Dancers in Washington state have been fighting for increased protections at the clubs they work. Last week, they won legislation known as the "Strippers' Bill of Rights."

The campaign’s primary focus for the new law has been on improving dancers’ working conditions especially around expanded safety regulations. Strip clubs in Washington will now be required to hire full-time security guards, add keypad locks to dressing room doors, and conduct sexual harassment training for all employees.

Echoing earlier state legislation passed to protect hotel workers, the new law will also require clubs to install panic buttons anywhere a worker may be alone with a customer. It also takes a meaningful step towards legalizing alcohol sales in strip clubs by doing away with a Liquor and Cannabis Board rule that forbids ​“lewd conduct” from taking place in establishments that serve alcohol.

  •  Chloyster [she/her]   ( @chloyster@beehaw.org ) 
    13•7 months ago

    The alcohol sales part of this is really big. WA was the last state in the country afaik that didn’t allow strip clubs to sell alcohol. This rule change could have a huge impact on the money strippers make in a positive way.

    Because clubs couldn’t sell alcohol, they tried to make their money by taking part of the stripper’s tips at the end of each day. Strippers wouldn’t be employed by clubs, but instead would be independent contractors the clubs would use. The strippers used to have to pay a set amount of money at the end of their shift no matter what they made in tips. This could lead to them losing money on the day if it was a bad day. The bill addresses this directly by making it the lesser of 2 options between a set amount or a percentage of their tips. But the alcohol rule could also see this done away with entirely now that alcohol sales will be part of the equation. Although I doubt the tip percentage collection will go away entirely anytime soon, it’s a step in the right direction.

    The lewd conduct part of this is also a big win for the queer community at large, as it changes the rules that was allowing cops to raid queer bars in Seattle for bar tenders having a nipple out.