I chose this title because here actually funny but I’m experiencing the feminist side of Iceland. At least in the club. I’ve heard before that the feminist movements are strong here and Iceland has had the first openly lesbian prime minister.
So I’m not surprised when local customers (we have lots of tourists but they don’t ask such questions) ask me if I’m forced to do this job. It seems here in this country even harder to believe that a girl like me choose a job like dancing naked and we have nothing to do with prostitution or human trafficking. Actually in Iceland nudity is not allowed by law inside the club, we don’t have a stage for topless shows and during the private dance, I have to keep all my clothes on. It’s more of a champagne club where you buy champagne for the girls and pay for their time spent with you. But it seems the government brainwashed the people here and in public opinion, every club is a whorehouse. That was the reason why the police investigated our club in the past but found nothing. (I’ve heard that was quite a bad reputation for them and it has been in newspapers that they spent thousands of Euros from the taxpayer’s money buying champagne and private time for the girls just to find single evidence.) But some other clubs have been closed down. Here you can read more about this and the topic is currently still on:
In fact, at work, I’m not forced to do anything or even this is the most relaxed work I’ve ever done since I dance. (I mean from the employer’s side because girls can give me a bit of a hard time.) But basically, I can do whatever I want. I worked in clubs before where I went to the changing room to eat 1(!) biscuit and the manager followed me screaming that “what the hell are you doing here? Get back to work!” Can you imagine when you work with champagne and you need to drink, they make such a big deal about it just because you’re hungry?! Obviously, I will never go back to that club. Here I’m allowed to eat whenever I’m hungry or I can leave the club to buy some food and I can just go behind the bar to make my own drinks. Even Red Bull for free! In other clubs almost impossible to have Red Bull for the dancers because it’s sooooo expensive (?) Here we have coffees, fruits and I can take anything I need. I’m saying that because I find it funny that in the country where almost every people think I’m a slave of the club, I experience the best treatment since I work as a dancer. No one telling me “go to the customer” or “get your ass up from the chair” Nobody checking me up to where I go or what I do in my spare time, and we have a driver to take us to work and go home after work for our own safety. They even take us out for dinner sometimes. So it’s really not the kind of treatment or work environment that people think we get from our boss. This explains why girls stay here longer even in quiet times when the money is not so great. And I’m smiling when I talk to someone who thinks I’m forced to be here. I almost can picture they think we all locked in the basement and forced to go to work.
I just wish more Icelanders would read this post, and maybe it could change their minds.