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Camille, 23, student: No.What if your kid did it?
Kate: This is why I don’t have children.
Camille: No, I wouldn’t let my kid do it.What do you think about stripping for education?
Kate: I think it’s a good idea if they stick with it.
Camille: No, stripping is stupid.

I probably wouldn’t have an objection.Do you think this a step in the right direction in terms of accessible education?
It depends, you know? If there’s alcohol, hours that go until four in the morning, things like that. You know, sleazy part of town, that’s when you really have to start questioning it.
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Meg, 18, student: No, not at all, cause like no matter what it is, it’s still stripping so, it’s just not, in my mind, the right way to make money.What if your kid did it?
Meg: I’d be really disappointed in them. I feel like I’d rather have my kid come to me for help than just resort to something like that.So I take it you’re not fans of this program?
Meg: I think it’s a good thing—it’s better than it was before, just stripping for money.
Ayla: It would make more sense if he, like, provided education to the girls who were already strippers, not encouraging people to start doing it for the education. Just for the girls already doing it and people that have to, because then they can get out of it faster.

Mark, 19, student: Well, if it got me somewhere then, yeah, why not?Yeah, all expenses paid education. It’s a sweet deal. How far would you go?
Oscar: Depends on how much I got paid.Well, what about just a full education program, housing accommodation..
Mark: Yeah, fuck it, naked then, why not?What about sexual favors? Blowies?
Mark: No. Oscar: No, unfortunately I’m straight, so that wouldn’t work out too well.So you’d have a “no touching” policy.
Oscar: Yeah, probably.What would your stripper name be?
Mark: That’s a question and a half.
Oscar: That’s toughYeah, it’s a tough one. It probably says a lot about you.
Mark: Well, we’re British, so I suppose we could be, like, “James Bondage”
Oscar: Yeah, we could do that.
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Well, I’m from Montreal, so I get a pretty good education for cheap.Picture this: You’re an international student and its $20,000 a year.
Yeah, I’d probably do it.How far would you go? Full on nudity, touching, lap dances?
For a full education, why not?What would your stripper name be?
I don’t even know. (Friend: Use a car name.) Maserati.

Amy: Ok. There is this misconception that stripping is misogynist and you’re taking all of these girls—with a “future”, supposedly—and putting them into this horrible area where they’re dancing against their will. If you hear that someone’s a stripper, the majority of the feedback is going to be “Oh, what a shame, she had so much going for her, she didn’t have to do that”, but a lot of people choose to, and a lot of people who strip are incredibly intelligent and self-sufficient and have made a choice. I think it’s a perfectly legitimate thing to do. You’re not dancing for the male gaze necessarily, but you’ve made the choice for yourself and I think it can be incredibly empowering.Yeah, I feel that. It’s less soul crushing than dishwashing. Dancing’s fun.
Amy: Yeah! There is just such a fear of sex. It encourages the sex industry to be unsafe and silenced and looked at as this negative thing instead of embracing it.
Tess, 19, student: Yeah, and giving those girls an education—that’s actually the most amazing thing I’ve heard about the sex industry. If you’re asking me if I would strip through school—if there was absolutely nothing else I could do, yes, but its not because of the stigma or my pride, I just don’t think I’d be good at it. If I lost those inhibitions, then yeah, it’s not a moral choice against it, I just wouldn’t be good at it for a lot of reasons. And there are all these stories of people like single mother who are struggling and maybe don’t have an education and this is something they can do. And if you do it safely—and it can be safe if you’re in an environment where your boss protects you—then its fine.
Amy: And you feel powerful enough to protect yourself.
Tess: Yeah! Then it’s an empowering job, I think. We have this view of it—I don’t know enough about the industry itself, but there are some areas that are unsafe. It’s a gray area because it’s not open. You can’t research which one is the safest, you don’t know that stuff and that makes it more difficult. And that’s a shame.
Amy: Cause that’s what makes it dangerous.
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Amy: Then they can be advocates for it, too. As it is right now, it becomes an environment for sketchy people to operate.
Tess: Because it’s not regulated enough.How far would you go as a stripper?
Amy: I’d probably stop with dancing.Lap dancing?
Amy: I think I would give lap dances, as long as I don’t have to be in the vicinity of one single person. I can’t fake sincerity. It would just make me sad, more than uncomfortable.
Tess: Yeah, I would stick to like dancing on the pole. I’ve seen those competitions, they are beautiful. Seriously, they are graceful. If I could do that, I would.

Anne, 19, bartender: That’s my opinion, but she phrased it better.Would you be OK with your kid doing it?
Jessica: I don’t plan on having children.So you guys don’t sound like you’re against this program, you just wouldn’t do it yourself.
Jessica: I could see where there might be a question of morality to it, but it’s a choice, it’s not an obligation.
Anne: Morality is really a question of what you are comfortable with doing. I really don’t believe in judging others for what they’re comfortable doing, so if it works for you, why not?
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Amelie, 22, student: Probably not, no.There would be no situation in which free books, a free degree, free housing would be too good to pass up?
They shake their heads
Friend: Well, cause you guys have money.Alright, you’ve lost it all. You’re poor now.
Aisha, 22, student: It’s just stripping and nothing else, right?Yeah, you just gotta show some skin.
Aisha: I’d do it. He’s paying for everything!! As long as there’s no touching.What would your stripper name be?
Aisha: I don’t know.You could keep it classy—be “Ms. Education” and come out reading Foucault in lingerie. Keep your integrity.
Christine: I wouldn’t want to do it, it could be damaging in the future if it ever came out that you stripped your way through college.What if, all of a sudden, this started to become really accepted by the rest of society? All the business professionals are down with stripping on your resume.
Aisha: Just because I strip doesn’t mean I’m a bad person!
Christine: I don’t think I would be comfortable with my body to strip in front of people.
Amelie: That would be my answer.

If you’re getting the education you want and you’re not being pressured to do things you don’t want to do, go for it! You can make so much more money doing it this way, actually.Hell yeah.
Yeah, and people are going to strip anyway, right? People will strip for money regardless and a lot will do it to get through school—it’s a more direct way of paying for school and it ensures that you’ll make enough to get through school. Stripping is an age-old profession and people are going to participate whether this program is offered or not. Stripping is fun.What would your stripper name be?
Laquisha Lady Legs.I’d buy that. What if your kid wanted to strip?
I’d say: “Not until you’re 16.”