Crazy things some are doing to make ends meet

LAWYER TURNS TOPLESS DANCER TO PAY THE BILLS

When Carla graduated 10 years ago, she thought her law degree would be a ticket to a high-paying job.  But instead of selling her mind, Carla is selling her body. After student loans, debt, a layoff and unemployment battered her bank account, she's now dancing in a topless bar.

"Did I ever think I’d be taking my top off for rent money? No. I was in my mid-30's and had never danced before," said Carla (her stage name). "I never thought to myself, 'I want to be a stripper,’ or, ‘I want to climb in the lap of a sweaty stranger and take my top off.' But, with our economy the way it is, especially in smaller cities ... you strip or you starve."

Carla grew up in the Midwest and moved to the West Coast in the late 1990's to fulfill her dream of earning her law degree. After graduation, she worked for nine years putting her degree to use, but she had entered the crowded legal profession at the wrong time. When she was laid off in 2009, she couldn't find work.

"At first, I worked as a waitress, and a cashier in a gas station," she said.

As her prospects grew dim, she went back to school to earn a master’s degree, hoping to bolster her credentials. But her financial aid came in lower than expected, her credit was battered and she struggled to find part-time work in her new town to keep her afloat.

"I went around to see if could get a job as a cocktail waitress, but there was not a single retail or waitress job. No one was hiring, except for the topless places," she said. “It was an act of desperation."

She started out serving drinks as a waitress, but moved quickly to dancing "because that's where the money is, and that's what I needed."

On an average day, she earns $20 an hour, but on a good weekend night, she might pull in $50 an hour – enough to get her finances back on track. She can set her own hours, which means she can squeeze in reading and writing papers around her work schedule.

"It’s degrading and I hate it, but it is necessary right now and I’m glad I have the option of doing it," Carla said. "My parents and a few friends know and they were horrified at first. But now they are proud of me for sucking it up and doing what I have to do."

Local rules allow lap dances – as long as the patrons don’t touch the dancers – and Carla sometimes performs them. The topless bar she works at doesn't have a full nudity license, and that’s just as well with Carla; she would need a personal license to work at a place like that and she wants no record of her temporary stint in the dancing business.

Carla says while she is proud of making a living by any legal means available to her, she realizes that some people will think of her as just a glorified legal prostitute and she would very much like to move on with her life and career at the earliest available opportunity without any undue hassles.

Carla said said her experience has been profound – in one sense, the job is less hostile than any law office she’s worked in, she said. Coming from the cutthroat legal profession, she has been stunned by the camaraderie among the women she works with.

"I thought the other women I worked with would be competitive and not supportive. We are 'fighting' over the same dollars," she said. "But my female coworkers are the best coworkers I've ever had."

Many are in the same situation she is, she said: forced by their economic situation to perform work they would have never considered in the past. 

"I work with war widows, a nurse, a medical student, women who have had to go to work to save their home after their husbands have lost their jobs, and others who do this as a means to an end and who do not fit the profile of junkie, prostitute, dancer. … What we all have in common is being in a tight spot financially and living in an economy that provides limited options right now," she said.

"I'd be willing to bet that there are women like me working in it all over the country, out of necessity and not because our goal in life was to appear topless in front of… creepy guys," she said. “While there are some real creeps that come in, there are also some very sweet guys who are regular customers and who I genuinely enjoy knowing. The stereotype that says that only dirty old men frequent nudie bars is incorrect."

She says she’s been humbled by the experience, too.

"I am no better than the next dancer by virtue of my education or previous work experience. The universe has a funny way of putting a person in their place,” she said. “I have learned that I still have a lot to learn about life but now I have some incredible female mentors who continually inspire me with their courage and work ethic."

She's also learned to "never say never," about things you may do in life. Welcome to the club, Carla! You do what you gotta do to make ends meet.

She's almost finished with school, and hopes to stop dancing soon, but figures that "realistically, I'll probably have to keep dancing until I get offered a full-time job, which means I'll be doing it for another six months, at least."

When she does take a new job, she's leaving the medium-sized city she's in, with no plans to return.

"I cannot wait to start my life over elsewhere doing something different but I will always be grateful for the lessons I've learned dancing and will never again look down on anyone who works in this industry," she said.

Brian Blackwell

Copyright © Sept. 17, 2011 Brian Blackwell

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