Male Stripping
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Male Stripping – An Overview Male strippers live a very different existence to our female counterparts and stripping is one of the few industries where women consistently earn more than men. The female stripper typically has an “office” in which to ply her trade. This is usually in the form of a lap-dancing club where the punters are largely straight men, some of whom can be very generous with their tips. Female strippers typically work a normal ‘shift’ as many times a week as they feel comfortable with. Male stripping is very different. Reverse lap-dancing clubs (where women buy men) have sprung up over the last few years. However, they are few in number and often are a monthly event at an already established lap dancing club, which decides to run a ladies night. My experience of these suggests that there are as many strippers who perform in these clubs for the kicks as the cash. Those that run on a commission only basis seem to attract those that rate the blowjobs as much as the pay. The demand of the two sectors is vastly different. Historically men have always been willing to pay for sex and sexual services. In this new era of enlightenment, the number of women willing to pay for sexual services is still small. They simply don’t want to and probably don’t have to. Male strippers typically earn their money from performing in gay clubs, at ladies or hen nights and private parties. Male strippers are paid a flat fee that is pre-arranged before the event. The average male strip show will last about 15 minutes. My experience would seem to suggest that this is too long on ladies nights and sometimes not long enough on gay shows! Ladies nights are typically hosted by a drag queen and usually feature two male strippers. In the south of England these feature one show by each stripper. In the North of England the strippers are frequently expected to perform two shows; the first being a striptease and the second a full strip. Despite the frequent calls of ‘get em off’ during a ladies night the stripper is unlikely to cut his show short. This seems to have a habit of offending the drag queen who frequently doubles as the booking agent. If the stripper cuts his show short the drag queen seems to feel obliged to fill the gap. Ladies nights are seasonal in nature, with the busiest period between November and December and the quietist in January and February. Strippers usually attempt to bolster their income at ladies night by flogging either a poster of a Polaroid picture of the punter in the arms of the stripper. The digital camera and the advent of cameras on mobile phones are starting to erode this practice. However, the 5GBP for a Polaroid picture always seemed a little steep to me ! There is some debate about the decline of male stripping
on the straight scene. The general consensus is that the first real wave
arrived with the advent of the Chippendales in the late 80s and received
another boost in the mid 90s with the film The Full Monty. This heralded
the arrival of many new strippers and a surge in the demand for Ladies
nights. Ironically, the film led to a decline in the amount of work available
for the then established strippers due to the influx of newcomers outweighing
the increase in demand. |