Night in the life of a stripper

It is 6:45 p.m. and in a crowded back dressing room of the only

Fort Collins strip club half-naked girls are running around

grabbing curling irons, applying and then reapplying eye shadow,

mascara and blush, while others are slipping into tiny outfits that

are easier to take off then they are to put on. Makeup and hair

products are strewn across the countertops and the excitement of a

new night and the hope of making a lot of new money fills the

air.

For 27-year-old, Vixen, an exotic dancer at the Hunt Club,

taking her clothes off onstage is an experience filled with thrill

and excitement. Vixen has chosen to remain anonymous for personal

reasons. It has been almost three years since she started her

career as a stripper and she has no regrets about a lifestyle that

many people may find undesirable. In fact, she said she is very

content with her way of life.

“When I first started (stripping) I told myself I would probably

only do it for two to three years,” Vixen said. “But right now I am

really happy and even though it will be three years in April I

don’t plan on stopping any time soon.”

When Vixen works the night shift, she arrives at the Hunt Club

at 6 p.m. in an old t-shirt, wind pants and tennis shoes, with no

makeup and her hair tousled.

“We have to be there at 6 but don’t start dancing until 7,”

Vixen said. “I think of it as having an entire hour to just pamper

myself.”

Vixen brings a full bag of makeup and her outfit for the night

with her. On this particular night, she brought her favorite

outfit, which she said is modeled off the same bikini that Maxim

Magazine’s famous nurse, “Dr. Maxim” wears.

“It is a red bikini with white crosses on it and some men think

it is supposed to be a Swiss ski team theme,” Vixen said.

When the clock strikes 7, Vixen is scheduled to start the night

out on center stage. As she prepares for the first of two songs, a

routine that is repeated about eight more times throughout the

night on alternating stages, she vaguely remembers what she felt

like the first time she set foot on the stage.

“Everyone has to dance for auditions and the first time anyone

is up there, you’re always nervous and rigid. Especially compared

to the way I dance now,” Vixen said.

Tonight while she is on stage or even while she is mingling with

the crowd, Vixen said that she finds herself being amused by

strange male behavior.

“It just kills me how easily guys are amused,” Vixen said. “I

mean you would never see so many girls paying to watch guys take

their clothes off without being allowed to touch them or anything.

We’d definitely be shopping instead.”

There is a rule at the club that men need to keep their hands to

themselves.

“There is absolutely no touching allowed,” Vixen said. “Even

when they want to give us money there is no grabbing, we have to

pull out the t-bar (the side strap of panties) and then let it go

to hold the bills.”

When men ignore the rules, they must face the consequences and

the bouncers at the Hunt Club know full well what kind of shocking

events can take place when nearly nude women, booze and men are all

put in the same room.

“We have to break things up when guys break the no touchin’

rule,” said Ron Brough a bouncer for the Hunt Club. “We try to

monitor how much a customer drinks because some men can get touchy

feely and try to get away with things. But for the most part, the

majority of guys are usually gentlemen.”

Many people may look down on Vixen’s profession, claiming that

it is too wild of a job or that is objectifies women. But according

to Vixen, she couldn’t find a better way to make a living.

“I love dressing up. I love the attention. I love the money. I

just love all of it,” Vixen said.

When she is done with her first dance of night, she decides to

socialize with the crowd. Maybe later, after her third or fourth

dance of the night, she’ll decide to go hangout in the dressing

room.

“We have bosses but us girls get to pretty much run our own

show,” Vixen said. “Whether we want to mingle or sit in the back it

is completely up to us.”

Vixen said that she is very strict with even how much personal

information her customers know about her.

“Guys will always ask what my real name is but I never tell,”

Vixen said. “Them not knowing my real name separates me from them.

I just don’t feel comfortable with random strangers knowing my

name.”

Vixen may keep her real name from her customers, but she keeps

her stripper name from her family. Her parent’s have no idea what

she really does for a living.

“The only one in my family who knows is my sister,” Vixen said.

“My parents would kill me if they knew because they would think I

wasted so much time and money on a degree. Plus, I know they would

hear the word strip club and think of the worst-case scenario.”

In her pre-stripping days, Vixen said that although she was a

hopeful and dedicated college student with dreams of finding the

ultimate 9 to 5 career, she was always a party girl at heart.

“I’ve always been a bit of an exhibitionist. I was always the

girl entering the crazy contests,” Vixen said. “I’ve actually won

two bikini bull riding contests and a best butt contest.”

Vixen originally grew up in Wisconsin where she got a bachelor’s

degree in business administration at Wisconsin University. However,

she soon discovered that a career sitting behind a desk was far

from what she truly wanted out of life.

“I moved out to Fort Collins and it had taken me a month when I

finally found a job at an advertising firm and I hated it- hated

it! I hated waking up early, dressing in a cheesy suit and having a

boss breathing down my neck, ” Vixen said.

Surprisingly enough, it was that job that would lead her to

where she is tonight — where there is no suit, no mornings and a

very lenient boss.

“I had to go to the Hunt Club to see if they wanted us to

advertise for them,” Vixen said. “When I went in, I said, ‘Hell

yeah, I’m doin’ this!'”

She immediately applied and quit her old job. Now Vixen has a

lot more free time because she only has to work three to five

shifts a week for seven hours to make good money.

It seems that fate is what led Vixen from a job that most of

society would view as respectable, to a job that her mother would

kill her for.

According to her, this career completely fits her personality.

However, even at a job that fits like a glove, there are bad

nights.

But on this night, things run pretty smoothly and Vixen will

drive away in her new Jeep back to her newly finished home, happy

and content with life, with over a couple hundred dollars her

pocket. Because of this, Vixen is deaf to people who disagree with

her chosen profession.

“I love my job,” Vixen said. “How many people can say that about

their job?”