In pole position

A woman carving a successful path for herself in a predominantly male world, few people anticipate her being the manager, let alone the owner, of a lap dancing club.

And anyone who assumes strippers are uneducated airheads may be surprised to learn that Victoria, a former pole dancer herself, is an articulate, intelligent woman with a degree under her belt who is currently training to be a solicitor.

What’s more, she recently became a political lobbyist, speaking in the Houses of Parliament in opposition to proposed legislation which will see lapdancing clubs subjected to the same tough rules as sex shops.

“I have encountered prejudice – people are very quick to judge you when you do something like this,”

says the 31-year-old as we chat in her Southampton centre club.

“Some people think you’re less moral than others or that you’re stupid and uneducated because you’re doing a job that doesn’t involve any particular academic qualification.”

When Victoria first auditioned to be a pole dancer she never thought it would lead to a career in the industry.

She decided to try out for a club in Southampton while she was in her third year of a degree in social sciences at what was then Southampton Institute.

She had worked as a podium dancer in a club before and as she didn’t have any money and thought the hours as a pole-dancer would be convenient she decided to give it a try.

“I never felt uncomfortable about stripping,” she says.

“I did have some unpleasant experiences – men trying to make a grab or being more vocal than they should – but it was always dealt with swiftly and I think it’s par for the course.

“While I’d never justify that behaviour I think in an environment where there’s men and alcohol then occasionally things will not go as planned. I think that says more about society as a whole than any particular facet of it.”

It’s clear that becoming a pole dancer was entirely Victoria’s decision and she feels the word ‘exploited’ is thrown around inappropriately in relation to the stripping industry.

“I’ve never felt exploited,”

she says firmly. “It was a totally conscious decision on my part. I’d suggest that anyone who has the viewpoint that lap dancers are exploited comes and meets some of my girls – they’re certainly not exploited in any way.

“The majority of them are degree students or working elsewhere full-time and I’ve got three or four single mums and it’s their only avenue to earn any cash. I think for many girls it’s purely an economic decision – at this time of the year the money can be outstanding.

“When I started dancing you could make anything from zero to £400 in an evening.”

Victoria gave up dancing after she injured her knee and went into working as door staff before opening up a club of her own.

“I started looking for a managerial role after I graduated because I knew the industry really well, was comfortable within it and felt there was scope for progression.”

Victoria opened Aqua: Lounge, under its previous name Poletrix, four years ago. Her business is successful, but perhaps not as glamorous as you imagine.

She lives in a flat over the premises meaning that early nights are out of the question, as are lie-ins thanks to early morning alcohol deliveries.

Running the club is, Victoria says, extremely hard work.

“It’s more challenging as a woman. This environment is rather patriarchal and a lot of people presume that there’s a man in charge here.

Sometimes it’s harder when the girls have been doing their job for me to establish my authority, if I need to.

“I do think it’s a more positive experience for the girls to work for a woman though. I’ve danced myself and I know that sometimes the girls have issues that they wouldn’t feel comfortable speaking to a guy about. I get a lot of good feedback from my dancers – in fact we had a wedding reception for one of them here recently, which shows how close-knit and community-orientated it is.”

Victoria doesn’t actually employ the dancers who work in her club. They are contractors who pay her for the use of her venue and staff.

Clients pay £10 for a threeminute topless dance or £20 for full nudity. Some may think these figures sound surprisingly low, but Victoria is keen to point out that it is up to them whether they dance nude or topless and adds that they often get generous tips.

She dismisses arguments that clubs such as hers can have a negative impact on society at large and the position of women within it, perpetrating sexism.

“There has yet to be any proven link between stripping and prostitution or rape,” she says.

“They both long predate anything like this and even if the industry was shut down tomorrow you wouldn’t get rid of these problems.”

Victoria has found herself making the case for strip clubs a lot lately, in the face of proposed legislation which may force a number of such venues to close.

She spoke in the Houses of Parliament against the legislation which she believes is aimed purely at raising revenue.

She and her staff are concerned that if the proposed changes are introduced, her business will be threatened.

However, even if it does weather the storm, it is likely that Victoria will at least be taking a step back from running a club hands on as she is currently doing ILEX legal training to become a legal executive and plans to go on to be a solicitor.

“Hopefully within the next year I’ll sell the business or get a manager because I’ve done this for four years and it’s exhausting.”

A change for the better?

CHANGES to the way strip clubs are licensed are set to see them subjected to the same tough rules as sex shops.

Under the current licensing regime (The Licensing Act 2003), the clubs are treated in the same way as cafes or bars, and new applications can be blocked only if they are considered to present a threat to children or public safety.

The Policing and Crime Bill, published last month, would reclassify lap dancing venues as sex establishments, subjecting them to the same rules as sex shops, enabling councillors to turn down applications for clubs deemed “inappropriate” for the area.

The number of lap dancing clubs in Britain is estimated to have doubled to around 300 since the 2003 Act came into effect, causing women’s rights organisations to speak out.

Dr Sasha Rakoff of Object called on the Government to “send out a powerful message that buying a lap dance is not the same as buying a cappuccino.”

The licensing minister has admitted that “the protections and regulations set out in the 2003 [Licensing] Act and elsewhere do not go as far as some people would like”.

Former lap dancer, Nadine Stravonia de Montagnac, arguing in favour of changes to legislation, told a committee of MPs: “A lot of girls enter into it very young and they think they will be stars and that it’s a celebrity lifestyle. The reality is that the majority of times it’s quite humiliating.”