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Beyond Unionizing: Strippers Run the Show in a Worker Cooperative
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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Early in the pandemic when strip clubs closed and strippers were looking for other ways to make money, some L.A. dancers started virtual strip shows on Zoom. Unlike a traditional strip club, where there is a distinction between managers and dancers, at these shows, dancers are their own bosses and can set their own rules, including experimenting with a collective money-making model, in which all the performers pool their tips and split them equally.
“Historically in strip clubs, the managers have called all the shots – have been able to dictate what their dancers do with their bodies,” says dancer Lilith (stage name.) “It only makes sense that the power is in the hands of the sex workers who are performing and who are providing the service, and that we all get a fair cut of the pie.”
A worker cooperative is a business that is owned by people who also work there and is democratically-run: one person, one vote.
Worker co-ops are not as popular in the U.S. as they are in other countries, but they are on the rise. According to the Democracy at Work Institute’s 2021 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report, from 2019 to 2021, U.S. co-ops grew 30%, and there are about 10,000 in the country.
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Today, the Stripper Co-op continues with a mix of dancers from Star Garden and other clubs as hybrid virtual and in-person pop-up shows at different venues in L.A. They are also working with the L.A. Co-op Lab to put together an operating agreement and business plan, in hopes of opening a brick-and-mortar stripper-owned-and-operated club.
There is precedent for this – the Lusty Lady was a peep show in San Francisco that unionized in the 90s, became a worker-owned cooperative in 2003, and closed in 2013.
Inside a pop-up Stripper Co-op show
Members of the Stripper Co-op share roles in putting on the show: booking and promotion, working the door, selling merch, emceeing, performing — even setting up their own pole.
And because dancers make their own rules, the performances often include more than pole dancing. Past shows have featured elements of burlesque, Irish step dance, conceptual performance art and fire spinning.
“I think in the co-op environment, there's a lot more freedom to express yourself,” says Lilith, a Star Garden and Stripper Co-op dancer. “It's up to your discretion, what kind of performance you wanna do, how weird you wanna get”
The organizers also say they intentionally book a diverse lineup — dancers of different genders, races and body sizes.
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"Our utopian idea of a strip club is diverse and exciting and not homogenous, featuring so many different identities,” says Reagan (stage name,) one of the dancers who started the Stripper Co-op. “The strip club industry in L.A. — it feels tired. It feels exploitative, beyond reason. I want the co-op to be the antidote.”
What would your ideal strip club look like?
We asked some of the dancers at their December 2023 “Tis the Season for Pleasin’” Stripper Co-op show what an ideal strip club would look like.
Answers have been edited for clarity. We are using dancers’ stage names throughout.
Reagan, a member of the Stripper Co-op.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Reagan, a dancer at Star Graden who was part of unionization, poses for a portrait behind the scenes at a Stripper Co-op show.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Reagan:
“My ideal club is definitely along the lines of the environment that we’ve been fostering at the Stripper Co-op: this idea we’ve been incubating that a strip club can be safe and empowering and sexy and also inclusive to a wide variety of identities and looks and backgrounds and personalities.
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“The mantra wouldn’t be the customer is always right; the mantra would be the community is always right and we would make decisions as a collective.
“There would definitely be money raining down at all times. Also other fun atmospheric things like bubbles, I love bubbles. There would also be cool non-toxic smoke machines, giving it a cinematic atmospheric feel.
Another fun thing I imagine is more theatrics. That's definitely my passion, sexy, weird performance art.”
Listen
• 37:56
Listen
• 37:56
Strippers Union: Part 4
Part 4: Half a year after Star Garden reopens as a union club, the dancers are still negotiating a contract. LAist producer Emma Alabaster brings you the latest. Plus, some of the dancers have set their sights on a different dream: a worker-owned cooperative strip club.
Here are some resources that informed our reporting:
Here are some resources that informed our reporting:
- LA Co-op Lab
- U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives
- 2021 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report
- Yes, A Stripper Podcast
Asami was part of Strippers United for a year, and came back to perform at the Stripper Co-op show in December.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Asami's water bearer tattoo.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Asami:
“It's not the nature of sex work itself that is inherently degrading, but it's a lot of the structural inequities larger than the club.
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“A lot of the things that happen at the club are actually just a part of reimagining an entire world where those inequities don't even exist. The club is more like a symbol of the patriarchy or white supremacy in the way that I'm treated as a Filipino dancer.
“I think the way men or anybody really talks about strippers is either as agency-less victims that have to be saved or that we're sluts or whores.
“I think if we could break down that perception, I think that would be the perfect club for me, where I could see myself being able to go to a shift and feel empowered or to have my own femininity and my sexuality to be on my own terms.”
Jozey Moon, photographed backstage at a Stripper Co-op show, is the Vice President of Strippers United, an organization that advocates for stripper's rights.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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Jozey Moon:
“If I could reimagine strip clubs, there would be clubs dedicated to all different genders and sexualities, and they wouldn't be catered towards cis men.
“They would be clubs that had dancers that showcase the diversity of people who are dedicated to erotic art and dance and expression, and in turn that would reflect in the diversity of the audience, the clients that come into that club, and they would exist to actually resist patriarchy, resist misogyny, and resist sexism and gender based discrimination.”
Sin Twisted has been dancing for 26 years.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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For Sin Twisted, performance is a form of therapy.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Sin Twisted:
“My ideal strip club or venue would be main stage-focus. I see curtains that are able to drop and open, so performers can actually have a stage set up. I think on the weekends, charging a little bit at the door is not unreasonable, and that money should be contributed to each performer that's working that night, as opposed to charging the performer's house fee.
“I believe in not punishing performers, especially for things like having to skip out for a physical injury or illness or even a mental health day. I've worked in clubs where they don't allow you to call out sick without it affecting your schedule for next week.
“I believe entertainers should be in their best mental capacity to entertain and be on stage.”
May, a Star Garden stripper who was part of the unionization efforts, poses for a portrait backstage at a Stripper Co-op show in December.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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May's pleasers backstage at a Stripper Co-op show in December.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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May:
“The dancers' cuts would be a lot higher because we're worker owners.
“All the positions in the club would also be sex workers: the person handling the money, the cashier person, the DJs, the bartenders, the floor managers, the VIP hosts. Maybe dancing is a little hard on their body now, so they want to get out of stripping, but they still want to be in the club environment.
“There would be really good security that is there to protect us and to make the environment feel really safe.”
Honey Baked, the treasurer for Strippers United, has been dancing for 12 years.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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Honey Baked:
“My ideal club would be a place that is run by strippers, everything from the top down, because it's really important that people who actually know the ins and outs of the industry are involved. You can feel safe and not have to worry about being assaulted.”
Velveeta, a dancer at Star Garden and a member of the Stripper Co-op poses for a portrait.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Velveeta:
“My vision for the Stripper Co-op Club is a super vibrant spot with dancers of all different shapes and sizes and backgrounds, amazing performances, and a really exciting club kind of environment on the weekends. But then, during the weekdays it would be a really chill place for our community to come, a real neighborhood community spot.”
Ace Exotic is a member of the Stripper Co-op and also runs Acro Strip Show which is inclusive of all body types and gender identities.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Ace Exotic backstage at the Stripper Co-op show in December.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Ace Exotic:
“My ideal strip club, what it looks like, what it feels like, is a little bit like what we're creating here [at the co-op show]. Where everyone's represented. It's all different body types, all different races, all different shapes, sizes, gender identities. You shouldn't have to dread going to work as a sex worker. You shouldn't have to dread management. It’s just being in a space where we're safe and allowed to express ourselves in an erotic way.”
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