10 Things I Learned From Working in a Strip Club

This post contains images that are NSFW.

For the last five years, Canadian photographer Carly Hughes-Horvath has taken photos of strippers, shooting on film, up close and personal. “I remember the first time I shot a show,” she reminisces, “they almost kicked me out because I got a little too close with my camera.”

How Hughes-Horvath gained such intimate access is a story in itself. After shooting promotional content at the famous Vancouver strip club, No5 Orange, the manager made an unusual suggestion: Why not try performing? Fulfilling the documentarian’s fantasy of essentially becoming their subject, Hughes-Horvath decided to go all in.

In the years since, she’s straddled both roles, performer and photographer, capturing candid moments that would be off-limits to an outsider. The culmination of this was Fear of Crowds, her debut solo exhibition at Vancouver’s Fingerprints contemporary art gallery.

Neither sensationalized nor sanitized, her work is a portal into the enigmatic realm of the strip club that illustrates the lore and atmosphere of these spaces through radically raw, brutally honest, yet ultimately sensual images.

We caught up with Hughes-Horvath and chatted to her about the ten things she’s learned from both working in and documenting strip culture.

Strippers are Athletes

Hughes-Horvath: The ladies are at Olympic athlete levels of fitness. You’re doing 37 shows a week, and you are there Monday to Sunday—it’s called the long shift. You arrive at noon and you are there until 1AM—and you are not putting on half-ass shows, you’re doing shows.

When I first started it felt like I worked for six months without a real break. And that’s just the physical labor, before we get to the emotional. I was a cheerleader for a long time, so I experienced athleticism in high school, and I can compare it to that. You have to take real care of yourself: No one drinks alcohol anymore—I used to party until 8AM, but I couldn’t do this job with drinking. We all just smoke weed.

Sex Work is Real Work

I’ve worked every job possible: I’ve been a mascot, I went to legal school, I worked at a payday loan company, and obviously, I’m a photographer. But I’m telling you: stripping is the hardest job I’ve ever had. Sex work is real work—this is a real job. So when you say you support sex workers, it’s not just the hot chicks you see on Instagram, the OnlyFans girls, the TikTok girls—that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Shout out to the chicks on the blade, the Black, the trans, the ones most at risk—the ones who have to do this for survival.

You Are Never Alone in a Strip Club

I’ve met some of the best women through this. There is such a variety: chicks doing it for school, chicks with kids, chicks doing it for fun and just figuring it out… The friendships I’ve developed are unreal. We’re making money, working together, and having each other’s backs.

Seriously, if you think you’ve had a bad day, come to a strip club changing room, because someone has had a day ten times worse than yours and they’re ready to talk about it. I also feel like you are never alone in the strip club. You might come alone, but you are not alone when you’re in there. Someone is going to talk to you, or you’re going to talk to somebody.

Fast Money is Addictive

I used to work in an office, and I worked really hard. I made good money and tried really hard and went to school. I was scared to do this because what they say is true: fast money is addictive. The money is so quick and fast. I have to remind myself sometimes that I started this for photos, to buy better cameras, to have more time off, to travel. But because of the money, you get caught up. Money isn’t everything, it doesn’t make me happy.

Stripping is Better Than Drugs

When you’re at the club on a Friday or Saturday night, and that room’s full, and you are commanding that room, naked, and it’s your music bumping, and the lights are going? That feeling is better than any drug I have ever done in my life.

Tricks Aren’t Everything

You don’t need to be the best pole dancer to be a good stripper—tricks aren’t everything. You need personality, you need stripper swag. There are pole fitness girls, and then there are strippers—pole fitness girls don’t got that swag.

When I am on stage and I like one guy and he’s giving me money and we’ve got that eye contact, it’s just me and him in the room. I love it when they have that stoic look on their face and they don’t want to give away that they’re loving it—it’s the best feeling ever. I can compare it to taking a really good fucking photo. There’s adrenaline in both acts.

Shame and Stigma are Alive and Well

I’ve seen shame riddle my friends, and it’s hard to watch, because they are so incredibly intelligent. They are good friends, daughters, sisters, and they are loved. And it’s hard to see them feel shame around what we do.

The stigma is alive and well, although it is changing a little bit. Social media has glamorized sex work, and there’s positives and negatives to that. But I liked Anora; it wasn’t another sad hooker story to me—it was funny, and the end was up to you.

Straight Cis Women are the Worst

This might be controversial, but straight cis women are the worst in the club. When they come in, they think they can molest you, sexually assault you when you’re on the floor, slap your ass—it is so objectifying. Listen, we know men suck—obviously, the men objectify us, work on it! But the women coming into the strip club lately? Uh, stop! We’re here to make money.

Never Underestimate the Daytime

People think the strip club in the daytime is not fun? You’re wrong—the daytime is lit and dark, very dark. It feels so much more personal and honest.

The people that come alone in the day and sit at the bar, they are there for a reason, and there is usually something going on in their life. They have a story to tell, and I’m so nosy. Doing a lap dance during the day is also so much more personal. I remember one afternoon I gave an 80-year-old man a lap dance to “Wild for the Night” by Skrillex, and I remember thinking: ‘This man has no idea how crazy this is right now.’