LW, I have known four strippers in my life and every one of them regrets she did it. The first one was my childhood friend's older sister. She never did drugs before she started stripping, but after she divorced her first husband, left the kids with him and started dancing, she spiraled down a hole of drug addiction, prostitution and homelessness. The second was another friend from childhood. She started stripping and fell further into the drug culture. She also dabbled in prostitution. The third was her friend who was working her way through college. She also spiraled out of control into drugs and alcohol. The last one was my ex-husband's daughter. She's the only one who's still stripping (she's a lot younger than my friends!).

The problem, all these women tell me, is that the money is seductive and the lifestyle is expensive. All the above women spent all the money they earned almost as soon as they earned it. None of them saved any money, and most of them had nothing at the end of their stripping careers. Even the girl who was working her way through college had to stop to recover from the abuse she suffered, returning to college after she quit stripping.

All of those women were solicited for prostitution and most of them dabbled. It's so sneaky, it starts with a customer offering a trip somewhere for an insane amount of money just to accompany him. It gets more and more sticky, and if drugs are involved, you're just fucked (literally!). You say to yourself, "oh, it's just a trip, a dinner, whatever" but the psychological damage creeps in.

All of those women dealt with shame and guilt. They had to lead double lives. They had to learn how to separate their sexuality from their work and from the constant "ick" factor they had to confront everyday. All of them are afraid their potential clients, fellow workers, in-laws, etc. will find out about their past.

One woman's life was completely destroyed. She is a homeless crack addict living on the streets in Alaska.

I'm not trying to tell you not to do this. I'm just giving you some stories of women that I know. I'm not against stripping. Do you know any ex-strippers? Get to know them. Not women who are still stripping, but women who have done what you've done. Some ex-strippers wrote in here. Listen to them, they know what they're talking about. And stay away from drugs. Most of these women used drugs and alcohol to continue stripping. They masked the pain and humiliation they felt with cocaine, crack and alcohol--then they got addicted.

The problem with stripping isn't the nudity or the sexuality of it, it's more the atmosphere and the culture that surrounds strip clubs. They're usually dens of drugs and prostitution. And a lot of money is involved--that always tends to make people get really weird. They're full of lonely, fucked up people, both the clients and the strippers. Is that really the atmosphere you want to be in? Can you handle that kind of soul sucking environment? If you're strong enough to not get sucked into the vortex, you might be ok. But you'll be the only one I know.