How one student makes money with her x-tracuricular activities.

"Come on. Follow me," Diana* says as she leads a man into a dark room the size of a walk-in closet. She takes his hand as they step through black velvet curtains.

"Sit down," she commands. He drops onto a maroon loveseat next to a 2-inch rip in the vinyl. He doesn't notice the shabby upholstery or the musty odor. A single blue light dangles overhead. Her face can barely be seen as shadows cover her features.

She wears a short, hot-pink tube dress that runs to the middle of her thigh. The dress hugs her body as tightly as a latex glove hugs a surgeon's hand. Diana also wears white 5-inch spiked platform heels with leather straps that wind up her calves.

ACDC's classic "You Shook Me All Night Long" comes over the speakers. She turns around and takes off her dress like a snake shedding its skin. Diana kicks it to the corner and turns to face the man. Her hands cover her breasts. She wears only a white lace see-through G-string.

She spreads her legs over his and swivels her hips down.
"Are you liking this?" she whispers. He nods. She moves her legs up and down his. She turns around and bends over.
The music stops.

She gets up quickly, fumbles to find her dress, then slips it on. He withdraws $40 and hands it to her. She thanks him as she pries the money away and stuffs it into her tiny black purse.
After a long night at work, Diana is tired. She drives home in a rush, doing 60 in a 45 mph zone. She is rushing because she needs to hit the books for an accounting quiz she has at 8:30 the next morning.

Diana, a UF business junior, works part time as a stripper to support herself through college. She says it is probably the best job she has ever had because she only works twice a week for 10 hours total.

On average, she makes $800 a month. That's a big improvement from what she was making as a freshman with two jobs, one in an office on campus and another babysitting two children ages 6 and 8. Then, she was working 40 hours a week.

Two years ago, she met Jenny, who did some part-time dancing for private parties. After Jenny told Diana how much money she made, Diana started considering dancing seriously.
Diana knew she could dance. She had been trained in modern and jazz dance from the time she was seven years old until she was a sophomore in high school. She did not, however, know how to dance provocatively, so she went to local strip clubs and rented movies to observe girls dancing. She practiced at home in front of the mirror

"I actually watched Strip-tease three times."

Three days later, Diana got a job after an interview and dance audition.

"I'm really in it just for the money. I don't care about anything else. I don't do it for fun; I don't really get a kick out of it. It pays the bills."

Diana is taking 16 credit hours this semester, so school is taking up most of her time. Outside her part-time job, she is a typical college student. She studies during the day and goes out once or twice a week. Only four of her friends know about her job.

"Hell, my mom doesn't even know I'm doing this," Diana says.
Once, a man recognized Diana from the strip club while she was walking across the street from Turlington Hall. He stopped her and asked if she remembered him. She said she didn't, and he told her a story about how he was at the club with his friends and how she talked to him.

"I just told him he's psycho and that I had no clue what he was saying. I also told him he's lucky I didn't slap him."

Yet, Diana says that she is not ashamed of her job.

"Look, I'm just a college student trying to earn money honestly. I'm not doing anything illegal," she says.

What's she hate most? Giving lap dances to "ugly men."

"Guys are pretty stupid most of the time. I make them think they are the hottest men alive. Little do they know I could give a shit about them."