The stripper revolution is here! You know shit is getting real when Aoteaora/New Zealand are partaking, and the Wellington based strippers movement Fired Up Stilettos is here to #KickUpaFUS.
If you aren’t aware of who Fired Up Stilettos are, I wrote an article about our movement, but here’s a quick summary: FUS was founded by 19 strippers who had signed an email requesting negotiations for their clubs’ new contract, only to be fired via a Facebook post. Since then, FUS has become an entire movement, fighting to improve industry standards for strippers in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
I was not one of the original dancers, but I joined the movement beyond ready to raise hell. I left the strip club industry in 2021, completely shattered. It wasn’t just the late nights or the entitled customers that exhausted me, what caused me to quit was the realization that I was losing money working in clubs as a stripper. Managers would withhold my pay for no legitimate reason, or roster me on to shifts I had specified I was unavailable for, so they could fine me for not showing up. The final straw was being fined $200 because I had a PTSD attack and decided I was unfit to work that day – a decision that as an independent contractor, I should legally have the right to make. Despite all of the exploitation I endured from managers, I still love the strip club industry. I do not believe this industry is inherently exploitative, it’s the people who are running it that are the problem. Surely you can manage to run a strip club without bullying, exploiting, and fining the strippers, right? Fired Up Stilettos sought to prove this by hosting our own strip club takeover events called Kick Up a FUS!
Kick Up a FUS: by the workers, for the workers!
The premise for these events are simple: for one night we turn a local venue into a strip club run by the workers, for the workers. We have now hosted three successful Kick Up a FUS events, and I can confirm that strippers are more than capable of managing themselves. I can also confirm that strip clubs are even cooler when the clients are predominantly queer, and that strip clubs don’t need to cater to the cis male clientele to make money. As the events coordinator for FUS, I produce these events. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into planning each of these events, but once the doors open, my job becomes easy. I am not there to tell the dancers what to do, they are more than capable of managing themselves according to our established and agreed upon guidelines.
KICK UP A FUS DANCER GUIDELINES:
- Dancers can leave the event at any point of the night, just let us know.
- Dancers can take a break at any point of the night, just inform the dancer on the rotation after you.
- The dancers can choose how naked they get while dancing on stage/during lap dances.
- The dancers can choose whether touching is allowed during their lap dance.
- The dancers can choose their own music.
- If a dancer wants someone removed from the venue, we will remove them, no questions asked. Our dancers' safety comes before a client's comfort.
These events have been extremely healing for me as it’s proven something concrete I knew all along: you do not need to bully, belittle, or scream at strippers to get them to work. People who haven’t worked in strip clubs may be confused by this statement, but there are clubs I have worked for that have left me wondering if hating strippers is a genuine requirement for being hired to manage us. Almost every stripper I know has a story of being abused by their manager. Don’t just take my word for it, you can read all about it here, in support of our petition.
Written submission in support of petition
On Thursday the 1st of February, FUS handed over our written submission request in support of our petition. This submission is revolutionary in that fact that it is the first citable resource published about the adult entertainment industry in Aotearoa/New Zealand, written by two absolute bad asses, Laura Phillips and Renee Domak. I can’t recommend reading this petition highly enough. Whether you are a stripper, an ally, or someone thinking about working in the industry, this submission will give you a solid glimpse into the reality of working as a stripper in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is a confronting read, with a story of my own highlighting the abusive use of fines and the negative impacts they have on strippers overall wellbeing. The submission also offers a glimpse of hope, with the petition itself requesting that strippers have a right to collectively bargain.
We hosted a stripper picnic on Parliament lawns to celebrate this handing over, inviting strippers in attendance to give a speech about their experiences. One stripper spoke powerfully about how, when FUS was first formed, managers laughed us off. But a few months into our movement, their nonchalant attitudes shifted towards anxiety. According to the speech, strip club managers were allegedly telling strippers that if they were caught supporting FUS in any way, they would be fired and blacklisted from the Aotearoa/New Zealand strip club industry entirely. Nothing has confirmed to me that FUS is making an impact more than hearing this speech.
Enough is enough
The fight is far from over. Systematic change does not happen overnight. Slowly but surely, strippers are stepping into their power, and saying enough is enough. We are tired of being exploited by the people who wouldn’t even be able to pay their own bills if we didn’t have the skills for them to profit off. If you are a stripper, please remember this: despite what your managers say, you are NOT disposable. You deserve to feel safe at your place of work. You deserve to be paid on time. You deserve to be paid in full. If the people managing you can’t treat you with the decency you deserve, that is a reflection of their whorephobia and not a reflection of you. Strippers are more than capable of running our own shit. May we come together to #KickUpaFUS!
If you are an Aotearoa based stripper dealing with unfair working conditions, you can contact Fired Up Stilettos: firedupstilettos@gmail.com
Instagram: @19firedupstilettos
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