Stripped down: one Newcastle student earned £1,200 in a night at a gentleman’s club. Photograph: Copyright acknowledged.
Two in ten female students in Newcastle would strip to fund their studies. The poll of over 100 people also showed that five in ten would pose in their underwear for money.
The poll also showed that Newcastle students can earn more than £1,000 a night in strip clubs across the city.
A second year Newcastle student studying International Business Management said she only became a stripper at Pussy Galores because her financial situation was so dire.
“It’s the easiest and fastest way to make money”, she said. “I was really struggling with money. I received no financial help from home and had to pay my own rent and living costs with my student loan.
“For a private dance, lasting between three or four minutes I get paid £10 to be topless or £20 to be nude.
“Alternatively clients can enjoy ‘sit-downs’, which are private dances lasting periods of half an hour, which cost £90.
“I have made £1,200 in one night before,” said the student, who wished to remain anonymous.
“Although I see this job as a stop-gap, I do enjoy it. I like the power trip of taking a guy’s hard earned cash for not much effort.
“My father doesn’t know know what I get up to; he would be disappointed to say the least: to him I will always be his little princess. I don’t intend to carry on once I have found a decent graduate job.”
Another Newcastle student studying business, said: “I learnt to pole dance for a year and met lots of girls who were strippers. I thought it seemed like a good idea.
“The club I now work in is very safe, with open booths and doormen who patrol and keep a good eye on us. Depending on the night I can earn between £100 and £800.
“I tell most people about my job. My parents know I dance but since the club has gone fully nude I haven’t mentioned it. I started when it was a topless bar and I have been there for a year and half now.”
Pete Mercer, Newcastle Student Support Officer, said: “I wouldn’t encourage students to undertake that type of work, not necessarily because I disagree with it but purely because I suspect girls who enter into this area of work often end up in dangerous situations that can lead to activities that are detrimental to their health.”
A national poll of more than 1,000 female university students, found that two per cent of students have worked in a gentleman’s club while at university; with almost half saying they took the job because it was “easy money”.
The students’ union Student Advice Centre (SAC) said they had never been approached by a student who has stripped to fund their university studies but in the eventuality, said they would look into the reasons behind their activity.
A spokesperson for the SAC said: “We would treat every case differently as some people work in gentleman’s clubs because they enjoy it and some because they are desperate.
“If the student is desperate for money then we would hope to be able to offer alternative ways to finance their degree programme without having to resort to stripping.”
(This story was first published in The Courier, the Newcastle University student newspaper, on 4 May 2010.)