Anderson Avenue

Carpenter Studios and the Barrel of Dolls, Rochester NY
Carpenter Studios
176 Anderson Avenue, Rochester

You can be either gender to work by taking clothes of in this venue, for which you'll be called a “model”. You'll be expected to stand stationary for extended periods as artists of both sexes observe your body in meticulous detail and reproduce a likeness on paper or canvas. You'll go home after work sore and stiff from holding poses without moving.

For your efforts, you'll receive a contracted fee (although as a contractor, you'll have to find your own benefits) of $12–15/hour, at least around Rochester. You'll have to pay taxes on your income.

You'll be treated respectfully for the duration, perhaps as an equal to the artists, with whom you can socialize during the breaks between poses.

More often, though, you'll just be standing still, focusing vaguely on retaining a pose while your mind wanders to other topics of interest, listening the music or conversations in the room, anything to occupy the rest of your mind.

If you have a particularly good look and are captured by the right artist, the resulting image may end up in an upper-class household, used as a status symbol to show their awareness and support of the arts. They'll display the work on a wall, offering pointed observations and critiques of the work to their friends to show they own the work for authentic reasons, not just because of your captured nudity.

Although your work won't be considered grandiose by any means, many will see you as someone doing what's necessary to get by. A few will take your work as involvement in the arts and respect that angle.

Anderson Avenue, Rochester, NY is home to both Steve Carpenter Studio and The Barrel of Dolls. Both look for individuals to take their clothes of as part of their work—so similar, and yet so different in the attitudes toward those doing the work. Why is that? Are the differences truly great, or is it a false dichotomy?
Barrel of Dolls
173 Anderson Avenue, Rochester

You must be female to work by taking clothes off in this establishment, for which you'll be called a “dancer”. You'll be expected to go through a series of moves for the entertainment of (mostly) men, who will watch with utmost interest. You'll go home after work with a sore back from the gyrations and contortions that are a part of your dances; your feet will ache from the high-heel shoes, and you may have bruises on the top of feet and side of shins from pole maneuvers.

For your efforts, you'll receive tips from those watching, typically a dollar here or there. If you have the right look you may receive more tips; you can also increase returns by dancing more suggestively. If you can sell a private dance to a patron, you can earn $20 for a few minutes work, though you'll pay a cut to the establishment for the privilege of working there. You'll have to pay taxes on your income.

Many will treat you not as a person but as a disembodied, fleshy sex object whose only purpose is to entertain them; though some will treat you politely. A few will offer you respect, maybe even reverence.

At times the business may occupy you, but on slow nights you'll find yourself going through routines, bored out of your mind—and frustrated at the lack of income.

Although a few patrons may become infatuated with you and will remember you for years to come, most will not think of you after they leave the bar.

Because of your choice to work here, you'll generally be considered lower-class, labeled as a whore or slut, and assumed to be into heavier drug use of some kind.

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