Full disclosure, this is kind of old news, but here it is anyway: a group of strippers in L.A. (Shady’s home base) are suing the managers of some local strip clubs for damages. Strippers are generally hired as independent contractors, but with management-enforced rules like having to tip out bartenders and DJ’s, being told when to come in to work, and not being paid minimum wage, the suit alleges that the dancers in this case weren’t being treated as such.

This is awesome on so many levels. First of all, those kinds of stipulations are par the course at most strip clubs. So to speak up and bring it to court really isn’t just taking on a few managers, it’s taking on the entire industry and the way it treats dancers.

Also, bringing a lawsuit as a woman working in the sex industry takes b-a-l-l-s. Not only might you out yourself (if you care about that, which you might not), but you also run the risk of facing major discrimination (remember the OC woman who worked as a stripper, got sexually assaulted by a cop, and was then told by a jury that because of the nature of her work she “wanted it”?), not to mention that you are likely sacrificing your job. But talk about a worthy cause - if they win, it would be a huge victory, not just financially, but as recognition that women who work in the sex industry deserve equal protection under the law.

And finally, as an added bonus, word on the street is that the managers of some of the clubs named in the suit (Crazy Girls, Star Strip Too and Seventh Veil) are dickheads. Stealing from dancers, ripping off customers, groping and molesting girls, and randomly firing people for no reason. Not cool. So take that, asshole management of strip clubs - here’s wishing those women filing the lawsuit good luck, and a big thank you to them for calling out the unfair shit that happens all too often to dancing girls!