Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT Strips 4336-4340 (25th-29th, August 2020)

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Beast_Reborn:

--- Quote from: Mordhaus on 27 Aug 2020, 23:04 ---As someone who used to work in a club many years ago, I can tell you that most of the women worked there because they chose to. There were a couple that I knew that worked because of a bad situation, but even they changed after a while of working.

The inherent truth of a club is that it is a con game. Even the strippers who don't initially run the game eventually reach a point of doing so because it is economically viable in an extreme sense. The men, gullible mooks that they are, are paying for a fantasy. The women are milking that fantasy as closely as they can without violating the law, raking over a bundle of cash. I've worked at places with house fees and without, but it is typical for a woman who knows how to run the con well to bring home 1k-2k a night in cold hard cash. A lot of them cheat on their taxes as well. Three to four nights a week, or more. One woman I worked with told me she had made well over a 100k the previous year (1993).

Those are the numbers if they are just running the game. If they take it farther and set up dates with clients or allow clients to do things in the rooms, they can easily make more. If they are travelling headliners, it's even more money. That is why a lot of porn stars do strip clubs in their down time, they make more money travelling the clubs than they do per movie, even the 'stars'.

Is there a dark side? Yes, there are always a small number of women who had mental or substance issues. The thing is, they don't last long because they can't run the con well. Or they try to and get caught by the law.

I have been out of the game for a very long time, but if you had walked into a club back in the 90's and tried to reason with one of the strippers, they would have laughed you out of the place. To them it's a way to control men and get paid. I was even conned by them initially. I had been working at Arby's when I was 18 and a pair of women came in around 2 AM (LSS, it was an Arby's in a 24 hour truck stop). They persuaded the night supervisor to give them free food if they flashed their tits. I managed to get one of their numbers and she led me down the path of working in the club she was in. Then when she found someone with a better cash flow, I was history. Strippers are mercenary to the core.

--- End quote ---
Thanks for this perspective. It seems to address some concerns while raising others. It does seem to confirm my feeling that getting anywhere near this business, in any capacity, isn't a great idea.

May obviously feels differently. The strippers might just be an ephemeral punchline, but if not, I don't see how this could turn out well. She's covering up her insecurity with a display of vulgarity and bravado. I sympathize with the desire to do this - I don't feel entirely comfortable in an upscale fashion mall either (but really, the "fancy-assness" of this store is probably mostly in her head - lots of AIs have bodies, not just the 1%). However, this tactic is likely to further alienate her from the broader community that she's still trying to reintegrate into. She needs to realize that she belongs in this store as much as anyone else. I'm surprised that Roko is going along with this, even reluctantly.

Farideh:
Roko probably saw this option as the lesser of two evils: either 'allow' the strippers, or have May dig her heels in even further.

Mordhaus:

--- Quote from: Gyrre on 27 Aug 2020, 21:02 ---
--- Quote from: Mordhaus on 27 Aug 2020, 23:04 ---
--- Quote from: Gyrre on 27 Aug 2020, 04:10 ---
--- Quote from: Beast_Reborn on 26 Aug 2020, 18:54 ---All forms of sexual labor, including stripping, are ethically risky under capitalism, or any regime where the possibility exists that someone might be driven to such labor solely because it's the only way they can survive. What's important isn't whether money changes hands, but whether the person is genuinely free and consenting. "This is the only way I can stave off starvation and/or homelessness" does not count as consent for this purpose. In principle, the gender of the strippers doesn't matter, though in practice, the majority of sex workers are women, so it's a feminist issue.

--- End quote ---

The few strip clubs I've been dragged to are literally the most depressing places I've ever been to. This statement includes 11 family funerals including those of four grandparents.

I'd wager the 'I'm doing this so I don't starve' combined with the creepy leering old dudes and the broke-ass losers "tryin' ta get with" the strippers are the reason for that deressing atmosphere.

--- End quote ---

As someone who used to work in a club many years ago, I can tell you that most of the women worked there because they chose to. There were a couple that I knew that worked because of a bad situation, but even they changed after a while of working.

The inherent truth of a club is that it is a con game. Even the strippers who don't initially run the game eventually reach a point of doing so because it is economically viable in an extreme sense. The men, gullible mooks that they are, are paying for a fantasy. The women are milking that fantasy as closely as they can without violating the law, raking over a bundle of cash. I've worked at places with house fees and without, but it is typical for a woman who knows how to run the con well to bring home 1k-2k a night in cold hard cash. A lot of them cheat on their taxes as well. Three to four nights a week, or more. One woman I worked with told me she had made well over a 100k the previous year (1993).

Those are the numbers if they are just running the game. If they take it farther and set up dates with clients or allow clients to do things in the rooms, they can easily make more. If they are travelling headliners, it's even more money. That is why a lot of porn stars do strip clubs in their down time, they make more money travelling the clubs than they do per movie, even the 'stars'.

Is there a dark side? Yes, there are always a small number of women who had mental or substance issues. The thing is, they don't last long because they can't run the con well. Or they try to and get caught by the law.

I have been out of the game for a very long time, but if you had walked into a club back in the 90's and tried to reason with one of the strippers, they would have laughed you out of the place. To them it's a way to control men and get paid. I was even conned by them initially. I had been working at Arby's when I was 18 and a pair of women came in around 2 AM (LSS, it was an Arby's in a 24 hour truck stop). They persuaded the night supervisor to give them free food if they flashed their tits. I managed to get one of their numbers and she led me down the path of working in the club she was in. Then when she found someone with a better cash flow, I was history. Strippers are mercenary to the core.

--- End quote ---

That amount is strictly contingent on one of the key cornerstones of good business; location location location.
I'd imagine strippers in a dive(?) strip clubon the 'bad side of the tracks' in OKC  are taking home less than a stripper from a high-endclub in OKC. And both probably aren't taking home as much as strippers from either coast. Literally or comparatively (accounting for cost of living and such).

--- End quote ---

You are most likely correct. I would make an educated guess that even in areas where strippers can't pull that kind of money, they are still very likely to be making much more than the average wage in that locale. I can only speak to what I know based upon the region I was in at the time, although I did work multiple clubs (some good, some bad) before I moved on to a more normal work environment.

Gus_Smedstad:

--- Quote from: Thrillho on 28 Aug 2020, 10:13 ---Chris, I am a little concerned about how much spite you seem to have directed to a fictional AI.

--- End quote ---

I'm not. I'd say it's actually kind of normal.

QC is very much a character-driven strip. While not every character is fleshed out (hello, Melon!), many of them are fairly complex. Many (most?) people on this forum spend a lot of time talking about them and their actions as if they were real people. Disliking a particular character is just the flip side of the affection that forum regulars display toward characters like Bubbles.

Or to put it another way, if you're upset that someone intensely dislikes a character you kind of like, how is that any different? If you feel a character is "just a fictional AI," shouldn't you be largely indifferent?

Fictional characters, in QC or in books, push our buttons because they remind us of people we've met in real life. We are, in a way, talking about the real people whose reflections we see those fictional characters.

Tova:

--- Quote from: Gus_Smedstad on 28 Aug 2020, 22:46 ---QC is very much a character-driven strip. While not every character is fleshed out (hello, Melon!), many of them are fairly complex. Many (most?) people on this forum spend a lot of time talking about them and their actions as if they were real people. Disliking a particular character is just the flip side of the affection that forum regulars display toward characters like Bubbles.

--- End quote ---

It's not a matter of whether someone likes or dislikes any particular character, it's a matter of degree (in either direction).

People come here and express emotions towards QC characters every day. It's only when the level of emotion reaches an unusual level that this attracts specific comment.

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