Thursday, August 18, 2022
Star Garden strippers turn to theatrical union in labor fight
Los Angeles Times: For nearly five months a group of former Star Garden dancers have positioned themselves on the sidewalk on busy nights with picket signs and costumes. They make it hard to enter the bar without first hearing why exactly they believe Star Garden does not deserve your business. They allege it’s a workplace plagued by unsafe conditions, a lax attitude toward dangerous patron behavior, and unfair terminations.
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2 comments:
In a time when unionization is becoming a more and more popular subject, it is really interesting to see new sides of the conversation. Before reading this article, I had never heard the conversation around unionizing in the context of strip clubs. Historically, being a stripper or other sex workers is one of the riskiest and least protected industries. I think it is therefore unsurprising that unionization is now becoming a larger conversation for this industry. Protecting sex workers has also recently become a hot topic in other ways with conversations around OnlyFans, unsafe practices in the porn industry, and consent. While I think that simply bringing up the topic is a good first step, it is clear that there is still a ways to go to make sex work and sex workers safer. It's heartening to see that people in the theater industry are trying to make progress in this area by helping the strippers in this instance to hopefully gain union status with AEA.
-TJ
When I first glanced across this title of this article nothing shocked me. It just made sense in my head like “yeah…strippers are performers too and they should totally be protected in the same way we are.” The more I read into it, the further it enforced my beliefs. Strippers are essentially actors/actresses. They dance, they put on a persona, and they do a show. There is simply no reason for them NOT to be covered by a union. To be honest it would make more sense for ‘exotic dancers’ to be a part of Actor’s Equity Association than for stage managers. I had no idea that strippers had done this prior and it's really disappointing that the one unionized club is now closed. Their statement about fair wages, safe working conditions, benefits, and other workplace protections are something that all employees deserve regardless of occupation especially with a volatile workplace like sex work.
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