During a pole dance competition in Spain, a group was awarded the gold medal for a performance in which they strangled and mimed the murder of a stripper on stage.
In their speech, they even made a point of distancing themselves: they are not strippers, but “exotic dancers.”
This scene is not insignificant.
It takes place in a context where strippers are already stigmatized, ostracized, and subjected to violence — in the streets, in clubs, and massively online.
And yet, these are precisely the women who created the entire aesthetic that the pole world feeds on today.
Rewarding a staged murder of these women, in a world where feminicides are still not adequately recognized, raises a question: what exactly are we validating?
STRIPPERS CAN’T EVEN SAY THE WORD “STRIPPERS” ONLINE.
They can’t even write their profession on social media without risking being shadowbanned — or worse, deleted — or even openly acknowledge and speak about their work… while pole dance is treated as a hobby people pay for, to play dress-up for a few hours a month.
1. Lack of status = no protection
In many countries (including France), strippers are not clearly recognized as workers.
👉 Result:
- no stable contracts
- no regular bookings
- no unemployment benefits
- no adequate social protection
- no retirement
You work → you earn.
You don’t → you get nothing.
2. Dependence
This is an extremely in-person, immediate-income job.
👉 If:
- you’re sick
- you have painful periods
- you’re dealing with personal issues
- you’re simply exhausted
➡️ you lose your income immediately
No paid leave. No safety net.
Like the case of dancer Genea, which went viral in the U.S., after she fell head-first from a 5-meter pole — breaking her teeth and jaw — and had to start a fundraiser.
3. Vulnerability
Clubs and their managers often hold significant control:
- house fees to work (yes, you pay to work)
- high commissions
- arbitrary rules
- pressure to sell more or go further
👉 If you refuse → you can be blacklisted, and clubs rely on that power.
4. Stigma
One of the most violent aspects.
👉 Concrete consequences:
- difficulty renting housing
- difficulty accessing banking / credit
- family or social rejection
- isolation
➡️ fewer opportunities to escape precarity
5. Violence and insecurity
- aggressive clients
- harassment
- sexual pressure
- sometimes physical violence
👉 And often:
- no real recourse
- fear of reporting
- testimonies dismissed
6. Instability
Unstable income.
One night you can make a lot.
The next, nothing.
👉 Depends on:
- season
- city
- competition
- your appearance at the time
- the broader economy
➡️ impossible to predict or secure
7. Aesthetic pressure
The job requires daily investment:
- maintaining your body
- nails, hair, makeup
- outfits, heels (Pleaser, etc.)
- beauty care
👉 All at your own expense
➡️ you must invest to stay “bankable”
8. Long-term reality
Even if it’s not always true in reality, the system operates as if:
👉 “you need to make money fast”
➡️ pressure + lack of long-term vision
➡️ little to no support for career transition
9. Appropriation
This is the core issue.
👉 The pole world:
- takes the aesthetic (heels, money, tricks, outfits, attitudes, gestures)
- monetizes it (competitions, studios, films, music videos, photoshoots)
- makes it “acceptable”
BUT:
- excludes strippers
- stigmatizes them
- distances itself
- does not redistribute value
- stages their erasure — even their death
➡️ those who created it remain precarious
10. Censorship
Even online:
- shadowbanning
- content removal
- account deletion
👉 making it harder to:
- build an audience
- diversify income
Strippers face it all:
lack of status, unstable income, social stigma, violence, high costs, and exclusion from the very spaces that profit from their culture.
This precarity is not accidental — it is structural.
We are talking about women who are already broadly marginalized.
Just read any comment online to see that many men — and also women — call for violence against them.
And yet, these are the same women who created and built the entire aesthetic you benefit from, and that the pole world feeds on.
Killing these women — in a context of feminicides, whorephobia, and transphobia — is not culture, it is violence.
So this is not only irresponsible, it is deeply hypocritical — especially for a heels competition that relies on those very codes.
And to top it all off: you award it the gold medal.
We need to do better.
