I spent Friday night with 2 strippers...at a Pampered Chef party! Not exactly my normal audience.
They walked in like everyone else, but I could tell they were a little rougher than most. After introducing themselves someone started talking and asked them where they worked. They said the name of the club where they worked (I had never heard of it before) and someone asked them if they were cocktail waitresses or bartenders. They both started laughing and said, "We're booty shakers!"
Being naive I assumed they were dancers at a night club. As the night progressed and as they began to drink more and more alcohol, I got the full picture. They were strippers and the club where they work is a strip club, not a night club!
They were very vocal, sharing stories about their jobs, co-workers and clients. Here's some things I learned:
1. Their average client is in his 30's, married with 2 kids. He's usually in town for business.
2. They have to pay the club to strip, instead of the club paying them to strip. The only money they get is directly from the client. Sometimes they don't break even at the end of the night.
3. The majority of strippers that they work with are single moms.
4. Many of the strippers have pimps that they pay at the end of the night. If you don't make your "quota" you get beat up or forced to work until you make it. If you have a bad night you could end up dancing 15+ hours in a row!
5. There are different "levels" of strippers based on how far they'll go with a client. The two girls I met have zero tolerance for touching. It was interesting how they looked down on the other strippers who go further; being judgmental and derogatory. They also mentioned that a lot of the girls are on drugs, again, talking negatively about them.
6. The girls I met are drunk pretty much every night at work. One of the girls talked about a time when she wasn't drunk and how miserable it was.
One of the saddest things was hearing how they are judged and looked down on by so many people. They try not to tell people what their jobs are for fear of being judged. One of the girls hasn't told her family what she does "and never will."
As I listened to them I was filled with compassion. My heart broke for them. The sad thing is that I'm in the minority, especially among Christians. Although I was startled by some of the information they shared, and definitely not a proponent of their lifestyle, I still loved them as God's children. I want to help them. I want them to see that the way they're living isn't really living. Life can be better for them, and I'd like to show them how.
When Jesus meets women of "ill-repute" he always treats them with dignity and respect. He loves them despite their sin.
So how do you measure up compared to Jesus? Do you find yourself judging people who are different than you? Do you avoid conversations with those people? What about people who are living a life in contradiction to your own?
These are hard questions and ones that I repeatedly have to ask myself. Take some time and have a heart-to-heart with God. You never know when you'll be put in a situation like mine.
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