"Easy penetration is not prohibited"

The story of a girl who danced in a strip club to write a scientific work

When 23-year-old Anastasia wrote the thesis in psychology in the Higher School of Sciences, she got a strip club for several weeks for her research and worked there under a fictitious name, this is how all the dancers usually do. Anastasia told the "cold" about how the club lives, what its hierarchy rests on and how the person’s beliefs are changing under the influence of the environment. During the study, Anastasia also led a telegram channel in which she shared her impressions and observations with subscribers.

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Record in the telegram channel: “After Privat, the guest dodged and licked the clitoris. Frantically recalled STD, transmitted by oral-genital, pouring a jar of chlorhexidine on itself ... "

Working in the club is not only exciting, but also scary. Strangers, opaque rules. Your control over the situation is limited. You do not always feel safe, and even less often - comfortable. All this affects the mood. In the morning you have euphoria from adrenaline, and in the evening you sob, imagining how your half-naked photos will appear on the network from somewhere.

You feel that your body is interested in guests, and sometimes they demonstrate this interest in rather vulgar forms. Before the striptease, I was a little skeptical by the word “objectivation”. In my usual environment, they are sometimes abused. If one person likes the body of another, then this can already be called objectivation. It seems to me that because of this, the perception of the term in society was distorted. But in the club you begin to feel what it really means.

Work in the field

Record in the telegram channel: “... I will turn back from directive systems, and at the same time they arouse research interest. After school, I decided, if I do not go to the university, I will go to the army or the monastery for a year. ”

From the first year I was drawn to field research. In my telegram channel, I even jokingly called myself a gonzo psychologist.

As a student, I studied how the beliefs of people are changing under the influence of public pressure. Usually, a person has a set of beliefs: what to do normal and what - no, who he is and where is his place in the world. In many ways, these beliefs are associated with the norms of the environment. If a person falls into a new environment and is involved in an activity that conflicts with his old beliefs, he may feel bad.

At the same time, people have a desire to think about themselves well. And if a person finds himself in a situation of contradiction, then he needs to change either activity or beliefs - “reflash” them. For example, to start thinking that he does everything right, and if everyone considers it differently, they are mistaken.

I have developed a theoretical model of how this happens, and for scientific work this model had to be supplemented with data. I needed an interview with people who began to do something that others condemn. And to find the appropriate group of respondents, I decided to work in a strip club.

For social researchers, the work “in the field” is an access to the “natural habitat” of the group that he explores. For example, if a person studies folklore, he goes to the village and speaks with grandmothers. If you are studying the rules of certain groups, you enter one of them.

Such work is associated with risks. Firstly, if you enter some group, whose representatives face difficulties, you have the same difficulties as they have. Secondly, when you go to the field, you do not know in advance how people will react to the presence of the researcher.

"Only one rehearsal"

Record in the telegram channel: “Dancers are hired continuously. They take it without a special casting - they give a questionnaire and immediately invite to training with a choreographer. ”

I was looking for vacancies of dancers on clubs. After one of the responses, I was called for an interview, where they asked several times: “Do you understand what striptease is?” It seemed as if I had to prove that I really want to dance him.

Later, I found out that most often girls who dance striptease initially come according to other vacancies. Some do not even know that they came to work in a strip club. This happens something like this: the girl needs money, she tries to get a job hostess or waitress. The manager explains that these positions are already closed or for them are looking for more experienced employees. Then he says that there is a vacancy of the dancer: “Do you want to go to a rehearsal with a choreographer?” The girl is explained that this is only one rehearsal - just to try, it is not necessary to continue to become a dancer.

Then they ask her: “Will you stay on the opening of the shift? Just see how this work works. ” Then they offer to work out one shift - suddenly you like it? By this time, the girl was already familiar with the choreographer and with other dancers, they are all friendly. The girl sees that for them this work is quite normal. And her attitude is also changing.

Among my respondents were girls who began to dance striptease, although they used to be sure that there would never be anything like this in their life.

"They must pay for you"

Record in the telegram channel: "I freeze, remembering my real name when I meet outside the club."

There is an opinion that only tall girls with perfect parameters and dance training are taken to striptease. In fact, dancers can look different, and it is not necessary to be able to move well to music. Beginners are taught the simplest passages and basic movements. The most difficult thing is not to fall from stripes . After the first shifts, everyone usually walks with broken knees, then gradually get used to it.

For a change, the dancer spends only some time on stage, but the main part of her work is communication with guests. By the way, it turned out that visitors should be called that way. “Clients” cannot be said about them. They explained to me that “customers are with prostitutes”, and striptease is a completely different matter. I wanted to add that psychologists also have clients, but I restrained myself.

In the first shift, other dancers approached to get acquainted, supported. The manager told the new to drink a cocktail so that it was not scary. The first couple of hours I had anxiety, but then I used to communicate with the guests, and it became simpler. I looked at experienced girls and tried to repeat what they did.

