A Naked Lie from the New York Post

This morning The New York Post appears with an unbelievable cover story-literally unbelievable. Headlined (at least online) as "AXED GALS TAKE POLE POSITIONS: Pros Stripping Amid Wall St. $lump", the article by Anka Radakovich (one time sex columnist for Details magazine) reports "Scores of professional New York women stripped of their six-figure jobs are now working as "gentlemen's club entertainers" at upscale Manhattan jiggle joints. Former Wall Streeters, fashion executives and real-estate agents are pole dancing and stripping for as much as $1,500 a night -- but also because they like the flexible hours."

Scores? Scores?!? You mean, like, forty? Forty women who had six-figure incomes earned on Wall Street, the fashion industry and real estate have become strippers in Manhattan? It is, of course, mathematically possible, but I just don't believe it. By google search, there appears to be no more than a dozen strip clubs in Manhattan. I have no idea how many strippers each club might employ-perhaps some reader could educate me. But 50 would seem like a big number. That would mean there's about 600 strippers in Manhattan. Did one in 15 of them formerly earn $100,000 in business? Really?

For what it's worth, the article names two, Randi Newton, once of Morgan Stanley, and Katie Haverton who had been a real estate broker, plus a girl named Becky (no last name given) who had been a pastry chef. One of those nubile, twenty-something, six figure-earning pastry chefs that were all over town before the crash, no doubt. I'd very much like to see the Post produce the other 38.

I did like that line about the women liking `the flexible hours'-nice touch! No doubt after having been slaves to their Bloomberg terminals for so long, the women appreciate being able to take an afternoon off before a night of pole-dancing.

UPDATE: Since I first posted, two more reasons to be skeptical have emerged. Randi Newton, purportedly the former high-earning Morgan Stanley financial analyst, is an actress. At her website, randinewton.com, she says that she has had bit parts on The Sopranos in 2001 and in Mona Lisa Smile in 2003, among other roles. There is no mention on her site of her career as an analyst there, but in her bio on imdb.com reports that ``Soon after moving to New York City, she worked as a nanny, then as an analyst on Wall Street. Thereafter working in PR and marketing.'' So contrary to the Post's report, she left her high-paying job on Wall Street for PR, marketing, and the remunerative world of acting--and then, supposedly, stripping.

In addition, among the many people commenting on the article on the Post's website is a comment about the stripping ex-real estate broker from post_girl, who writes: I strongly believe there is no Katie Haverton, a former broker at a large real estate company. Her name would've showed up in google search. I quit real estate a year ago, and my name is still showing up in searches.'' Indeed, neither the name Katie Haverton, nor any variation, appears on google.

FURTHER UPDATE: As it turns out, Ms. Newton has another website, wallstreetstripper.com, where she tells her story:

Randi Newton attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha on a scholarship she received from the Miss America Organization. Newton moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. She had a wide variety of jobs, first working as a live in Au Pair, then moving up to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter as an analyst for a year. Not satisfied with her situation, she left and was hired as a manager for one of Manhattan's most prominent marketing companies. After being laid off and unable to find another job despite a yearlong search, Randi wandered into a strip club with a friend, and walked out with a waitress job. One year later, after being dumped by her boyfriend, she got drunk and took off her clothes on Valentines day, there the excitement began.

Newton has since been offered several management positions with major companies, and was approached again by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. However, using the business skills she developed working in a corporate environment, and applying them to her "night job" her income exceeded $100,000.00 a year. Recently Randi was featured in Radar Magazine in an article about "smart" strippers. She was also approached by the Oprah Winfrey show about the inside life of a stripper. She currently lives in New York City, studying at The New School and Upright Citizens Brigade. She is also a columnist for Exotic Dancer Magazine. Randi loves dealing poker, singing karaoke and has "retired" her g-string. Her book, "Wall Street Stripper" is hitting bookstores December 09.

So the Post has the timeline all wrong, completely undermining its own breathless thesis. And Newton has a book coming out!

Comments

[lisakaz2]

I'm guessing someone at the NYP applied their own wishful thinking to Newton's story and played up her PR packaging as a "Wall St Stripper" and voila a story was hatched. Guess they want unemplyed women to go back to the kitchen if not the, ahem, "gentleman's club."

[realpolitic]

Rupert Murdoch owns the New York Post. So right away one knows it has no journalistic standards at all.

[vietveter]

So where is the surprse?

A cheap tabloid / rag tells some more lies.

Yawn......­..........­. next story please

[dmyron]

Someone needs to write an expose' about this underbelly of American culture and reveal the ugly truth.
Maybe some of these individuals are well-adjusted pillars of the community but the vast majority are products of either sex abuse or drug abuse who are selling the only commodity they have left : their
bodies. Glamorizing the trade only continues the charade started by the truly misguided "Pretty Woman".
Let us call it what it is: Demeaning and Destructive.

