So many of us connected to technology are blessed to have near instant access to answers about our questions relating to the world of sex work. In this day and age, you can find out all you need to know about how to refresh your hustle, keep yourself safe from a creepy reg, and find other workers to connect with on virtually all major social media platforms despite constant censorship battles.
A fair number of sex workers newer to the industry take this connectedness for granted. But even workers who are veterans are unaware of one of the greatest websites to ever have existed—www.stripperweb.com
Stripper Web first opened its website back in 2002, and operated for over 20 years online as a centralized hub for sex workers from across the globe to communicate with one another via classic early internet forums. Despite the name, Stripper Web was host to all types of sex workers, the majority of whom were exotic dancers, cammodels, and privateAdult Dating based in the USA. It also included moderated sections for customers and clients. After time, as the member base grew it became more global, and the forums offered incredible insight to the differences and similarities from country to country regarding the adult work industry.
Compared to the spaces on social media today, so much of which is public facing and sometimes performative, Stripper Web was extremely genuine and at times, pretty rough. It didn’t exist for the sake of posting perfect photos to attract customers, and it most definitely was not a storefront for content creation. Most of the discussions were not only incredibly helpful, but were brutally honest and at times whorephobic and whorearchical. It was an uncensored view of the dichotomies that exist within our industry, for better and for worse.
Even workers who are veterans are unaware of one of the greatest websites to ever have existed—www.stripperweb.com
The main areas of attraction on Stripper Web were the Forum and Club Review tabs. With more than 5000 strip clubs logged in the 70+ countries listed, the site contained over 20,000 reviews for where to go and where to avoid shaking your ass for cash. If that doesn’t give you a scope of how important this site was in terms of sacred information, I don’t know what will. In regards to the forums, different discussion tabs were nestled under groupings such as ‘Club Chat’, ‘Hustle Hut’, ‘Industry Insight’, ‘Life Support’, ‘Body Business’, and ‘Dollar Den’, to name a few. There was even a marketplace for selling clothes!
With a grand total of 3 fun themes to choose from, including: ‘Classic Pink’, ‘Modern Pink’, and ‘StripJunkie Blue’, the interface practically stayed the same since its beginnings, and didn’t change at all from around 2012 onwards. For my autistic brain, that was heavenly. No unnecessary modifications and flashy, annoying updates with removed features I had become accustomed to. Just simple, text based delights with smilies, custom banners, and a Happy Birthday email in my inbox each year.
I first came across Stripper Web in 2015. Eighteen years old, out of home and into the big smoke, researching how I could make money over digital chat rooms online. I was absolutely sick to death of working in a horrid, wankish luxury hair salon in the Sydney CBD with racist staff who thought Michael Bublé was worth playing over the speakers. My fervent interests for tech and cybersecurity from a young age helped me greatly in regards to understanding that sex work was something I shouldn’t just throw myself into for the sake of my identity and privacy. I had already learnt about the importance of VPN’s thanks to data retention laws passed by the Australian government a year prior. But taxes? More specifically - taxes NOT in the USA. Webcam quality? Is LiveJasmin even legit? International bank accounts? ESCROW??
Starting out in the adult industry as a webcam model usually means you have no one you can ask for advice, as was the reality in my case. I simply couldn’t bring this up in conversation to my friends; they were retail workers for god’s sake! However, I could post a question to Dollar Den and it would be responded to within 48 hours with actual, worthwhile advice and referrals to other known site members to converse with that were in the same country as me. I scoured Stripper Web with a fine tooth comb—taking in all I could like it was a religious text—for an entire year before I officially started work. I figured it all out. I created an idea of my persona, came up with my first work name, what site suited me best, learnt the difference between studio and independent work, all the cybersecurity ins and outs, everything.
I could post a question to Dollar Den and it would be responded to within 48 hours with actual, worthwhile advice and referrals...
The reason why it ended up being a year's worth of research before starting was because my pre-existing health issues had taken a turn for the worse. My diseased thyroid decided to turn my blood toxic, resulting in a sudden total thyroidectomy surgery. This life changing event and the downtime during recovery gave me a chance to reflect on everything I had learnt. Once my body had adjusted reasonably enough, I created an account on an adult livestream site, and so I went. Without the support of workers from around the world, I wouldn't have been able to do what I have done safely. I owe it to Stripper Web for being so accessible for my education, it's something that I will always be grateful for.
Over the years as my career changed and flourished into many different types of sex work roles, Stripper Web could be counted on to refer to for any questions I had to ask. I remember locking myself in one of the toilet cubicles at my main stripclub in Sydney on a reasonably busy night, desperately wondering what on earth I could do to get out of the depressive low funk I was feeling. I opened Stripper Web on my phone and read through the advice of dancers globally. I copied and pasted what resonated with me into my phone’s notes app, shook off the bad feelings, and went back out into the club to procure my hustle. To this day, I still use these pointers to hold my head high, behave confidently and professionally, and to respectfully look after my own self esteem.
To many users' shock and disappointment, Stripper Web suddenly announced it would be shutting down on February 1st 2023. With barely any warning or explanation, two decades worth of invaluable resources vanished—only to now be partially traversed in memoriam through captured pages on Internet Archive’s WayBack Machine.
It is speculated that the OnlyFans team may be partially to blame for the sudden closure of Stripper Web. Amber Cutie’s Forum (ACF), which is an excellent resource site still running, is operated by MFC (MyFreeCams) user AmberCutie. ACF was basically the main alternative for Stripper Web back in the day, however MFC is owned by the same guy who brought OnlyFans back in 2018. That same year the FOSTA/SESTA bill fucked everything up even more for everyone and Payoneer went to shit. Who else here remembers? Anyhoo, part of the OnlyFans team’s efforts was to procure any domains relating to OF and MFC, and it seems very likely that Stripper Web could have fallen into the line of fire, in turn citing erasure.
I owe it to Stripper Web for being so accessible for my education, it's something that I will always be grateful for.
It’s not as if there weren’t any attempts made by members of the community to save Stripper Web from disappearing either. Taja Ethereal was a member and a moderator on Stripper Web for close to 7 years, who offered to buy the site upon announcement of closure for $12,000 cash delivered within 24 hours. Prior to that, back in 2022 Ethereal suggested crowdfunding to support the site… a suggestion that the owners ignored for months. According to Taja Ethereal’s interview with Nylon on the subject, “She speculates the users had too much power for the owners’ tastes” and that “They could very easily just sell it. But they refuse to.”
From my research, I’ve seen talks within the last year about a beta Stripper Web site being developed by dancers in the US in hopes to start up a new version of what is now a relic of the past. Time will tell if this will (hopefully) come to fruition. Thankfully, we still have forums available to lurk online—various sex worker Reddit communities, Amber Cutie’s Forum, wecamgirls.com, cammodelweb.com and SAAFE.info are informative hubs that are the closest we will get to the iconic precursor now laid to rest.
I highly encourage anyone made curious by this article to search online to find other people’s recounts and information about Stripper Web and its fascinating history, various owners, and its bizarre closure. It’s a worthwhile rabbit hole to go down, and an important and stark reminder that not everything digital is forever. Archiving in any way, shape or form is one of the most proactive choices one can make. Preserving history and organizing information is nearly even more important now than it ever was. The age of digitalization carries the illusion that all will never be forgotten—until it’s too late.
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