Debra Kalsbeck: Owner of King of Diamonds

Debra Kalsbeck had me trespassed from King of Diamonds in Minnesota the other day, after she found me filming a wholesome interview on her property. She sent the police to harass me on a Mississippi River bridge. She told them that I had "harassed" staff, when actually I simply sued her club, won, did a till tap and sent her staff a nice letter.

Her facebook name is "Deb Kay."

Debra likes to exploit vulnerable young women who don't know their labor rights. Her club is fully nude, and she coerces vulnerable young women, often intoxicated, to show their genitalia to much older men, even though the women don't want to all of the time, especially when not paid a lot of money.

Deb Kay.jpg

Footwear

I have danced for over eleven years now, and for most of that time, it has been my sole source of income.

I started dancing in the town of Portland, Oregon, where I was attending college. At my first club, I wore a pair of small heels that I bought at a thrift store. They were not stripper shoes. I didn't think it was necessary to wear uncomfortable shoes that are bad for my health, in order to make money. I was correct, because it ended up being a very lucrative job, regardless of my footwear. A few months after becoming a stripper, I auditioned a club called Carnaval. It was owned and operated by a former dancer named Laurie, and it was located in downtown Portland. Laurie didn't make me wear any shoes at all at work, so for the next couple of years, I danced completely barefoot. I continued to earn more money and learn how to hustle. I was sometimes bullied by other dancers, who wanted me to wear stripper shoes. For some reason, many women feel the need to patrol and criticize other women for the things that they choose to wear. These were not conservative women either-- they were mostly liberals.

Every strip club is different in regards to illegal rules they impose on dancers regarding footwear. Some clubs have allowed me to wear ballet flats. Other clubs have required me to wear stripper shoes, even though they misclassify me as an independent contractor. Some clubs go so far as to specify a minimum number of inches that the heel must be.

A club pressuring a dancer to wear a certain type of footwear can be a factor in determining whether she is an independent contractor or an employee, because people who are truly independent contractors would theoretically be able to wear whatever they want on their feet. Employees who are subject to certain rules regarding footwear would theoretically be entitled to workman's compensation if dangerous accidents or knee damage occurred while wearing stripper shoes.

High heels cause significant damage to the skeletal system and joints. It's not just the feet that they disrupt, but everything up to the neck and shoulders. Long term use of high heels can lead to foraminal stenosis, arthritis or slipped discs.

Recently, a sex work activist by the name of Matilda Bickers made a post on her friends' website, Tits and Sass. Matilda wrote:

“although the years have honed it and solidified my personal feeling that hobbyists (non-in person sex workers) have no business being within feet of a pole. If you aren’t going to work fifteen-thirty hours a week in 7” lucite heels... then you have no business using us as a costume.”

Please don't listen to Matilda's bullshit. I am a full time stripper and far from a hobbyist, much like many strippers who resist heels. Most dancers who wear heels don't wear ones that are seven inches. There are dancers who rely on stripping for their sole source of income and have for years, who choose to wear ballet slippers or other sensible shoes without a heel, during work. We do this because it relieves stress on the mind and body, not because we are hobbyists who don't need to make money. We aren't doing this to mock people like Matilda Bickers or wear a “costume.” She is not a part of any elite sect who gets to dictate what a true stripper is.

Matilda Bickers has a history of making sweeping statements regarding who she believes should have a voice in the sex worker community. Every once in a while on her blog, she will make statements regarding how she believes people should dress or look. If you find yourself subject to this kind of rhetoric but still know that you are a sex worker, understand that you are not alone.

Being a labor activist stripper is awesome, and one of the things that has always come up for me is the shoe issue. To my fellow strippers out there who like ballet slippers or otherwise resist unhealthy, body-damaging stripper shoes-- I support you and recognize that you aren't a hobbyist.

Troubles in Madison, Wisconsin

The other day, I auditioned and was hired at a club in Madison, called Visions. Within the first four hours of working, I saw a lot of disgusting looking heavy petting for little to no money. I decided the club wasn't for me, so I got dressed, packed up my things, and attempted to leave. I told the bouncer that I was leaving. He told me that I couldn't leave yet, because I hadn't paid my house fee, tip out, and because I needed manager approval to leave. I reminded him that I was quitting, and attempted to walk out the door to get to my car. Somewhere in my pursuit of getting outside, he put his hands on me, to try to physically prevent me from leaving. He pawed at my purse. I told him not to touch me, and attempted to open my car door. He yelled for a second bouncer to barricade my car door, so he could get a manager. I called 911. In all my years of quitting strip clubs, nothing like this had ever happened before.

While I was on the phone with 911, the manager came out and told the bouncers to let me go. I told the 911 dispatcher what was going on. The dispatcher asked me if I wanted to fill out an assault report. I agreed to do that, and the dispatcher arranged for officers to meet me at the gas station next door.