[tlgeiger62]

Just to be clear ... the definition of "score" is a "group of 20" ... technically, the article is correct if they are referring to 40 women.

Not that I'm defending the rag that is the NY Post.

[RobinSeattle]

So after college, Newton works as a nanny and then gets an analyst job on Wall Street? Doesn't that strike anyone as odd? There is no indication in that bio that she studied economics or finance or even marketing in college. Either she's lying or she was hired for less savory reasons (maybe as an exec's office playtoy).

Radakovich herself is kind of a down market Maureen Dowd wannabe, except she works the sex angle rather than politics.

[cynicalgirl]

Not sure if you were being sarcastic, but a pastry chef makes minimum wage.

[itolduso]

No, really, every word is true! What's more... it's happening all over the country!!!! Down in Florida, desperate senior citizens are tearing their clothes off and dancing on WalMart shopping carts (we don't have a lot of strip clubs) A 77 year old former real estate agent claims she made $150,000.0­0 in the first three months of this year dancing naked in the garden department (she has a book coming out titled "Golden Coconuts..­.an insiders guide to surviving the slide with your clothes off") Her web site offers tips on soothing 'Robellini rash'. (If the Post wants to pay me for the story I'll be happy to send photos)

[peterg76]

I can't believe a woman with the ability to become a successful stripper would so degrade herself as to become a financial analyst.

[Yamunation]

She may have done it simply to write a book.

[Freenation]

No surprises here, NYPOST is one of the biggest blots on the newspaper industry..­.technical­ly it is a tabloid and we can stop calling it newspaper.­..

[DC]

His entire thesis built around the work saga of one dysfunctional gal and a distorted time line. She is now using and twisting her story to sell about tale about a stripping on wall street, and the Post is promoting her book.

One guy told me that you would have to have a lobotomy to get excited by sitting in a room with a bunch of drunks watching a 20-something female (also usually on drugs) remove her close and spread her legs around a pole.

[StripperSister]

Usually on drugs? I am a dancer and have never ever tried any drug in my life. Have me drug tested! In fact, I rarely even drink at work. Most of us don't drink because we have to drive. Our club even gives the girls a breathalizer to insure they won't drive drunk. I see nothing wrong with men coming into these clubs. I think it's a great outlet for those that aren't satisfied at home. We are an adult playground. Couples are also encouraged to spice up their sex lives. The man that needs a lobotomy to visit a strip club can just stay home. We hate men with bad attitudes. It's hard enough being vulnerable and half anked than to have some sour puss telling us we could be doing something better with our lives. We call those men Captain Save-A-Hos. I love what I do!!!

[laocoon]

While I have not been in a club for 10 years I always found that if you did not go in with a lot preconceived ideas about the girls they usually reciprocated. Really found mostly just a cross section of single moms, married women, students and such. I think many guys especially in a group mostly want to show how macho they are by treating the girls disrespectfully.

[StripperSister]

Jamie, I respect your opinion. I am actually a stripper sister of Miss Newton. We danced together in NYC. I know this young woman very well and can vouch for every word written about her. We met several years ago at Ten's Cabaret. She has been an amazing friend to me. I have since left NYC for the West Coast. I am currently an award winning stripper with the Spearmint Rhino of Torrance, CA. The economic downturn has stressed all of us. Women old and young are coming in all day looking for work. We get at least ten auditions a day. In NYC as many as 50 girls are on a shift. We have 30-50 a shift at my club. Check out $pread magazine for more interesting stories on stripping. Also, check out stripperweb for great forums. You may also visit my myspace for my blogs and pics (including a few with Miss Newton at http://myspace.com/alabootybama

[Jamie Malanowski - Huffpost Blogger]

I'm not blaming Ms. Newton. She's told her story on her website, and I have no reason to doubt it. But the Post has changed the story, and distorted it into a massive untruth.

[lisakaz2]

The point is not that Newton lied. The pt is that there were no "scores" of Wall St. strippers. Indeed, Ms. Newton would not be writing a story if she did not wish to be seen doing something unusual or atypical. The Post misrepresented her and the supposed "trend" which probably doesn't exist.

[dadw5boys]

Some Strip Club charge the Stripper for access to their members.

They pay $ 20.00 to be able to use the club and can make $ 175.00 an hour.

Some strip bars pay $75.00 an hour.

[Bridgit Evans]

Thank you, Jamie, for offering some well-placed resistance to this piece. I too have found a few similar pieces in the past week which are significantly distorting or outright misrepresenting the truth of how the sex trade is feeling the impact of the economic crisis.