took a group of college-aged dancers and a group of regular female college students and measured the sexual experience of each. "It turned out that the regular students were often times more sexually experienced than the dancers," Ruppel says. "People bring their stereotypically biased ideas to these types of places and little do they know that today gentlemen's clubs are just like any other fine-tuned business."
Ruppel adds that the sex and drugs that many people assume go hand in hand with the scene are also exaggerated. "There's lots of stereotypes out there, but the truth is that a good number of women are actually dancing just to supplement their income and nothing more. The long-term effects on girls like this are often minimal." Do drug abuse and prostitution sometimes exist? Sure, Ruppel says. But at not nearly the rate that most would assume.
This stigma is precisely what keeps her from telling her family. At odds with her parents for several years, Tori is now on somewhat better terms with them. "This, they just wouldn't understand though," she says. "They're the most conservative people in the world." She plays with a bracelet on her left wrist and glances off into the corner, something she does fairly often, as if waiting for something to appear.
***
It's his size that makes the first impression. At just over six feet, knocking in the neighborhood of 350 pounds, he walks out from behind a wall of tinted glass that lines the left side of the club. He talks into a microphone as he makes his way towards the bar. "All right guys, let's hear it for Star. She's just unbelievable, 'sn't she?" He wears baggy jeans, a white T-shirt depicting a scene from the movie Reservoir Dogs and a red hat tilted backwards that reads "Hustler" on it. He's known simply as Big Will, as the tattoo on his right arm makes quite clear.
Approaching 10 p.m., there are now about 10 customers in the club, all male. A few flank the
stage, while others are scattered among the tables or couches along the wall. Some watch a baseball game on one of the five TVs positioned throughout the room. Big Will walks among them, chats with them, makes sure everyone is comfortable and having a good time. He is, after all, the manager, emcee, DJ and overall heartbeat of the club. "I want people to get the feeling that when they come in here, they're gonna have a good time whether they want to or not," he says. "We're the Worlds of Fun of strip clubs."
He talks with his hands almost as much as he does with his mouth, often grabbing at the air when trying to make a point. "He's great," Tori says. "He's so protective of all the dancers and has helped me adapt really well since I started working here."
He sits down at a table near the bar that runs the length of the back wall. Four men walk in and take a table closer to the stage. One orders a Grey Goose on the rocks. Will sits and observes. He smiles incessantly. The dancers are encouraged to approach and sit down with the customers when they come in, something that creates a better rapport between the two parties will, ideally, lead to better tips when they dance. Will motions to one of the girls walking around. "Lemme teach you a little lesson in life," he says. "You see a guy walk in here and the first thing he does is order an expensive drink, don't look past him, sit down with him." She's
Again, it's the stigma that these girls, for the right price are all hookers.
a new girl, Will explains, grinning, and he's just trying to show her the ropes.
Within the environment of the club, Big Will is the coach, and in a way, the father figure. He frequently talks with the dancers when they're not performing; it doesn't necessarily have to be about work. "We all get along great," he says. "Like a big family." This family dynamic is exactly what keeps the business and the 30 or so
Sure, he admits, there are times when customers try to proposition the dancers for more than just dancing, but he makes it known that All Stars is not that type of club. "Again, it's the stigma that these girls, for the right price, are all hookers," he says. "Well, not here. These are girls that are just trying to make some extra money dancing and that's all they do." Tori walks up and sits down at the table. "Look at Tori. I've got one of the smartest girls on the KU campus
dancers at the club running so smoothly. And it is, in every sense of the word, a business. "I have the greatest job and the world and I love it," he says. "But lost in that is all the responsibility that goes along with it."
The club, he says, is run extremely well down to the last detail. Another stigma often associated with clubs such as All Stars is that they're a breeding ground for fights and prostitution. But, on a given night, Will contends that there's likely to be more fights at any other bar in town than at All Stars and that the club rarely has problems with customers.
working here, but do you think people would ever consider that? I'm in a business situation bad, but I work with professionals, not amateurs."
The dancers at All Stars, about 10 of who are currently in school, range from 20 to 35 years old. The club employs girls of all shapes and sizes because, as Will puts it, every customer is different and has certain things they want to see. He says that their clientele ranges in age from 18 to 65, but that most of the good money comes from older guys. "College guys do come in quite often," he says. "But let's face it. Most of them are probably thinking 'why pay here for what I could go get at The Hawk for free?'"
He gets up from the table and goes back behind the time VIP area, a small, dark room with black leather couches in which get longer, private lap dances for a higher price. Bottles of champagne stacked in a windowed refrigerator between two couches. Will goes into an adjoining room, what he calls his office, where a computer and some sound boards sit on a plywood desk. Here, he works as the club DJ, picking and playing songs from a list of thousands.
Story continued on next page.