How Strip Clubs Are Handling The Coronavirus Outbreak - So Far
There’s a pandemic going on, but the naked ladies are still twerking.
By Jessie Schiewe
Editor's note: Since the publication of this article, some facts may have changed due to changing government policies.
As thousands of Americans get used to the first of many work-from-home days, at least one industry has continued to remain the same: strip clubs.
At least for now, dozens of strip clubs across the United States have remained open despite the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe.
From Las Vegas to Florida to New York, strip clubs are keeping their doors open, but not without taking a few precautions.
Some establishments have hired extra cleaners to sanitize poles, stages, tables, etc., between acts, and have set up hand sanitizer stations around the club.
A manager at FlashDancers NYC, a strip club with locations in Times Square and Tribeca, told The New York Post it has started doing “thorough deep cleans twice a day” since a state of emergency was declared.
Many clubs have also asked their employees to work overtime to better clean up surfaces after each use.
“We’ve been taking extra precautions, like, with counters, doorknobs,” an employee at the upstate New York strip club Lookers told the news website syracuse.com. “We try to make sure that whenever someone comes in, someone is coming behind them to clean up whatever surface they touch or whatever.”
A photo posted to Twitter on March 14, 2020 by @TampaDejaVu
According to news reports and accounts from people who’ve recently visited strip clubs, lap dances aren’t out of the question yet either. But some strippers are taking measures to keep themselves virus-free in other ways, such as by wearing face masks while performing.
“I watched this one girl fill her hand up with hand sanitizer and just rub it all over her body,” the Lookers employee added. “She was like, I’m not catching this coronavirus.”
A few strip clubs have even tried to capitalize on the coronavirus outbreak by luring customers in with offers of free face masks or bottles of hand sanitizers.
TMZ reported that Deja Vu Showgirls in Tampa, Florida, is gifting 10,000 face masks to customers for free, while Las Vegas’ Little Darlings will be doing the same, but with bottles of hand sanitizers (of which they claim to have 50,000).
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A number of strip clubs have also taken to social media to let customers know that yes, despite the fact that we all should be practicing “social distancing” right now, they are, indeed, still open.
Their efforts seem to be working. According to a number of strip club operators, it’s business as normal at many establishments, with some seeing more foot traffic than usual.
“Our business has actually spiked due to more locals coming out and less tourists in the neighborhood,” the manager at FlashDancers NYC told The New York Post.
That’s also the case at Lookers in Syracuse, New York.
“Technically we should be worried, because our business is based on people-to-people contact,” an employee said. “People might be afraid to come to clubs. But no, we haven’t seen any shortage at all.”
Despite the safety precautions that many strip clubs have put in place, there are those who argue they could be doing more to protect both strippers and customers.
Team ClearHeels 413, a stripper advocacy organization in Massachusetts, recently published a public Google Doc with additional protocols that, if followed, can keep everyone just a little more protected.
…even during a pandemic. (Credit: Daniel X. O’Neil/Flickr)
Top on the list is prohibiting physical contact between strippers and customers, making sure bathrooms are well stocked with all essential items, including hand soap and toilet paper, providing disinfecting wipes for strippers to use before and after they hit the stage, keeping cleaning supplies (such as mops) separate and location-specific, and switching to one-time use plastic cups instead of glasses at the bar.
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In the Google Doc, Team ClearHeels 413 also listed precautions specifically for strippers to follow, such as applying hand sanitizer to one’s “hands, thighs, butts, [or] anything that’s touching the stage” and getting a flu shot.
“Bring a lap cloth, a scarf, or other piece of fabric and use that to sit on stage/chairs [or] lay on laps before giving dances,” the organization wrote. “Bring several of them. Take them home and wash in hot water after your shift.”
Somewhat surprisingly, the guide does not make any mention of how best to handle the cash customers will inevitably be throwing onto the stage or slipping betwixt strippers’ G-strings. Wearing gloves is probably the safest bet for both parties, but management might frown on the additional costume item that would ruin their establishment’s promise of “fully nude” women.
What do remodels and pandemics have in common? Neither can shut down a strip club. (Credit: Kari Sullivan/Flickr)
Perhaps what’s most troubling of all is that even if a stripper was concerned about her health and didn’t want to go into work, she can’t.
Strip clubs are non-unionized, and most strippers are considered independent contractors not employees. Because of this, they don’t get workers’ compensation for injuries that happen on the job, or overtime pay.
Strippers also don’t get sick days — even when there’s a pandemic going on.
They’re likely aware that the safest thing to do as the virus spreads is to self-quarantine, but when there’s money to be made — and no other way to get it — do they really have a choice?
JESSIE SCHIEWE IS THE EDITOR OF OK WHATEVER. SHE BELIEVES IN MERMAIDS AND THRIFT SHOPS FOR EXERCISE.
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