Stripper Web, an online forum for exotic dancers, webcam models and online sex workers, announced this week that it will be closing on February 1st. This forum houses his over 900,000 posts and discussion threads from workers in the adult entertainment space. A statement that closing the site was a “difficult decision”.
With its pink color scheme and silhouette of a woman standing in front of a spider web, Stripper Web’s interface is reminiscent of early 2000s chat forums.
Popular discussion threads include “Stripping”, “Newbie Boards” (for those new to adult entertainment spaces) and “Club Chat” (where dancers can share their experiences in IRL strips and exotic dance spaces). , and “cam connections”. A thread connecting webcam models and those interested in participating. Stripper Web posts can be viewed with or without creating an account on the site.
According to an interview conducted by the Daily Dot, it’s unclear who originally created Stripper Web.
Stripper Web’s shutdown sparked a debate on Twitter on Monday. Tweet The next day, it went viral from Marla Cruz about the site’s statement.
“The depth of knowledge and advice on this forum is immeasurable!” tweeted Cruz, who describes himself as a stripper and sex worker. She said, “It’s an immense loss of community and culture for dancers, especially new girls looking for solid resources to get started.”
According to Stripper Web’s farewell post, the site has been active for “over 20 years.” In an interview with the Daily Dot, Cruz said he started using the site in late 2017 when he became interested in auditioning to work at the club. When she was first hired the following year, the first place she looked for resources was strippers her web. With no friends in her community of exotic dances at the time, Cruise needed tips and tricks from people who knew the industry.
“I read about how prostitution is common in my club and, more importantly, how to stay safe and maintain personal boundaries in such a harsh environment,” Cruz told The Daily. “Stripper Web’s most important contribution to the sex working community is to keep thousands of us safe, especially when club management has no interest in keeping us safe,” he told Dot. It’s about teaching them how to work.”
Speaking of club chats, Cruise said she was able to “spread the word” about a class action lawsuit affecting the club she worked for.
Other adult entertainers like Kate Alexis have used Stripper Web to seek advice on webcam modeling (also known as camming). Kate, who now works as the creator of OnlyFans and sells her clips of adult videos online, first discovered webcams and was “ignorant” when she joined the stripper’s web in 2011, according to The Daily. he told Dot. Lucky for her, she said her thread on the Camming connection discussion got her up to speed.
“I read all [on that discussion thread] I literally learned everything I needed to know about the various main cam sites,” Kate tells The Daily Dot. “The site was literally worth its weight.”
Kate also served as the site’s moderator, but she said that Stripper Web’s constant activity kept her busy. Ultimately, social media such as Instagram and her OnlyFans As her platforms grew in popularity, her sex online began to grow, as her work began to require self-promotion and a large following online. “I left” the forum, she says.
Efforts to replace or retain Stripper Web have already begun. To archive his threads and blog posts for Stripper Web discussions, Cruz called on the Internet Archive, a non-profit Internet digital library that stores his web pages for the popular service Wayback Machine.
‘Our family is dying,’ says Cruz murmured In a message to the Internet Archive. She also told The Daily Dot that some sex workers are dependent. dancer resourceshas over 133,000 followers on Instagram.
In its closing announcement, Stripper Web suggested that site traffic could be moved to another online forum. amber cutie forum Run by camgirl and OnlyFans creator AmberCutie. Her forums include “General Cam Chat” where webcam models can ask their contemporaries for advice and help, “Ask-A-Model”, various videos of her clips her vendors her site An informal forum and other threads are hosted about.
Other sex workers with a Twitter presence like TajaEthereal (also known as Phatgirldynomite) offer their forums as an alternative to Stripper Web. TajaEthereal’s forum Cammodel Web Contains several archived stripper web threads, such as “Maintaining Emotional/Mental Health for Strippers”.
TajaEthereal told the Daily Dot that he started Cammodel Web four years ago because he felt Stripper Web was “unstable”.
“Right now, my main focus is creating a familiar new home for members of the Stripper Web community,” said TajaEthereal. “We just want to be able to get support in exchange for content.”
She added that she loves Stripper Web and is “proud” of everyone who has contributed to it over the years.
Cruz told The Daily Dot that no matter where the sex work community moves in the post-stripper web era, “we have to, so sex workers are resilient in this era.” .
“Community knowledge is always needed,” Cruz said of the community. “And there will always be sex workers creating new spaces for themselves.”
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*First published: January 26, 2023 at 6:33 PM CST
Tricia Crimmins
Tricia Crimmins is an IRL Staff Writer for the Daily Dot. She is also a New York-based comedian and adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has previously contributed to Mashable, Complex Networks, and Moment magazine. You can find her on her Twitter @TriciaCrimmins.
