Courtesy of VodPod

Despite the recession, some industries are still going strong, and apparently long and hard through the night if you get my drift. White collar women who once held top dollar jobs on Wall Street are now shakin it fast on easy street for a quick buck.

“You’re seeing a lot more beautiful women who are eligible to do so many other things,” said Gus Poulos, general manager of New York City’s Sin City gentleman’s club. He said he got 85 responses in just one day to a recent job posting on Craigslist.

The transition to the nightclub scene isn’t always a smooth one — from learning to dance in five-inch heels to dealing with the jeers of some customers.

For some, I know this has to be a hard decision to go from a respectable job to stripping in order to pay the bills. But here’s my issue and bear with me while a jump up on my soapbox.

This kinda thing follows you wherever you go in life. For instance, I saw the MSNBC video and I couldnt help but think how incredibly stupid the woman is who they interviewed. Here she is grinding in all her glory on a stripper pole and talking about how she used to work on Wall Street. Excuse me, but did she think one of her old bosses would see her on MSNBC and then phone in a favor? Come on now. Ok, so you have to do what you have to do but must you plaster your face all over TV? Just saying, handle your business but don’t make it harder to jump back into mainstream American when you’re busy telling millions of people that you’re a stripper, formerly working on Wall Street.

Still there are more substantive concerns:

• Safety
• Emotional well being: No matter how many strippers/hookers tell you they like it, they don’t and never will. It all catches up to them some day.
• Objectification of women: No I dont think this is about women being independent, I think this is the same crap that we scream about when our bosses make sexual advances yet we want to have the feminist freedom to shake it fast AND get respect at work. Pick a side and stick with it. Either we work hard and sacrifice for what we want in life or we go down easy street and risk our dignity. The former is more appealing to me and I’d rather be on welfare and live in a shelter working my way back before stripping away the last bit of self respect I have.
• Unwittingly carving out a future for themselves based on current perceptions: Once a stripper, always a stripper, at least in the minds of those who get the opportunity to see them in all their nude stiletto glory. Who wants to hire a stripper to be the face of their company.

While this sort of thing may be appealing because of the fast money, there are long-term consequences that should be considered. Sallie, Visa and Bank of America can wait, but your dignity won’t.

Question: Should feminists applaud them for making ends meet on their own, or attack them for feeding into sexist stereotyping?