A few minutes after sitting outside the gas station, two officers approached me. One was named Cary House (I asked for his business card) and a female officer, whose name and business card I didn't catch. I explained to them what happened. The female officer went over to Visions, to talk to the bouncers. While she was gone, Cary House told me that what the bouncer did by restraining me did not count as assault. Cary House proceeded to defend the bouncer's actions, by comparing my not paying or tipping out to stealing a candy bar from the gas station. That was the metaphor he used to describe strippers who do not tip or pay their illegal fees-- stealing candy from the gas station. Cary House attempted to make me agree with him. I was quickly realizing that Cary House was a man of low intellect, even for a cop.

Cary House's female partner returned, to tell me that the bouncer, Ian, denied putting his hands on me. She proceeded to tell me that the strip club could sue me for my fees (totaling $30) if they wanted to. She and Cary House told me that because I signed the contract, I was legally obligated to pay those fees. They compared me to a thief for not doing that. Since I realized I was dealing with two dangerous individuals with low IQs and lethal weapons, I didn't discuss labor law too much with them or my history of suing these types of places.

Since the incident, I've done some research on Cary House. I found that he has been suspended for firing his gun at a house party while his cop wife was drinking and driving that same night. I have found police misconduct complaints filed against him. Since I still don't know the name of his female partner, I can't research her yet.

I filed a complaint against Cary House with the Madison police, but I know that he will probably not experience any negativity for his behavior toward me. I know that police are a murderous gang that can slaughter people like Philando Castile and not get charged with anything. I know that Cary House will continue his life of bullying people and distributing false information about labor law. I know that the Visions bouncer, Ian, will probably continue his life of bullying strippers, physically restraining them for not tipping, and lying about it to cops, who will believe him.

Thoughts on Settling

Older posts on this website reveal a more rigid opinion on lawsuits, one in which I was not in favor of settling. In the past, I have criticized other dancers who have settled. I have since settled, and my opinion has changed. It's a personal decision, particularly in an individual lawsuit where other people in a class action don't need to be considered. I no longer shame others for avoiding the emotional turmoil of a trial, and instead choose to accept an undisclosed amount of cash. Filing a lawsuit against a strip club at all is a courageous thing to do, and each lawsuit is another strike against the system which exploits their workers in the way that strip clubs do. Even with settling, strip clubs are likely to think twice before exploiting future workers to the extremes that they have done in the past.

Shotgun Willie's in Denver

Mike Dunafon is a libertarian who is active in politics. He also owns Shotgun Willie's and as we know, libertarians do not care for labor laws or unions. Luckily, attorney Mari Newman is suing the club. Mike Dunafon exploits vulnerable young women, by not paying them wages and by taking their earned tips away from them.

If you have danced at Shotgun Willie's and want to get the money back that filthy libertarians stole from you, I suggest contacting Mari Newman. Her firm's website is here.

VCG Class Action

I worked at Penthouse in Denver several years ago. While I didn't originally initiate a lawsuit against the VCG corporation which owns Penthouse, I have recently joined a class action against the corporation. Below is an article in a Denver publication about the class action. It's exciting to join it and I encourage all VCG dancers to contact attorney Mari Newman about joining.

Penthouse Denver

 

Deja Vu Minneapolis

While I was still suing Hustler in Las Vegas, I got a job at Deja Vu in Minneapolis, where I encountered many examples of broken labor laws. Three weeks after being hired, my manager informed me that I was not able to work there any longer, because my name was flashing in their computer system, telling them not to enter into a contract with me. Of course, I had to sue them for that and report them to the NLRB.

Questions from A Reader

One of my readers sent me an email that I'd like to respond to publicly, because it contains a lot of questions and curiosities that come up. Jessica writes:

"I was reading over your website because there was a girl at my club in Florida who was talking about a lawsuit like the ones you talk about and it got me curious (I’m a college student) so I started Googling online.

One of my thoughts was, shouldn’t we have the right to choose as individuals if we are independent contractor or employee?

The reason why I ask is, there are some nights where I definitely want to be an employee (when it’s slow), it would be great to have no fees and have an hourly paycheck.

But then there are other nights where I would rather keep all of my money and not have to pay taxes. There have been some nights in Miami where I made 2,000 or more and the idea of paying taxes on all of that scares me!!!

When I lived in LA, my girlfriend and I tried working for 3 days (it was slow) at a club in San Diego that paid hourly paychecks to its dancers. They paid hourly, with overtime if you worked overtime, and then the customer paid the bouncer the dance money like most clubs in Cali. After your first 3 dances, they started splitting the money with you 50/50 and put it as a bonus on your paycheck. I didn’t mind this set-up, but the club was slow so we didn’t stay. Also, it was clear that they could fire you if you didn’t sell enough dances each week, kind of like a quota (understandable).

I was talking with a few of my girlfriends and all of us hate the idea of paying taxes. My question is, how do we get around that if we are employees?

