An exotic dancer or ecdysiast; someone who does nude or partially clad dancing/socializing as a job. Most people think of strippers as women, but although the majority probably are female, male strippers such as the Chippendales have had enough success to spawn such movies as The Full Monty.
Stripping is well-paying compared to other jobs that don't require education; however, Kiko Wu's "The Stripper FAQ" and other information sources point out that it does require certain skills and tools. She notes that "what kind of shape you're in makes a bigger difference in your earnings than anything else. An hour of exercise a day can mean $200 more a night." Strippers generally work in some kind of club, but there is a wide variety in the establishments which feature exotic dancers. The actual stripping takes place on some kind of stage where audience members can hold out their tip money from the edges. Wu says "most clubs work on a standard 3 song set. That means for the first song when you're on stage you have all your clothes on, the second, you remove something and for the last you wear either nothing or just a thong depending on whether it's a nude or topless club." Shoes and costumes that one can dance in (and get out of easily) are important supplies for the dancer.
Though there are dancers in "regular" clubs who only appear on stages, in more strip clubs the dancers also circulate in the audience when not on stage dancing: talking to customers, encouraging them to buy beverages (alcoholic or not, depending on local laws; some places have laws that alcohol cannot be served in clubs that feature full nudity. This results in anomalies such as that in Tampa where one has to be 21 years old to enter a topless club because alcohol is served there, but only 18 to enter a nude club where there is no liquor.) And also, in some places, selling lap dances or private dances. These all require some social skills which are probably as important as having a good body and more important than actual dance skills, though many dancers, especially those who have also appeared in adult magazines or videos, do work up special dance shows.
Most of the time, the dancers in strip clubs are treated as independent contractors who pay the club where they work a house fee, which covers the club's overhead (dressing rooms, bouncers, etc.). The dancers earn money from the patrons of the club, and Wu suggests that "You should expect the house fee to work out to between 10 and 20 percent of your nightly earnings." The amount of time one devotes each shift to dancing and contact (social or physical) with patrons influences the amount of money a stripper earns, but so does the type of club (does it attract richer customers who have more money to spend?) and the going rates in that area.
In addition to the fact that stripping is a job which requires actual work, the nature of the job can cause problems for strippers. As Wu puts it, "Many men do not understand that what we sell is a fantasy and feel that our employment makes us fair game for unwanted attentions." Strippers are not prostitutes, but some people need convincing of that (even the partners of the strippers, sometimes). It is also a job where youth is at a premium: "There are a limited number of years in which to make as much money as you can. Most dancers retire around 28."
Source: http://www.stripper-faq.org/