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Thoughts: The road to the pole

June 5th, 2007 Comments are off · Health Related, addiction, depression, drugs

My good friend Fave has piqued my interest with his post about strippers. He poses a question that really needs to be answered:

I would often look into (the strippers’) eyes and wonder what brought them there…how is their road to the pole paved?

I can give you a clue as to what paves the way for women to go to the pole. The major factor: MONEY. Obviously they are there to make a living. What kind of living? Well, that all depends.

Many have jobs during the day that pay the bills but they need something more lucrative to put food on the table. They are single mothers who are working so they don’t have to go back to abusive relationships. They are college students who don’t qualify for loans. They are people like me, who feel that is the only way out for them.

When I was considering the pole, I was dating a heroin addict and smoking lots of marijuana. I was already prostituting myself out as a call girl, being my own pimp. I was only a step away from the pole. I needed cash to keep the drugs flowing. I needed to pay my car note. I needed gas money.

I remember driving past the local strip club every day trying to get up the nerve to go audition. They were looking for more girls. I even watched all the movies about strippers and what they go through to get paid.

One day, a man I was dealing with sat me down to watch The Player’s Club. He didn’t say much except for “pay attention”. That was the day it hit me that this might not be the path I should walk. He expressed how badly he didn’t want me to go there, how much it would hurt me later on even if I did get out without any physical damage. He cared enough about me to tell me what he had seen in strip clubs himself. He showed me more about the real world of stripping…then I decided to keep doing what I was doing and not go to the pole.

If it hadn’t been for his encouragement and repeat patronage, I would have been on the pole, too. Thankfully I didn’t go there…and I got out of prostitution before it killed me.

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