It took a colleague telling her she was sexually assaulted at the strip club they both worked at for Luna* to take a stand against what she describes as an exploitative work culture.
Luna had worked as a stripper in Adelaide for a number of years when, she alleges, a colleague was assaulted as she performed a private dance at The Firm.
"She was left alone with her customer for quite a long period of time," she said.
"There were no cameras, we didn't have any sort of duress buttons and there was no security up there," she said of where the alleged assault occurred.
"She ended up being sexually assaulted and in that instance, she had no way to actually reach out for help either, so she was quite literally trapped there."
Luna said she raised concerns about the lack of safety measures to protect dancers with their employer, Adelaide strip club The Firm.
"I didn't really see any evidence of any kind of follow-up," she said.
"Then abruptly, they just cut all contact with me without any notice or explanation."
She said duress alarms had been installed in the area where the alleged assault occurred after she had stopped working there.
Luna has now taken action against her former employer in the South Australian Employment Tribunal, challenging her dismissal as well as a raft of other work conditions.
The Firm strongly contests her allegations; saying a SafeWork SA investigation found it was compliant with relevant legislation.
It said it has "considerable measures" in place to protect performers, including "security staff, CCTV, duress alarms and a strict 'no touching' policy".
Sex work laws add to vulnerability
Luna said The Firm's "no touch" policy played into dancers' vulnerability and was common at strip clubs in the state given South Australia's laws criminalising sex work.
The laws mean any sexual touching between a client and a stripper is a criminal offence and risks the club's license to operate.
Rather than protecting dancers, Luna said it fostered a culture of secrecy around sexual violence in many South Australian adult entertainment venues.
"I've known of instances where a dancer was strangled in a dance and she was more afraid to leave the dance and seek assistance from the manager, than to stay and just attempt conflict resolution," she said of an incident at another club.
The Firm disputes this, saying "the claim that performers are blamed for the sexual misconduct of a patron or denied shifts for raising concerns are untrue".
"Any complaint involving sexual misconduct is taken seriously," The Firm said in a statement.
"Generally, the performer and patron involved will be interviewed and the available CCTV reviewed … a patron may be asked to leave the venue, or SA Police called."
Pay withheld if 'sick too many times'
Luna also wants to change the wider industry.
In her tribunal claim, she alleges The Firm wielded strict control over its dancers, enforced by withholding pay from dancers if they broke rules, known as "fines".
She said the practice is widespread in South Australian strip clubs.
"Common fines that we would see in the industry, would be if we're late, if we don't roster on to a shift that the club would like us to roster on to," she said.
"If we're sick too many times in a given period, if we don't have the correct uniform."
Former stripper Violet* agreed the industry practice of fines were unreasonable and demoralising.
"There's fines that range from $20 to $1,000 plus, depending on the severity of what you've done, determined by the club," Violet said.
"There are some clubs that try and fine dancers for being on their phones on the floor.
"If you have a doctor's note, if you don't provide it within a time frame, you'll get a fine.
"The biggest fine that I've ever seen was $1,000 if the club fires you for some reason, you can pay that money to come back and work.
The Firm said it "rejected" that "performers are fined more than they earn".
"Where amounts are deducted from a performer's remuneration, then this is because the performer has breached her contractual obligations or polices (sic) designed for the legal, safe and orderly operation of the venue," it stated.
Clubs want 'best of both'
Luna said despite being engaged as contractors, she believed strippers were treated as employees.
"The clubs want the best of both: they want to be able to dictate when we work and how we work," she said.
Last year, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) ruled The Firm had engaged Luna as an employee, not a contractor, and ordered it back pay her superannuation.
The Firm has since paid her back.
In a statement, it said "the issue of mandated superannuation for independent contractors is before the Federal Court", and that where the ATO found a contractor was mandated superannuation, it would follow the law.
'It looks like sham contracting'
Now, Luna wants the tribunal to also find she was an employee, to set a precedent for other strippers, and help them claim other employee entitlements like workplace insurance.
Aaron Connor from the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance union said given the strict rules, dancers should be paid as employees under an award, not treated as contractors.
"It certainly looks like what we would call sham contracting," he said.
"It's not sufficient to be able to just say that you're a contractor and then that's what it is, it's how you undertake that work."
He said the concern was similar to those experienced by workers in the gig economy, like ride-share workers and others in newer, emerging industries.
"They don't have control over the way that they work, in terms of you know, when they dance, when they don't, what they can do and not do," he said.
"They all indicate very much that they're employees."
Performers are well remunerated
The Firm takes a different view, saying dancers are contractors because they "work on dates and times they choose".
"Where a performer agrees to work on a date and time, then it is expected that she will attend and remain at the venue for the rostered period.
"Performers are well remunerated and able to earn substantially more than they would as a part time or causal (sic) employee," it said.
"The Firm does not believe that classifying performers as employees would enhance their remuneration, nor would this be an accurate classification of the contractual relationship."
'A new girl turns 18 every day'
Discussing the industry generally, Violet who has worked at several clubs, said historical stigma around stripping as well as a relatively young, feminised workforce combined to disempower dancers.
"One of my favourite quotes from a manager is 'a new girl turns 18 every day'," she said.
"They're coming into this industry, being moulded by the club they're working at, not being told anything about the nature of their employment."
She said the practice of only paying cash, and not offering invoices to strippers affected their ability to access loans and interact with the tax system.
"It's so hard to get loans for houses," she said.
"I would like to buy a house one day, but I can't prove my income.
"We've asked for invoices, they've refused."
Luna and Violet have created an online hub, the South Australia Stripper Hub, to connect dancers and help them understand their rights.
Luna's lawyer Emma Thornton said in many ways that was an important step to improve work conditions.
"Some of the recent cases that are coming out of the High Court are in fact, adverse to employees and making it more difficult for people to establish that they're in fact full-time workers," she said.
"I think campaigning, raising issues like this and joining unions, is the best way to address more systemic problems with that power imbalance that happens between employees and employers."
'What the stripper would earn, it's all theirs'
Luna said if clubs will not engage them as employees, they should instead allow dancers to truly work as contractors.
She said that would be far easier if sex work was decriminalised, like in a number of Australian states and territories, including the ACT.
"Strippers there are at liberty to offer dances that have a certain amount of more interpersonal contact or physical contact, but under no circumstances do they have to," she said.
"There's different sort of pricing structures, different types of exchanges and it's negotiated person to person, it's not negotiated with the club.
"What the stripper would earn, it's all theirs they don't split that commission with the club.
"They actually operate independent of the club, they pay a fee to basically rent the space and so then pay a fee to rent the space and have sort of the right to conduct their business in that environment."
A bill to decriminalise sex work is before the South Australian parliament — the 14th attempt in the state's history.
Luna's case in the SA Employment Tribunal will be heard this week.
*Luna and Violet are the names both women used in their work.
