Strip club moms create sense of family for dancers

[CShine]

Clad only in a pair of bikini bottoms and a lobster-red sunburn, a stripper at Sapphire Gentleman's Club turns to the one person allowed to touch her at work. "Mom, can you put some lotion on my back?" she asks sheepishly.

Marcy Perez, the club's official "house mom," has just the remedy. She uncaps some aloe vera gel and massages it into the dancer's back. "There's somebody that always needs something," says Perez, a cheerful 46-year-old woman who is dwarfed by the dancers in their 8-inch heels.

At a number of strip clubs across the country, house moms do more than just help the performers get ready for the next shift. They listen when the dancers need to vent and console when a customer gets abusive. They are part coach, part guidance counselor and very much a surrogate mother.

"They're good for everything," says Vye, a 26-year-old stripper from Las Vegas. "They're better than a real mom."

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Apr-26-Mon-2004/news/23730611.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. gee

thanks for sharing?