The club is primarily a business, and it has an appropriate ideology. Something like "know your price, they must pay for you." Before the shift, managers go on stage and remind the dancers that their main task is to sell, make money. Make the guests buy private dances. To do this, you always need to look attractive. I once made a remark for an unsuccessful pose on the couch: "A woman should sit so that every man wants her."

"Imitation of sex"

Record in the telegram channel: "Communication with pleasant guests is similar to a mini relationship: from the first sympathy to the end with the desire to extend."

Sales occur through communication with guests. The girl approaches the visitor, starts a conversation, and during him offers a private dance from a special “Crazy menu”. Experienced girls know how to classify guests by needs and character, and this helps them to conduct a conversation correctly so that the sale takes place. For example, someone loves attention, and someone wants to boast of friends in how easily he spends money. There are people who cannot refuse the girl, but there are those who are so drunk that they simply do not understand what they are doing and how much they pay for it.

Private dances occur in a specially designated room behind the screen. The girl, completely naked, dances on the knees of the guest. Some managers call this "imitation of sex." In the first shift, it turned out that I was alone with a very drunk person. He did not fully control himself and tried to do with me by petting. I had to remove his hands and explain that what is happening is a show, not sexual contact.

I tried to discuss what happened to the manager, but he said that “light penetration” is not prohibited and that if this happens, then I can’t offer the guest something more interesting than my “dumpling”. He recommended that the visitors during the dance have learned to “switch attention” and hinted that the disgruntled guest is not good.

Many moments taking place in the club - such as this - in my usual environment would be interpreted as Abuez. But there it is customary to treat them calmly. The club sets its coordinate system, and the equanimity of some employees reinforces the equanimity of others. People tend to strive to show conformity. This simplifies adaptation in the environment where they find themselves. And what used to seem impossible, begins to be perceived as normal and even natural.

Authoritative figure

Record in the telegram channel: “I decided not to stand out. The filter speech from academic slang, smile sweetly and accommodating with management. As a result, everyone walks discusses me. It turned out that no one does three privat in the evening on the first shift. ”

Dancers in the club are several dozen, and they are friends with groups that are often opposed to each other. For example, experienced employees usually do not communicate with brand new.

The institution has a rating of dancers, which is built depending on their sales. In the top - those who bring more revenues. They are placed as an example to the rest, they receive bonuses from the club: for example, they are allowed to take less shifts than others, or not to replace and avoid a fine. The rest of the girls cannot do this: if they do not go to work, they must agree with someone about the replacement. Among newcomers, it is customary to condemn the top employees - supposedly they are very proud of themselves and repel guests from less experienced colleagues.

The revenue from Sales from Krezie menu is divided in half with the club. When an employee is dancing a private dance, she should detect time. If the dance does not end in time, the guest must pay for the delay. If the guest refuses to pay and the girl cannot convince him in any way, she must pay the club the full cost of the dance.

There is a noticeable distance between managers and dancers. It is customary to call managers by name and patronymic, but they themselves turn to the girls to "you". It is completely normal for them to scream at the employee or force the dancers to sit for several hours and wait for payment for the shift.

Managers obey, are afraid and respect. I think the point here is not only in fines. Just like that, societies with a pronounced hierarchy are usually arranged: there is an authoritative figure, and there are those who obey it. Once in a certain role, a person begins to win back.

Ransom

Record in the telegram channel: “Three times the guests offered to leave. When asked if many agree to paid sex, a more experienced colleague assured “almost all”. ”

Formally in the club, sex with guests is prohibited. Employees, comparing the institution with competitors, say: “But in such a club there are special rooms for sex. But we are not like that! ” But simultaneously with the ban, there is a practice of “ransom”. The guest can agree with the girl and pay the club a certain amount to free her from the shift. Then they leave - and the club administration does not care before their rest of the night passes.

In fact, this can be regarded as the sale of sex services. The girls themselves do not hide from each other that most often when they are “redeemed”, they go to have sex with guests. But at the same time, the institution relieves itself responsibility for organizing prostitution.

I remember that during one of my first privates, I performed a dance with another girl. The guest was drunk, he clearly liked me. The second girl told him: "Let's leave?" He pointed to me: "Will she go too?" I said no, but the other dancer began to wink at me: "He will go." I felt the pressure: the girl seemed to know that I was giving the wrong answer to the question.

Later, she took me aside and explained: it was necessary to tell the guest that I would go with him so that he continued to spend money. And then refuse at the last moment. I thanked for the explanation, but just in case that evening I did not approach that table anymore.

Other girls told me that if you do not want to leave with the guest, it is worth offering him another dancer instead: do not want to earn money, help others.

"I'm in the house"

Record in the telegram channel: "In a specially designed environment, potentially traumatic events are perceived as the norm."

In words, guests treat girls kindly. A man can often tell the dancer that she is too good for this place. You need to change your mind, quit, find another job. This sees a friendly pressure: a person, as it were, tries to help, but actually reports that you are doing something wrong, unworthy.

