When she made news by suing Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels became a national media figure whose fame suddenly extended well beyond the adult industry and its fandom.
On Tuesday, Daniels capitalized on her public platform to advocate on behalf of strippers now faced with a job crisis brought on by a recent California court decision that would force them to be reclassified as “employees” of the strip clubs where they perform. As AVN.com reported last month, the ruling in Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court of Los Angeles has already caused an “exodus” of strippers from California clubs.
The vast majority of strippers work as freelancers, essentially self-employed “independent contractors” who contract with clubs to perform, be paid, and leave. In an op-ed penned for The Los Angeles Times and published Tuesday, Daniels explained why, in her view, the autonomy offered by independent contractor status outweighs the benefits—e.g. health insurance, workman’s comp and so on—that accrue to employees.
“Disrobing for money is an unconventional way to earn a living, and there are unique aspects of the job that make employee status for the stripper highly undesirable,” Daniels wrote in the Times op-ed. “Performers in the adult entertainment world often want anonymity. Today I’m very public about the nature of my work, but that has not always been the case. When I started dancing, I was private about it, as were many of the women I danced with. I had no interest in filling out forms that would give the club—and potentially government authorities—detailed personal information about myself.”
Daniels also wrote that, as “employees” dancers may be subject to employer-dictated working conditions that—given the “sensitive” nature of dancing naked in front of paying customers—may not be appropriate or desirable.
“Employers might require us to give free nude performances for customers we don’t feel comfortable with,” Daniels wrote. “These are highly personal decisions and the power to make them should be exclusively in the hands of dancers.”
Daniels concluded her op-ed with a call for the California state legislature to pass legislation “to undo the damage” caused by the Dynamex decision.
“People tend to snicker and blush when talking about strippers. I get it. Sexy is literally in our job description. But the employment status issue is no laughing matter,” she wrote. “These are real people, mothers and students—young women seeking to earn a decent living while remaining independent.”
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