Yes, you read that correctly; I have been to a strip club. I have some guy friends who aren’t Christians and they wanted to go to the strip club. They asked me to come since the girls tend to gravitate toward groups with other women in them. They then told me they’d pay for me and give me a bunch of ones to throw. I thought about it for a second and decided to go.
Now, me being me, I did research before going to try and figure out what I should act like, what I should wear, when to throw the money, etc. After learning everything and feeling semi-prepared, I was excited to go, but also pretty nervous. I’m a shy little Christian girl, what business did I have going to a strip club?
So, I have no problem with women stripping if they want to. It’s their body and their prerogative. If they feel like that’s their only option, then I’m less okay with it because I feel they should never think they have to. That being said, I’m not necessarily okay with Christians stripping and I wasn’t sure how I felt about myself going and supporting it. Ultimately, I decided to change my mindset about going. I was supporting women, not their actions.
I actually had a lot of fun! I was super awkward at first, but as time went on, I caught on to what I was supposed to do. The only problem was that I wasn’t sure if I should be doing something else. Should I be telling them they don’t have to do this with their lives? Should I be telling them they can be so much more than a stripper? Should I be telling them Jesus loves them? Should I have even come?
After debating the best thing to tell them, I realized something. I shouldn’t be telling them anything like that at all. They’ve already heard it and all it’s going to do is tell them I think I’m better than they are. I opted for a different approach.
“Wow! You’re so pretty!”
“I love your tattoos! Why did you choose a tiger?”
“Those shoes are amazing! I love how they match your glasses!”
“Hey, that’s my name too! Your parents were smart people, haha! ;) ”
They all loved talking to me and were very touched by the fact that I noticed /them/ and not what they were doing. I wasn’t throwing a dollar because they had a nice dance move; I was throwing a dollar because I valued them. I didn’t think I was better than they were. I didn’t think I was worth more than them. I saw a woman, just like me.
I ran into one of the girls in the bathroom and I told her that I loved her hair. I told her she was beautiful and I smiled genuinely. She looked me in the eyes with a sweet smile on her face and said “Thank you! That really means so much to me.”
A friend recently directed me to a website called beautyredefined.org and their mantra is “Women are more than just bodies. See more. Be more.” When I read that, I realized that what I had done was enough. By showing people the message of Jesus instead of telling them the message I can touch them in a way other things might not. I was telling them they were more than an image. They were women just like me and that was more than enough