Also, do you like the idea of having a choice to be contractor or employee, or is that a bad idea?

What are your thoughts or ideas?

Just trying to get another perspective. I am thinking maybe of doing a term paper on this next year for my intro law class. If so, I'd like to interview you or get some quotes from you since you have some much experience in this area."

Here is my response to Jessica:

Individuals don't decide the legal definition of an employee versus an independent contractor. There are specific definitions according to the IRS, NLRB and Department of Labor. Even if an individual states that she is an independent contractor, if her employer imposes rules upon her that define her as an employee, she can still sue the club. These laws were made to protect workers from employers exploiting them, employers who lie to them and take their rights away from them. Many strippers are deluded into believing that they are independent contractors, simply because they want to be. However, they still follow schedules, rules and rotations that legally define them as employees. There is something called Title VII that people fought and died for. Title VII protects workers from sexual harassment, racial and sexual orientation discrimination. However, Title VII only protects employees-- not independent contractors. Many other protections apply only to employees. The power that employee status yields should not be ignored.

Everyone pays taxes in a socialist society. Do you like libraries, hospitals, fire departments, clear roads, a future with medicare, the idea of free college tuition, free public schools for children and public drinking fountains? Taxes pay for all of those things in a socialist society. Libertarians are near-sighted and selfish. They believe that a tax-free society where private corporations control everything is a good idea. In reality, this would be catastrophic.

Workers such as bartenders and servers rarely claim everything on taxes that they make in tips. I am not suggesting you do that. I am suggesting that many other workers with jobs that get tips are able to maneuver around paying what they actually owe.

Currently, strip clubs fire dancers for whatever reason they want. For example, I have been fired for not flirting enough with management and bosses, for standing up for what is right, for not shaving my pubic hair and for not wearing ankle breaking heels. Many other dancers are fired for the color of their skin or body shape.

You girlfriends sound like ignorant and selfish libertarians who do not give a fuck about those who are in need of social services. I pay taxes because I care about my fellow human beings who are in need of social services. I also know that I can be audited and accused of tax evasion if I don't pay my taxes, just like your girlfriends can. Donald Trump is an evil misogynist piece of shit who doesn't pay his taxes and the world is sick and scary. Plus, wouldn't you want to have employee status so you can unionize the work force and make more money, as well as protect your fellow workers from employer exploitation?

Why don't you read the rest of my website before asking questions about what I think about some of these things? There are a lot of links and content that could help you understand the legal definition of an employee and how in a strip club, even if you have the delusion that you are an independent contractor, you are an employee. I also suggest reading an interview with filmmaker Hima B that covers some of what you are wondering about. Here is the link: License to Pimp

 

Obstacles with Suing Strip Clubs

One accusation I have encountered in the past two years of suing strip clubs for things like misclassification, illegal theft of tips and sexual harassment, is being called opportunistic by idiots who don't understand how screwed over strippers are. These kinds of people are generally misogynists who don't think it's a big deal that strippers are often harassed and robbed by their employers. They will state that people like me are only using legal resources for their advantage, rather than caring about the well being of peers. Even if that was true-- that I wasn't altruistic and I was only suing strip clubs for myself-- all of my lawsuit claims are true. My money is really being stolen from me and has been stolen from me. I have been harassed by bosses and customers. I have not been paid an hourly wage.

My interests in forcing strip clubs to comply with the law are altruistic though, and this has been no easy journey.

I've written about Bryce Covert's ThinkProgress article before on this website. I've written about how unhappy it made me because it was factually incorrect in so many ways, and because she misrepresented me. One bothersome quote she included in her article was from Angelina Spencer. It says:

“Most of these dancers filing these cases are the same ladies over and over again and many don’t even work in the industry anymore and they don’t bother to ask the current dancers in a club what they might want...If these cases had limits and the lawyers could not reap attorney fees from the owners, they’d never file such cases to begin with.”

Bryce Covert didn't bother to explain that people who have filed multiple suits, such as Hima and myself, have done so because we are educated enough to know that just one lawsuit isn't going to change anything. Bryce Covert's shoddy journalistic skills didn't bother to cover how much work I have done in addition to filing lawsuits. Bryce Covert didn't bother to mention that Hima usually hired non-profit attorneys for her cases, or how untrue the Spencer quote is.

Filing lawsuits against strip clubs will result in being called litigious and vindictive by misogynist scum. It is important to deflect this kind of criticism by being evermore stubborn in one's efforts, and continuing to hold exploitative employers accountable for their actions.

Sean Goettsche Quits King of Diamonds!

I received news from an anonymous tipster that Sean Goettsche quit King of Diamonds after my letter was sent to Jason Scott. Most of the dancers at King of Diamonds are unaware of what was going on, and were told that Sean quit "because of something going on with the club that the girls don't know about."

