like Miami-based Queen Flexi, "don't consider it 'work.'"

Queen Flexi instructs yoga and pole fitness lessons but also has been dancing in clubs for four years.

"Dancing in the clubs is an outlet for my self-expression, and it just so happens I get paid to do it," she said.

How much can you make?

"Those $1,000 to $2,000 nights you see on TikTok are very real and can happen quite often if you go into work with a positive mindset and believe in your work ethic—and dance at the right clubs," Queen Flexi said.

However, according to Payscale, the average hourly wage for strippers is $20.40, which might lead to the conclusion that the highly lucrative nights come mainly from tips and events.

"A lot goes into consistent nights like that, like the type of club, the city and big events," Queen Flexi added. "You have to find your hustle and your space to really shine."

High-profile strippers can easily collect more than $1,000 per night on a weekend, said Auntie Vice, a California-based performer and blogger.

"If you strip for private, high-roller functions, thousand-dollar nights can be a regular thing," she said.

So while working at a typical club in a smaller town might net closer to the $20 per hour range, strippers who home in on a specific type of clientele and work large events can earn much more.

Other hurdles to making the big bucks that are not shown in glamorous TikTok videos are the tip-outs and house fees. Strippers have to pay to work, which can result in "negative nights" where they end up owing more for the privilege of dancing than they earned in tips.

Every club has its own fees and rules, but some common expenses for strippers include:

• A house fee of $40 to $200 a night depending on the venue
• A fee of $200 or more to dance at special events
• A valet tip
• A 20 percent to 30 percent tip-out for the DJ, bouncer, "House Mom" and other club employees, again, depending on the venue

"Club owners have a lot of leeway in how they write contracts, how they handle tips and what they require of people," Auntie Vice said. "The contract sets the parameters of what is supposed to be paid to the contractor. Unfortunately, when a club owner opts to violate a contract, it can be difficult to enforce it."

Facing social bias against working in strip clubs and a lack of legal protection in the industry, dancers are more than often subject to the whims of the club owner.

The risks involved

"Sometimes the industry is portrayed as this dangerous, dark place, and other times it's shown for the glitz and glamour it can come with. It all depends on the person's view," Queen Flexi explained. "Most won't know what it's really like until they experience it for themselves."

1. Safety risks

"You don't always know someone's true intentions when they notice you," Queen Flexi noted. "Whether customers or workers, there are people who don't respect boundaries and put others' safety at risk."

Navigating the industry takes tough skin and a lot of patience and effort. While every club has its own rules, such as "no touching," some people try to push the limits.

"People can be hostile, picky, demanding, degrading and more," Auntie Vice added. "Dancers may not get tipped for a lot of work. They have to deal with people grabbing at them and wanting more from them than they want to provide...or legally can provide."

2. Unpreparedness and naïveté

"There are dancers who go into the industry unprepared or naïve to what could really happen. And there are people who prey on those types of people. So do your research," Queen Flexi advised.

She recommended looking up reviews of clubs before applying to work at them and not assuming the job will be like what you see on TikTok. Visit clubs in person during the day and night shifts to get a feel for the vibe.

3. Physical challenges

As someone who's taken pole fitness classes for over two years, I'm well aware of the physical demands pole dancing can have on your body. Newbies in class are always amazed at how quickly their body bruises from even the most basic moves. Lap dances can also be hard on your knees, so in the gym, we usually use kneepads for floor work.

In the club, there are no kneepads.

"The dancing and pole work takes a lot of practice and strength to get right," Auntie Vice explained. "People can't just jump up on a stage and be a good stripper. It takes discipline to learn the moves and to build up the endurance to be good.

"The 7-inch heels alone take a lot of work to walk in for more than a few minutes, and there's a demand to be creative on a regular basis," she added.

4. Your club self vs. your real self

Finally, for safety and practical reasons, it's a good strategy for a dancer to separate their "real self" from their "club self."

"The hardest part is having to find yourself outside of the club, as well as inside of the club," Queen Flexi said. "It can sometimes be difficult to separate the two and find the right persona."

Even with so many challenges, there's still truth to TikTok's addictive glimpses into the world of stripping. The pole dances are as intricate and physically demanding as they look, the costumes are as glamorous, and those piles of dollar bills can indeed be earned on one of those highly lucrative nights.

But if you dig a little deeper, you'll find there's a lot of hard work behind it all. From house fees to the physical demands of dancing for a living, stripping is far from easy money. People who succeed must have money management skills, the ability to hustle, charisma to spare and a whole lot of undeniable talent.