There is such a thing - a research position. It is assumed that you are in this position when you conduct a field study. Whatever environment you find yourself, you remember who you are and what you are doing here. Remember your identity, you can set borders. You do not feel like a part of the environment, but watch it. This is an installation that helps you not to break in an unusual environment, not to begin to associate yourself with it. As in childhood, when you can run aside and shout: "I'm in the house."

But this installation can be blurred. The farther I plunged into the study, the more there were moments when I felt: if something goes wrong, I could not counteract this. I can’t get out of the role of a girl who obeys the manager.

Dancers

Record in the telegram channel: “The girl in the top of the Sales Club, able to persistent, did not earn the first one and a half months, because she considered the methods unacceptable. Now the other dancers consider her methods to be unacceptable "

Before asking the club’s employees about the interview, I had to tell about the study in general terms and ask for permission to record. I did not know what their reaction would be. But most often, the girls treated my request surprisingly calmly.

We talked about the attitude to striptease, about how girls tell others about their work, who they see themselves in the future. Some answers were unexpected. For example, many girls said that their self -esteem increased during the work in the club. They began to treat their own body better, and out of work we began to take care of wealthy men more often. Of course, the question remains the question of what it was they meant by self -esteem and whether the answers are socially desirable, but not true.

During the interview, some girls said what they usually did not recognize at colleagues. Among the dancers, it is customary to talk about work with some bravado: what we do is cool. But alone, anxiety and shame for the "sale of the body" are revealed. It so happened that during the same interview, the respondents expressed several beliefs about their work that contradicted each other.

Especially often this was found among new dancers. At first, the girl says that she gets a cool experience, and the people who condemn her simply do not understand anything. And after a few minutes he begins to talk about body trade.

But in general, most respondents evaluated their experience more positively. They said that they are engaged in art and bring people pleasure. It was noted that they have money - unlike friends “from a past life”, to a strip.

Some with the advent of this work had to change the circle of communication: mainly due to the night schedule. At the same time, most girls claimed that they calmly tell friends about their work, and they often hide her from their parents.

Interestingly, many with the advent of striptease have changed the idea of ​​how their life can develop in the future. Some of the girls said that he wanted to continue to make a career in this area: to work in different clubs, to improve dance skills, to “tour” the country. Although before they did not even think about such a future. It can be assumed that some have beliefs like: "I am here because I am so self -exposed."

There were those who said that they wanted to leave the club. What is bad and difficult for them, but they do not know where to find help. Sometimes, when you hear this, it is difficult to remain a neutral observer. Despite the “research position”, you always understand that you interact with real people in the real world, and you begin to empathize with them.

Guards and prisoners

Record in the telegram channel: "Third night is a club ..."

Initially, for my study, I was going to take from 10 to 20 interviews. But, when I talked with ten respondents, I decided to finish the study. On the last shift, I was alarming: I stopped feeling that in which case I could get out of the role and resolve the situation in my favor. I was afraid that the manager would suit me and make a remark - although it would seem, what do I care about the manager? After making sure that I have enough material, I wrote to the management about the termination of cooperation.

Many people know about the Stanford experiment: a group of students gathered in the same territory, one said that they were overseers, and the other gave the role of prisoners. Чем дальше, тем больше групповая динамика начинала имитировать реальную среду. Изначально все участники помнили, что они лишь играют роли, но постепенно между «охранниками» и «заключенными» возрастала дистанция. К этому эксперименту есть этические вопросы , тем не менее он иллюстрирует, как может теряться агентность. Думаю, я ощущала что-то похожее.

Когда я сообщила об увольнении, я увидела, как в клубе работает «система удержания». Со мной по очереди беседовали несколько менеджеров. Сначала мне говорили: «Солнышко, не уходи, мы со всем справимся, мы одна семья». Позже тон резко поменялся. Мне писали, что я должна доработать еще несколько смен (чего не было в договоре), и, если я уйду просто так, это будет «на моей совести». Что ко мне «относились по-человечески» и предоставили «все привилегии», а теперь я их подвожу.

Было ощущение, что они не сами придумали эти фразы: я думаю, у них есть что-то вроде скриптов. Интересно, что, несмотря на клишированность, эти слова работают — наблюдая за собственной реакцией, я отмечала чувство вины.

Когда все закончилось, я ощутила усталость и отчасти облегчение. Дальше мне предстояла работа по обработке собранного материала. Не могу сказать, что опыт работы в клубе сильно повлиял на меня: я заранее оценила риски и определила, в какой момент я выйду. Но все-таки любой опыт сказывается на нас так или иначе.

Мне хотелось бы, чтобы молодые исследователи, планируя подобную работу, заранее убеждались, что у них есть четкий план и поддержка близких. Стоит помнить: каким бы классным и уверенным ты ни казался себе в «обычной» жизни, при погружении в другой контекст все может измениться. Мы часто недооцениваем, как сильно на нас влияет среда.