Sean was one of the managers while I worked there. He testified against me in court. He was a beta male and very emotional. Sean, you just got mixed up with the wrong crowd! If you're reading-- you did the right thing by quitting! I wonder how much money King of Diamonds will spend to train a new manager.

Next I want Sean Goettsche to contact me so I can interview him. I also want Sean to provide statements for future lawsuits against King of Diamonds, to protect dancers far beyond the realm of being a bouncer/manager and to continue to work toward liberation. Sean also needs to stop referring to grown women as "girls." He did that in the workplace and in the court room. Sean Goettsche, I am a woman-- a woman who got all of her money back from King of Diamonds and then inspired you to quit your stable and comfortable job.

Losing in Small Claims, Appealing to District

In downtown Minneapolis's warehouse district there sits an alcohol-free strip club with a crowded fish tank in the lobby, where dancers watch the sad swimmers compete and eat one another all the live long shift. Rib cages of deceased fish decorate the bottom of the tank, while finned cannibals pucker at the flesh. Water leaks from the ceiling of the club when it rains, and drug deals are abound. A man was once stabbed outside of the club during one of my work shifts at Choice Gentlemen's Club, and we were locked inside while police processed the scene.

I worked at Choice Gentlemen's Club between the months of September 2015 to April 2016. In that time, the strip club cheated me out of a little bit over $13,000 in unpaid minimum wage, overtime compensation, cuts of my dance money and illegal house fees. I took Choice to small claims court on Tuesday, September 20th. The pendulum of justice sometimes swings in favor the oppressed, and sometimes in favor of the oppressor. This was the first suit that I have ever lost.

During the time before the judge enters the courtroom and the parties are to exchange documents or information about what they plan to present, the owner of Choice chose to berate me on my dress that he thought inappropriate for court, the way that I smelled and his delusions about whether or not I pay my taxes. He accused me of being a sex trafficking victim with a pimp behind all of my lawsuits, and then he attempted to touch my knee. This was particularly triggering, as he has touched my legs in the past and caused me to report him to the EEOC for sexual harassment. When he did this on our court date, I ran back into the court room to notify the clerk that he was not showing me any of the documents that he planned to present. She, an older woman, told me I needed to behave like an adult, go back out there and exchange the documents. She ignored what I described to her, so I just went back out there. Thomas Hoskamer, the proprietor of Choice, continued to berate me and show me a few of the documents. I returned to the court room to notify the clerk that he was not fully cooperating. She told me to behave like an adult and if I can't do that, then the referee will deal with it. I said, “Fine,” and sat on the benches. The clerk proceeded to stare me down for the overwhelming majority of time that I sat on the bench. She wrote something down on a piece of paper that she later showed to the referee before he called my name to be sworn in and testify.

When I announced what I do for a living, the referee began snickering at me. I heard gasps from the audience of other small claimants, and the clerk's glare burned through me. I cried during my testimony as I described my allegiance to past labor struggles. I was shaking in fear, because the referee, Perry Smith, spent most of my testimony smirking and chuckling at me. He rolled his eyes and flippantly said I could play “some” of my recordings when I told him that I recorded my managers breaking labor laws. He told me to stop talking and would not let me finish my testimony. He would not look at the examples of past strip club lawsuits, nor would he examine any of the many pieces of evidence that I brought in. When it was Tom Hoskamer's turn to testify, referee Perry Smith bro'ed it up with him, as well as manager Edward “Eddie” Lane. Tom's defense centered around his theory that I am a sex trafficking victim, that somebody put me up to these lawsuits, and that he was sued in the past for sexual harassment by two pregnant trafficking victims on drugs. He suggested that I was in a similar situation. He gave referee Perry Smith his Eagle Scout promise. Perry Smith gave me two minutes for a rebuttal, wherein I tried to explain what kind of a person I am.

I lost the case. I didn't lose because I didn't have enough evidence; misogynist bigot Perry Smith just didn't examine my evidence. I didn't lose because I didn't have audio recorded evidence; misogynist bigot Perry Smith didn't allow me enough time to set up my equipment. I didn't lose because I didn't testify truthfully; misogynist bigot Perry Smith mocked me so much that I began crying during my testimony. I reported misogynist bigot Perry Smith's conduct to the authorities, in hopes that he will no longer be allowed to referee small claims cases. I reported the misconduct of his clerk as well, because there is no reason why a bitter old woman should have spent that much time glaring at me.

It is my hope that the district court judge will examine my evidence, recordings and testimony through an unbiased lens. There is no logical reason why I could lose this case in district court.

