Should Extras Be Allowed in The Strip Club?

When stripping stops just being stripping

Photo by Alfonso Scarpa on Unsplash

One of the less openly discussed problems in strip clubs is “extras” — sexual acts in addition to dancing. They are one of those things that I am adamant should not happen in a strip club, but unfortunately they do.

I have avoided writing in depth about it myself for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the more casually it is talked about, the more normalized it starts to sound, and the more customers think of it as naturally available. I also think it drags the occupation further into the mud. For dancers who work hard to keep clear boundaries and treat stripping as performance, sales, and dancing, it cheapens the work. Stripping already carries enough assumptions without adding fuel to the idea that every dancer is for sale if the price is right.

But — extras do happen. Often times of economic instability are a pre-cursor. Times are tough and we are all needing to earn an income and some girls start expanding their boundaries. New dancers can arrive and either don’t understand the rules or don’t care.

If extras are happening in a club, it doesn’t just put the individual dancer at risk, the whole club comes under fire. In America, where prostitution is illegal in most places, once a club starts being treated like a brothel rather than an adult entertainment venue, everybody becomes more vulnerable. Management can get into serious trouble, dancers can get arrested, and (worst case scenario), the club itself can be shut down. That is part of why so many dancers feel so strongly about it. It is not just a private choice being made in a corner with a customer. It can affect everyone working in the building.

There does seem to be a real split between clubs that are tightly run and clubs that are known for turning a blind eye. In good clubs, management watches the floor closely, cameras are everywhere, rules are clear, and if you get caught crossing the line you can be out the door very quickly. These boundaries are structural, they protect the dancers, the club and even the customers (even though some might disagree).

Then there are the other kinds of establishments. The clubs with a reputation and known as “extras-heavy”. These clubs are where management can be paid off into submission and/or turn a blind eye. One dancer I know auditioned at a club where management told her, “We sell dances, but what you do in the VIP rooms is your own business.” The rule existed on paper, but not in practice.

And once that attitude takes hold, things slide pretty quickly. My same dancer friend recounted a double dance where the other girl ended up sucking the client’s penis in the VIP room. That is not stripping anymore. The problem with that kind of setup is that it changes the expectations of everyone who walks through the door. Men stop seeing the club as a place where they are paying for attention, performance and fantasy, and instead see it as a place where illegal sexual services are part of the menu if they push hard enough.

That shift in customer expectation makes life much harder for regular dancers. Once men get used to clubs where extras are available, they bring that entitlement everywhere. They become pushier, grabby, more irritating to deal with, and much less respectful of boundaries. It also raises the risk for dancers who are not doing anything illegal, because now they are dealing with customers who think every “no” is negotiable. If a club gets known as an extras-heavy place, it usually attracts the kind of clientele that a lot of dancers dread: men with less money, worse behavior, and a stronger sense of entitlement.

And then the most ridiculous thing. In some clubs, not doing extras can make you the odd one out. You get called uptight, talked about in whispers, or accused of thinking you are better than everyone else. It is completely insane if you stop and think about it. The dancer who is simply sticking to the legal and professional boundaries of the job ends up being treated like she is the problem.

In those environments, doing extras can become so normalized that not doing them is what feels unusual. That is how warped the culture can get. And honestly, it is crazy that we have come to a point where a woman can be looked down on in a strip club for just wanting to strip, dance, sell dances, and go home.

There is also the money side of it, which dancers argue about constantly. Some girls take the view that if someone is going to do extras, they don’t care- but they should at least charge properly for it. In some clubs, girls are selling sexual services for less than the cost of regular dance time. That drags the whole market down. How are you supposed to sell a $60 dance if someone else is offering a $50 blowjob? It doesn’t just undercut the dancers doing the right thing. It undercuts the dancers doing the “wrong thing” too. How low can you go takes on a new meaning.

Then there is the after-hours question. Some dancers don’t do extras in the club but will meet patrons afterward for private arrangements. Some people think this is a totally separate issue, but of course it is connected. A lot of management wash their hands of it and take the position that you can dance, talk to, and meet customers at the club, but whatever extra-curricular activities happen in your own time are not their business.

That may suit management, but it doesn’t make the issue disappear. If anything, it just moves it somewhere less visible and often less safe. In a criminalized system, a lot of this activity gets pushed off-premises and into private spaces, where there are fewer protections, less accountability, and a much greater chance of things going wrong. The customer is no longer dealing with a dancer in a club environment with cameras, security, other staff and witnesses nearby. A woman is on her own and fending for herself. That changes the power dynamic immediately.

It also creates convenient deniability for clubs. As long as the transaction is not happening on the premises, some venues can pretend they are keeping their hands clean, even when everybody knows exactly what is going on.

In my opinion extras change the culture of a club. They affect pricing, customer behavior, safety, management standards, and the reputation of the dancers working there. And once a club gets known for it, that reputation sticks around. Even dancers who have nothing to do with it end up working under that cloud. Once something becomes too openly associated with the job, it starts being seen as a natural part of the service. And for many dancers, who refuse to do extras, that is a huge problem.

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