Former Gentlemen's Club Worker Reveals The Hard Truth Many Wives Don't Want To Hear

"When I first applied for a job in the adult entertainment industry, I was two states and hundreds of miles away from my hometown. As I sat there, waiting to be interviewed, one of my sister's childhood athletic coaches walked in. Once hired, seeing men I recognized from outside the club as customers was not uncommon. From fellow university students to the owner of the restaurant where I also worked as a server, I had discovered a secret male world."

"Even though women were the foundation of the entertainment, everyone in charge ― of the music, the drinks, the doors, the schedule, the money ― was a man. The women danced or cleaned and waited tables. The door to the women's dressing room was either missing or left open, and if customers angled themselves opportunistically, they could see into the only bathroom stall, which never had a door."

"It was good money. Working in a restaurant in the late nineties, it was a good night when I surpassed $5 an hour. In the early 2000s, in a bigger city, I could make $14 an hour between tips and my $2.13 hourly rate. Waiting tables in the clubs, I routinely made $25 an hour between tips and an hourly rate of more than $5. Some dancers regularly made hundreds of dollars a night, even after payout to the house."

A worker relocated far from home to take a job in the adult entertainment industry and unexpectedly recognized familiar community members among customers. Women performed the dancing, cleaning, and wait-staff roles while men controlled music, drinks, doors, schedules, and finances. Privacy was routinely violated: dressing-room doors were missing or left open and bathroom stalls lacked doors, allowing opportunistic customers to see women. Men profited from female labor but treated women as expendable, firing staff without concern and exerting managerial power. The work paid substantially more than restaurant jobs, creating economic incentive to remain, and strict discretion separated the club world from other parts of life.

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