An Open Letter to Jason Scott

I am mailing the following letter to my former manager tomorrow afternoon:

Jason Scott,

You were my manager at King of Diamonds Gentlemen's Club in Inver Grove Heights during the Summer of 2015, where you enforced rules upon me that legally classified me as an employee, although I was not receiving an hourly wage or notified of any of the benefits that employees legally enjoy. During the four week course of my employment, EMPLOYMENT, at King of Diamonds, you and your staff grew to become increasingly dissatisfied with my behavior and what you described as an “attitude.” While everyone knew that I was an excellent salesperson who typically made more money than all of the other dancers during my work shift, I frequently received negative feedback from customers for not giving them enough free attention. Many of your customers are misogynists who believe that women owe them free attention, without compensating them in the workplace environment. Instead of defending my right to keep to myself if I'm not getting paid, you made attempts to intimidate and bother me, by informing me that I was close to losing my job. When a customer made physical contact with my rear end during a VIP show and his gestures did not show up on your security video, you and Sean Goettsche decided to pal around with the guy and didn't make him pay the money that was rightly mine. That is because you and Sean Goettsche are both exploitative, misogynist assholes. I understand that King of Diamonds is currently owned by a woman who thinks she is a good person, but she is not a good person. Working for King of Diamonds helped me to intimately understand how female club owners are just as capable as men to exploit, use and deny rights to young women who deserve them. These rights were won by people who fought and died for them, and I do not take my rights lightly. I was so insulted when you and the rest of the King of Diamonds staff denied me my rights, but I would not let your verbal degradation and intimidation bring me down.

Fortunately, I won the lawsuit that I brought forth to King of Diamonds-- the one where you, Sean Goettsche and the owner of King of Diamonds testified at against me. It is deeply satisfying and delicious to know that the courts were able to understand how exploitative, manipulative and cruel you and your employer are to young women, and I can only hope that every one of the strippers at King of Diamond follows suit.

After I won the lawsuit, King of Diamonds made no efforts to reply to my mail or requests for the money that was rightly mine. I had to do a till tap, as you know. It was also deeply satisfying to know that whoever was managing, probably you, went and got the full sum of my money out of the safe. It is deeply satisfying to imagine you or one of your equally exploitative coworkers having to do that on a busy night. I hope a lot of dancers saw it happen and that you and the King of Diamonds owners felt embarrassed that it happened. I hope that you had to awkwardly explain to them that you lost a law suit and your arguments got torn to shreds by a stripper who worked at the club for one month, even though you hired a big name attorney to come into small claims court on a cold January morning, where you sat and watched other trials. Do you remember when you told me that I won't see the money from the VIP customer who refused to pay? Isn't it funny that not only did I “see” that money, but I brought you to court to get much more than that VIP money, that I proved your employer is a criminal, and that I won? I think it's great.

I don't know how much feelings you have, Jason Scott, but I just wanted to write you this letter to let you know that you are a bad person who breaks many labor laws and that you exploit vulnerable young women every time you go to work. I hope more strippers sue the club and use my judgment as an example of past abuses within the club, so they have ease in asserting every right that you take from them.

You are garbage.

Sincerely,

Brandi Campbell

Media Experiences

There was never any breaking point in my decision to sue strip clubs and help with the union effort. From age nineteen, I knew it was a passion of mine and this has been a gradual pursuit. I have told this to every journalist I have ever talked to, but every journalist continues to ask me what point it was that made me "fed up." Bryce Covert lied in her poorly written article and said there was a certain point when I was "fed up." She used and exploited me just as any strip club, corporation or business does to their workers, for her own benefit.

After the NLRB helped me with Hustler, I made a few tweets about it that Bryce Covert of ThinkProgress.org read. She contacted me over twitter for an interview, which I agreed to. She conducted it over the phone. I found her to be rude, arrogant and a poor listener. I was appalled when the article came out, due to the poor spelling and the exploitative way in which she used the interview. The opening line describes me as being “groped” at every club I have worked for years. I wasn't assaulted at every club I've ever worked at and while sexual harassment is a huge problem at many clubs, the way she described me was very dehumanizing. When she contacted me for an interview, she expressed interested in my NLRB experience. That is what I thought the article was going to be about, but then she kept asking me more questions that had nothing to do with the NLRB.

The law is very clear that dancers are employees and not independent contractors, but in Bryce's article, she refers to my description of the law as “rattling off” reasons why I am an employee. There were points in the article that she glossed over reality and just embellished. In the end of the article, she says that Hustler is the biggest strip club in Las Vegas, but that is not true. Sapphire is the biggest strip club in Las Vegas. Her writing and account of facts is sloppy and I regret doing it.

At the same time that she interviewed me, I was working with Madison Mainwaring of Vice magazine to put out an article for the December issue. Matilda Bickers put Madison into contact with me. My experience with Madison was much better. She was respectful, empathetic and sincere with me every step of the way. Unfortunately, the ThinkProgress article came out before Vice and because Vice didn't want to do a repeat article, Madison's editor made her significantly trim the article. Major things were left out of it, like my NLRB experience, in favor of writing about the SB 224 bill and my sexual harassment claims.

