Twelve months of social distancing, and it’s still not over. The strip club industry has been the hardest hit by the Corona lockdowns. Even now that clubs have been allowed to open, there are still hurdles that the industry has to overcome. Melbourne Strip clubs have changed and these changes are likely to last at least year. We can all agree that the return to normal isn’t quite the return to what strip clubs have always been. Some changes are good but some strip clubs might find it hard to enforce protocols and still expect to make the kind of money they made before.
There had never been a time where one would say a place like a strip club is clean squeaky clean, but in these current times, strip clubs are almost as clean as a hospital is likely to be. Strip clubs undergo intense sanitation before they open and after they close. Strip clubs are high contact areas, so sanitisation will take place throughout the night. Instead of just perfume, sweat and stale alcohol hanging in the air, there’ll be more of a disinfectant odour in the air from the constant hand and surface sanitisation and this is a good thing.
Strip clubs will have to provide hand sanitisers for the customers and for the dancers. The “no mask, no entry” sign is everywhere these days and it will be enforced in strip clubs. Strippers are already incorporating masks in their dance routines and clients who are believed about keeping their masks on at all times will be thrown out of the club.
Other things will change too, like lap dances. Customers will not get the same amount of personal touching as they used to. Strippers could try to be as close as possible for their customer’s safety by going as far as putting gloves on. Somehow, the mask and glove thing just doesn’t go with erotica unless it is part of some kind of fantasy.
The safety protocols puts restrictions on the number of people that can be in one area, this means fewer strippers can work in the club than before and fewer customers can be let into a club. There will be occasions or instances where people will have to line up outside these clubs for a chance to get inside as other customers come out. Some clubs are used to this, but others aren’t. A lot of those upmarket gentleman’s clubs that have membership packages will have an easier time as members need to book ahead.
A lot of women who have been making a living and feeding their families by working as strippers will find it harder to make the money used to make before CORONA virus and the lockdown situations. Melbourne has been rather good at minimising the number of people infected with the virus, unfortunately the measures the government has had to take crippled the adult entertainment industry. It will take some time for it to recover and even if the virus vanished completely, ,
No one has had to deal with a pandemic before so, everyone is just playing it by ear. What is apparent is that strippers will no longer create their own schedules but clubs will have to use a shift system. It will be harder for new strippers to get a chance when experienced ones have to fight for spots on some schedule.
Australia, and pretty much most countries in the world are caught in a depression. The economy is struggling, people have lost their jobs, small businesses are on their last leg and there isn’t a lot of money to play around with. However, the strip club industry has seen bad times before and have adapted well in the past. There is a need for some social interaction and strip clubs provide that even with social distancing in place. Not all change is bad. Some clubs may have been forced to close down, some are on their last legs, barely hanging on but like that Destiny’s Child Song, Melbourne strip clubs are “Survivors”.
