Feature entertainer Madelaine Horn shares how cultivating your club’s clientele and enforcing zero-tolerance policies improves dancer safety.
(Note: This article was written by Madelaine Horn and appears in the January issue of ED Magazine.)
Several topics repeatedly come up in backstage banter among dancers, and safety is often one of them. True safety is proactive. It’s not enough to rely on security cameras or walk in pairs to our cars. True safety demands more than just anticipating what might happen outside of the club.
We’re no longer in an era where a patron can slap a dancer’s ass during a “harmless” interaction, and it can be shrugged off. We know better, and we have to do better. Too often, dancers feel disrespected, taken advantage of or pushed past their boundaries and the limits of consent. That is what breeds trauma and deep distrust in this industry.
Many entertainers enter this industry when they’re young, before they have solid boundaries or the confidence to enforce them. Often, it’s the job itself that teaches us where our limits are after they’re crossed. These moments get etched into the mind, shaping unhealthy or, at times, seemingly irrational safeguarding habits. Other times, we swallow the incident because we don’t have the emotional bandwidth to process it in the moment. Eventually, someone snaps at a customer, not because they’re “dramatic,” but because it was simply the last straw.
“We’re living in a cultural moment where society is better educated about consent, gender and sex work.”
— Madelaine Horn
So, how can clubs interrupt a cycle that has been normalized across sex work for decades? A major solution lies in cultivating a club’s clientele. Good behavior becomes the norm when there’s zero tolerance for disrespect toward staff, especially toward those who are most vulnerable. When patrons get away with disrespecting dancers, it signals that this is their space to do whatever they please, and it attracts more people like them. Meanwhile, well-behaved customers, the ones who want a fun, ethical environment, walk away feeling like the old stereotypes about strip clubs are true and are less likely to return.
We’re living in a cultural moment where society is better educated about consent, gender and sex work. You can already see the side effects. While the clientele clubs have cultivated for decades are aging out, a new generation of progressive, feminist-leaning men—those in tech, law and entertainment with money and manners—often aren’t sure whether going to the club is ethical. They’re exactly the demographic the industry wants in clubs, yet they’re hesitant.
Meanwhile, the man who has been coming to the club for over three decades still tips the same amount he did 30 years ago, bristles at dancers for not fawning over his five dollars and is somehow treated like his two tap beers a night are essential to the survival of the business. Every club has these men. I’m not saying to kick out every grumpy regular who tips two bucks. If they keep to themselves, fine. But if they grab a dancer? They should be thrown out the door immediately.
And if a dancer says a man needs to go, that should be enough. Entertainers are not in the habit of chasing away paying customers. So, why don’t we always speak up? Because we know what comes next.
We’re asked, “Well, what did he do?” which requires us to justify our trauma immediately after an incident, only for someone else to decide whether or not our response is “valid enough” to remove a customer. This needs to end. If a dancer is uncomfortable, that is enough to ask a guest to leave. It’s rarely a financial loss to prioritize your entertainers’ well-being by enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for disrespect, creepiness or even just a bad vibe.
Dancers are on the front lines. We can often tell when someone is a problem before there’s an issue. I’ve seen far too many men receive a warning, only to be kicked out later for an assault that could have been prevented with a zero-tolerance policy.
Empowering dancers empowers your business. When people feel valued, respected and protected, they’re happier at work and they perform better. They talk about how good the club is. They stay longer. And collectively, there’s less trauma circulating through an already vulnerable industry. And if minimizing that trauma isn’t a priority for you, I have questions.
Madelaine Horn is a Canadian feature dancer, burlesque performer, professional dominatrix and writer with over 20 years of experience in the adult industry.
