Bodog Beat

Check out some of Vegas' local talent. (Bodog Beat Image)

If you tell someone that you live in Las Vegas as a young professional woman, you inevitably fend off raised eyebrows and stern looks. "Well as long as you aren't one of them 'ee-rotic' dancers," my grandfather chuckled when I described my new cosmopolitan residence. The notion that every attractive woman in Las Vegas is a stripper, or at least a topless waitress, dogs most young women who call Sin City home. But with over 130 "gentlemen's clubs," employing an estimated 10,000 dancers, Vegas is swarming with hot, fit, professional… er, performers.

Known in the business as slingers, grinders, peelers or in sophisticated circles, "ecdysiasts," Las Vegas strippers are among the highest paid in the world. Most women working as "independent contractors" for local strip clubs boast $500 an hour in tips, some nearing $600,000 a year. Financial planners and investment advisors consider exotic dancers among the largest upwardly mobile demographic in Vegas; a stripper in Las Vegas owns her own house, drives a luxury car and invests in more than just costumes and silicone.

Skin City Roots

So how did Las Vegas historically grow into "Skin City"? While constructing the Boulder Dam in the 1930s, liquor-starved workers would flock to Fremont Street every payday for their dose of poker and penny slots. Most would indulge in the Red Light district's many free "lounge acts," featuring burlesque-style dancers in elaborate costumes. As the Ziegfeld girls of Hollywood gained popularity through WWII, larger Las Vegas clubs and Strip resorts incorporated their own "showgirl" numbers between headlining singers. Soon, the dancers were as popular as the main acts and the showgirls moved from lounges to ballroom stages, where lines of can-can girls would erupt into grand finales. Hundreds of statuesque performers in sequins and feathers glittered all over the stages, attracting huge crowds.

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