Flexible Workers by Teela Sanders Kate Hardy

Author:Teela Sanders, Kate Hardy [Teela Sanders, Kate Hardy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology
ISBN: 9781317755333
Google: lA5gAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-04-16T04:58:36+00:00

Professionals, pragmatists and avocationalists

Professionals

Dancers who considered themselves professionals liked their jobs, took pride in them and had a strong identification with the stripping industry. Many of these dancers worked in strip pubs, rather than clubs, where they thought an element of striptease still prevailed, in contrast to the ‘hustling’ work of gentlemen’s clubs (see Chapter 6). They were well networked with other dancers and were often members of pressure groups or involved in activism around dancing. They saw dancing as highly skilled and if they did work in other areas, they tended to be related to dancing, such as teaching pole fitness. These women saw a career in dancing and had an attachment to its occupational identity. Faith, who had been a journalist for a well-known magazine, said that she had made the transition to dancing because she:

fantasised about it as a long term thing, but didn’t dare dream that it actually would be … I sort of did everything properly from the start, started with the Inland Revenue you know, declared myself self employed … which suggests that I did think it was a long term thing.

(Faith, 34, white British)

Sarah and others were angry at the way in which they thought the industry had been undermined and deskilled and wanted more professionalism in the job in order to raise declining standards:

Those of us who aren’t doing our jobs properly should be sacked, you know? They’d sack a member of the bar staff if they were not doing their job properly. We need to work together, professionally as a team.

(Sarah, 34, white British)

This group of dancers often had more concerns for the future of the industry, the consequences of the law reform (see Chapter 3) and were more open to activism to make changes within the industry. Although, as previously outlined, it was rare for dancers – except in strip pubs – to make money from dancing on the pole, pole work was important to many dancers’ enjoyment of their work:

I really enjoy pole dancing. I love it. It’s really good fun. It just looks so good and you know, it’s a buzz when people are like ‘you’re a really good dancer’ and you’re like ‘thanks!’

(Anna, 27, white British)

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