After a few more unsatisfying media experiences that I didn't feel effectively told the whole story or that I felt sensationalized parts of the issues, I decided to write my own articles and submit them to websites I thought would be welcoming to the labor struggles of a stripper mislabeled as an independent contractor. What I found were editors insistent upon changing my words, sentence structures and attitudes, to fit their own narrative and vibe. It was all very insulting and patronizing, so I decided to make this website earlier this year, with no HTML experience.

My advice to activists is to be clear about what kind of person is interviewing you and why. Stick to sound bites and don't go off on tangents with interviewers that they could later use to embarrass you. Understand that people like Bryce Covert are more concerned with their own careers and sensational, incorrect articles than your message. Understand that websites, even ones claiming to represent sex workers, are ultimately more interested in their own message than who you are as an individual.

My self-education of HTML has been a uphill battle, but I am happy to have this website and hope it grows and expands in the future.

Till Tap

Recently I had to pay a sheriff over one-thousand dollars so that a team of Dakota county officers could go into King of Diamonds gentlemen's club and get the money they owed to me, in addition to all of the expenses I incurred in the pursuit of my money. I got that one-thousand back during the till tap.

After the judgement was made, I had to order King of Diamonds to tell me where they banked and give me the money they owed to me. They did not comply, or give me anything in the mail at all. I knew the only way to get my money was to do a till tap. To do this, an officer or team of officers goes into the business with the writ of execution. Sometimes they stand stationed at the register for several hours, collecting money from the customers, until the amount owed is met. In the case of King of Diamonds, the manager just got over $5,000 out of the safe and gave it to the officer, to get them out of there as quickly as possible. I was informed that it took less than fifteen minutes.

I was experiencing a moral conundrum about this whole thing, because I spent a lot of my young adult life around people who hate cops and giving them any power whatsoever. There are people in the radical community who would never do a till tap, on principal. But, I also know that the radical community has a voluminous amount of misogynists, hypocrites and exploitative assholes who would never help me or any oppressed stripper with anything in life, ever. I don't have a lot of loyalty to their principals these days, and I really wanted my money that King of Diamonds owed to me.

I advise all pro-union labor activists to be vigilant of all cop-like principals and dogma, and do a till tap when need be. I will be donating most of my judgement to the production of Hima B.'s License to Pimp, which is a film about stripper labor rights.

National Labor Relations Board and Hustler

Rather than wishing to shut down the strip club industry like many abolitionists, I wish to reform it in a way that will benefit me and my coworkers. In October of 2014, I started working at Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. I had already been dancing for almost a decade, but this was the first club I worked at that I seriously pursued suing and changing. I retained an attorney in early 2015 and decided to sue Hustler for my unpaid wages and sexual harassment. Because strippers are often mislabeled as independent contractors, we must take the club to court in order to get our employee status recognized, as well as all the benefits that come with being an employee. Only employees are allowed to unionize or be protected by the National Labor Relations Board.

DJs in strip clubs almost always expect dancers to tip them. To them, certain portions of stripper money belongs to them, and they do not care about laws concerning tip pooling, employment or anything related. They will bully dancers relentlessly if they don't get tipped and instigate job loss. Because I don't believe I should have to share my money with my coworkers, I would often tell the DJs that they should form a labor union or ask their employer for a raise if they wanted more money. In return, the DJs at the Hustler club would do things like play me Nickelback songs that I hate, or try to get me fired. None of my efforts to encourage the strip club DJs to unionize worked, but they did start to tell management about me and my ideas.

In addition to telling the DJs to unionize, I told a few of my fellow strippers about my pending claims against the club. I knew that across the country, strip clubs are losing lawsuits when being sued for mislabeling their employees as independent contractors. I believe that one day, my fellow strippers will wake up and decide to organize a labor union, in order to leverage more power against their employers. I occasionally expressed these ideas to my coworkers, because I knew that I was an employee and that expressing such ideas in the workplace is protected speech.

Another person I talked about my litigation to was a male host at the club. I was trying to collect witnesses for my sexual harassment claim. He had repeatedly expressed disgust in his other male coworkers who were sexually harassing us dancers. When I first asked him to be a witness, he said he would only do it if I paid him. When I told him that was illegal, he said he would think about doing it for free. He told me to keep telling him about how my case was going, so that's what I did. At one point, I offered to give him my lawyer's business card to talk about being a witness some more. Everything that I did and talked about was protected speech as an employee. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he was feeding everything I was telling him to management.

One night, I sat next to a young man at the bar who told me he used to work at the club as a bouncer, but was fired when he took too many days off to care for his sick child. I explained to him that if he had a labor union, he wouldn't have gotten fired for that. I brought up how I had found a facebook page made by Hustler employees who are interested in a class action against the club, and I informed him that I had retained a lawyer for my own individual lawsuit against the club. After that, this young man informed me that he was actually a roommate of one of my managers and that he still made money at the club. When I pressed him to tell me how he still made money at the club if he was no longer employed there, all he would tell me was that he was in sales. He wouldn't tell me what he sold, but he told me that if I fucked with his money, he would murder me. He told me that people called him “the sand man” and that he puts people to sleep. I realized he had no interest in labor unions or my lawyer's business card.

