I stripped on and off for over twenty years. And in all that time, I think I met maybe four of the owners of the strip clubs I worked at. I actually spoke more than a few words with only two out of those four. Frankly, in all that time I had plenty of reservations and misconceptions about the people who owned strip clubs. The irony that I have spent the last half a decade trying to dispel the stereotypes and inaccurate depictions of the entertainers and staff while holding my own ill-conceived judgements about the owners is not lost on me.
When my memoirs were published earlier this year, a former colleague suggested that I contact the owner of the club that we worked at to see if he would be interested in helping to promote my book. I scoffed at the idea. But I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. And when I did, I was surprised to get an answer in the affirmative.
This club is located in an industrial park. Mark owned a floor covering business nearby, and noticed that the building that is now the club was for sale. A few years earlier in 1993, the first fully nude strip club in town opened and was doing extremely well. So Mark obtained the proper licenses, bought the building and opened his club in 1995.
He received some pushback, mostly coming from a local mega church. They even went so far as to picket outside his establishment. He offered the protesters free drinks. A small price to pay for the convenient and free advertising they provided his new business. A holy backfire, if you will.
"We offered them water. We'd do whatever we could to keep them here. Because that kind of marketing or advertising was great for business."
When I asked him if he felt like this type of business exploited or objectified women: "It doesn't, it just gives them a chance to take advantage of the men. The girls are not being taken advantage of, but are taking advantage of guy's brains."
Unlike some club owners I have heard of and met, Mark always treated the business as a business. He runs it much like he does his other investments. Viewing the club as an investment and treating it as such has not only made it the top club in town for most of the 27 years that it's been open, but has also led to an almost non-existent staff turnover.
Mark keeps his business model simple. He charges a non-exclusive license fee, which works similar to how a hairdresser will pay to rent a station in a salon. The dancers pay to rent the club and the stage as independent contractors. This is not only advantageous to the dancers but also helps insulate him from legal headaches.
"Basically we just try to make everyone happy. We're a business and we avoid drama. If some drama is coming from a staff member or entertainer, now called artist, then they'll have to go. Or drama from a customer — they'll have to go. Because we take action when there is drama, there is no drama. We treat everyone fairly as best we can, so that in itself eliminates drama. And that's why we have been operating the club with excellent staff retention."
He does recognize the community and friendships that have formed around his club. Over the years, there have been several deaths of staff that brought the entire club together in mourning. I have personally had the unfortunate but poignant experience to attend a memorial in the strip club, where the deceased is eulogized from a stage equipped with brass poles and black lights. You can't miss the connection that people in this industry develop.
A clue into his thoughts might be that he doesn't view stripping as sex work — or at least as much different from other types. He sees a very clear delineation between strippers and porn stars and full service sex workers.
"One thing that might surprise a lot of people. A lot of people think this is a gateway, like drugs have a gateway, that this is a gateway to go on to prostitution and other things. That is simply not the case. It just does not happen. Dancers go on. Get married. Have kids. They go on and get other kind of jobs. Doing a lap dance and having sex is black and white and there is no crossover."
While I couldn't find a humanistic motivation for the way he runs his business, or at least I couldn't get him to express one, I'm brought back to my first thoughts about him. Mark has exactly no vested interest in my success as a writer. Hosting me as a feature benefits me. And yet he has gone out of his way to print promotional materials, advertise my appearances, and keep my books stocked in the store next door. And when I asked him why he offered to do all this for me, he simply said, "I just wanted to do everything I can to help."
Originally published by Only Sky Media.