Later that same evening, I was called into the manager's office, where I was fired. My employers didn't call it being “fired,” of course. They referred to it as “contract termination,” because they are heavily invested in maintaining the illusion that I am not an employee with rights, but an independent contractor. They explicitly stated that one of the reasons why I was being fired was because I had been talking about suing the club and offered my lawyer's business card to people. I left without conflict and reported the incident to the National Labor Relations Board within a few days.

The NLRB office in Las Vegas is downtown, not far from Fremont street. I explained to them that strip clubs mislabel their employees as independent contractors, because I wanted to make clear what kind of obstacle we were dealing with. They gladly took my complaint anyway, with the understanding that I am actually an employee and I was fired for protected speech. Filing a complaint with the NLRB is only the first step to their process. I still needed to give my affidavit. Since I was concerned about my safety and potential blacklisting, I moved to another state. Less than a month after settling into my new state, the NLRB office in my new city conducted a video affidavit with the Las Vegas office. It was an easy and enjoyable process, even as it was time consuming.

After my affidavit, the NLRB went to Hustler to investigate. It only took about a month. I was happy that they were so speedy in the process. After investigating Hustler, I received a call from the NLRB, informing me that my claims had merit and they would proceed to sue them. A trial date was set for October, while Hustler tried to extend the trial date so they could have more time to plan. I was happy to hear that their request to delay the trial was denied, and the October date remained. Hustler also tried to serve me a subpoena that would've required me to give them all of my private electronic communications and phone records, but I was never served.

The NLRB appointed a free lawyer to represent me. Someone I had never spoken to or made bodily contact with was going to testify against me during this hearing, and intended to say that I shoved her in the club when nobody else was around to see. Hustler intended to tell the courts that they fired me because of this fictitious assault. I don't know if this woman was a customer, staff or dancer. It was pretty mind-blowing to hear about, but I was not surprised that an enormous corporation like Hustler had managed to find a goon willing to lie for them and slander me. Another person who intended to testify was the man who was roommates with my manager and had threatened to kill me after I expressed my organized labor interests with him. I don't know what he was going to say.

Hustler would have had to reinstate my position if I went to trial and won, without causing harm to me after I got my job back. They would also have to put posters up in the workplace where all employees could see them. These posters talk about how I sued them and how they are compliant with NLRB rules, discussing the free speech rights that employees have.

Since I genuinely feared for my life and didn't want to go back there, I started to think about a settlement and what it would take me to do that instead of pursuing what I thought was right. I realized there would have to be a substantial incentive for me to settle, so I, along with my private hired attorney and the NLRB-appointed attorney, started having settlement talks with the Hustler attorneys. Along with the settlement, I wanted a picture of either Harry Mohney or Larry Flynt standing next to the mandatory NLRB poster. I offered to accept less money in exchange for a photo of this kind, but the Hustler people said that my request was a deal-breaker and that I would be allowed “no trophies” for this suit and settlement. I don't regret my decision, nor do I judge anyone in a position similar to me making a different decision. I settled for an undisclosed amount of money that made me so happy I cried.

Larry Flynt and Harry Mohney are two people who have fought for their first amendment rights, with history-making litigation and a popular Hollywood film about the first amendment. It makes me sad that in a place like Hustler where free speech is so honored, I was punished for exercising my rights. Nevada businessmen and lawmakers are making it increasingly difficult to classify employees correctly, by narrowing the definition of what an employee is. As they are doing this, employee rights to talk about the conditions of their employment and potential future labor unions are being taken away from them. Independent contractors don't have those rights. I'm so thankful for people like Larry Flynt, who have taken on obscenity laws in the valley of virtue, but it's so disappointing that his businesses only care about free speech when it benefits their profits and keeps their workers in line. Free speech is for everybody to utilize and leverage, particularly in the workplace where millionaires like Flynt and Mohney have so much power to wield over the working class. I'm so appreciative of the NLRB and their willingness to represent me. It will take continued vigilance on the part of working people to continue our ability to speak freely about working conditions in the workplace and not get punished for it.

Tits and Sass Censorship (reposted from TriggerWarning.us)

As a labor activist and stripper, I am involved in a few of the many lawsuits around the country that sue strip clubs to hold them responsible for the mislabeling of employees as independent contractors. Employee protections are important to me, because I want women to be protected from sexual harassment and discrimination. I want them to have an easy time getting overtime pay, workman’s compensation, and healthcare.

One of the strip clubs I recently sued was called King of Diamonds, based out of Minnesota. I secretly recorded them breaking the law, filed in small claims court, represented myself, and was awarded $3,700 after the judge ruled in my favor. What was most important to me about this lawsuit was the strike against King of Diamonds that will forever be on their record, and my ability to help future strippers who are mistreated by them.

I wrote an article about my experiences with this process and pitched it to Tits and Sass, which is a website for sex workers to write about their experiences in the industry. My pitch was accepted and my article went through two rounds of edits with Caty Simon and Josephine, the two women who run the website. Their email responses were enthusiastic about putting it up.

Yet shortly before they planned to post my article on their website, they began lurking on my Twitter page. On my Twitter, I regularly satirize religions with ridicule and jokes. Most of the time, my tweets ridicule Christianity and the Christians who I encounter in daily life. One night while I was watching the news, I saw something on CNN about a gunman killing people because of cartoon depictions of Mohammed. Any time people are getting murdered over cartoons, I think it’s important to take a stand against this sort of behavior.

As a joke, I posted a tweet that said:

“Contest: I am giving away $500 to whoever can draw me the funniest picture of Prophet Mohammed in a titty bar. DM me for submission info!”

Shortly after posting this tweet, I received a couple of emails from Caty and Josephine. They both wrote to me in the editing threads about my article, signaling to me that they had been lurking on my Twitter.

I responded with:

“I really enjoy offending off religious people with sexual things.”

Josephine replied:

“So, you’re shelling out $500 of your own money just offend “off religious” people? Just trying to follow.”

I responded:

“No, it’s a satirical free speech issue that will offend liberals who confuse satire with hate speech.”

Caty Simon replied:

“My way of pissing off religious people doesn’t involve doing something sacreligious to offend a bunch of marginalized people, possibly the most hated and stigmatized group of people in the United States right now. That’s really punching down-kinda like the ‘Jew in the oven’ jokes I get thrown at me sometimes. There are much more satisfying ways to annoy religious people. Westboro Baptist Church, anyone? Now there’s a target.”

I didn’t respond to Caty Simon’s email because it was so stupid that I didn’t know what to say. My cartoon contest was nothing like jokes about putting Jewish people in ovens. Drawings of Mohammed in a strip club insult religious fundamentalists who believe in made-up folk tales. Caty Simon’s email displayed that she had not read any of the numerous tweets that I had already made ridiculing Christianity. It was patronizing of her to tell me about the best way to tweet. When extremists are murdering people for cartoons, I think it’s important to use satire in order to neutralize those threats. No religion is sacred or exempt from sex cartoons. I didn’t write any of that to Caty, though, because I was so stupefied. Less than 24 hours later, I received this rejection email from Josephine:

“Hi Brandi,

We thought long and hard about this but, to be frank, we can’t conceivably support a contributor that’s running a campaign that ‘satirizes’ the Islamic faith and culture. Satire only works if it’s easily recognizable as such. I don’t think your contest feels like satire at all. It feels like bigotry. It feels like bullying. It feels hateful.

We continually strive to be a safe space for sex workers of all backgrounds. We absolutely can not work with or endorse someone that compromises that safety.

We’ve posted the picture of your rabbit. Going forth, however, we’ll be severing our relationship with you. Your strip club piece is polished and ready now so I encourage you to submit it elsewhere. I’d suggest starting with Harlot Magazine, an intersectional feminist site that recently debuted.

Kindly,

Josephine, T&S co-editor”

After I received this email, I started tweeting about it. I guess they thought I would quietly fade away. My cartoon contest was boldly satirical, and this was easily recognizable. Regressive leftists just have a difficult time dealing with it, because they are the real bigots. When religiously satirical sex cartoons are described as bigotry and hatred, it is only because regressive leftists want to generalize a culture.

The actual article that I wrote for Tits and Sass had nothing to do with Mohammed cartoon contests, but with suing strip clubs. Providing a “safe space” for activists on their website would not have been compromised by posting my article. The article would have provided other strippers and those mislabeled as independent contractors with an instructional narrative how-to guide for holding their workplaces accountable. Instead, there will be no posting of the article on their website, because they were offended by a silly tweet.

Regressive leftists ruin things for many workers, women, and free speech. Activists are regularly de-platformed because editors are offended by something they said or tweeted. Rather than providing audiences a chance to engage or absorb what is being offered, these regressive leftists choose to de-platform them instead.

Labeling satire as hate speech opens the door to labeling all kinds of things as “hate speech” that people disagree with. De-platforming labor activists prevents other potential labor activists from putting aside their differences and working together. Labor unions, reproductive rights, and activist voices are all suffering because of safe spaces policies. I understand the purpose of safe spaces in the context of violence and sexual assault, but my tweet was neither of those things. Rather than working through differences and finding common ground to fight an oppressor, many people choose to spend their time putting up trigger warnings and neutralizing progress.

Caty Simon and Josephine will rot in their incestuous micro-scene, while attacks on free speech, labor unions, and women’s rights continue into the future.