Reporter Sarah Tressler files complaint after Houston Chronicle fires her for moonlighting as a stripper
The bias against female exotic dancers continues.
That's pretty clear in the Houston Chronicle's dismissal of reporter Sarah Tressler because in her spare time, she worked as a stripper.
Tressler, who covered high-society parties, has a master's degree from New York University. She started dancing at night because she needed money and the economy was in the doldrums.
Sarah Tressler speaks about being fired.
Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred—who is representing Tressler—claimed at a recent news conference that the dismissal was discriminatory because it's mostly females who work as strippers.
Tressler has since filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission alleging discrimination on the basis of sex. She claimed that her employer never asked about this work, which was exposed by a rival newspaper.
"The idea of somebody outing me seems like it would be such a mean thing to do that I never thought anybody would do it," Tressler told ABC News.
Gloria Allred defends a reporter who was dismissed for being a stripper.
Earlier this year, the Straight published a feature article by exotic dancer Wrenna Robertson, who called for an end to discrimination against consensual sex workers.
In the piece, Robertson wrote: "Why can’t I be just a stripper, when a waitress can be just a waitress, a construction worker just a construction worker? Why should it matter one iota that I have a university education?"
It's a question that the editor and publisher of the Houston Chronicle should ponder, in light of what they've done to Tressler.
Apparently, it's okay in North America to become a journalist after working as a spin doctor for a sleazy politician or acting as a paid lobbyist for big business or shilling propaganda for a right-wing think tank. But it's not okay to be a reporter if all you've done is remove your clothes on-stage in front of a few people.
Is it any wonder that so many people are losing trust in the mainstream media?
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
Comments
8 Comments
Yeah!
May 11, 2012 at 7:12pm
...and why should I have to brush my teeth or wear deodorant! Damn society and its expectations. It's childish to think that something you are obviously going to great lengths to hide isn't something you're also not okay with. Sober up, and see the light.
where's the BCCLA?
May 11, 2012 at 10:54pm
The injustice! The outrage! Shurely the People will rise up against this affront to liberty!
TonyN
May 12, 2012 at 6:15am
So the moralistic police can penalise anyone. Equality but only on the terms of the moral police
Jesse Stone
May 12, 2012 at 7:26am
I worked as a dancer for years putting myself through college to earn my education degree because I didn't have parents helping me through school like EVERY other person in my program, so far as I could tell. I graduated with honors and was being offered work even before my student teaching was over because I had a good relationship with the kids, but when the dean at my college found out about my job (which in fact I had not gone to great lengths to hide because there was nothing wrong with it), I was called into a secret meeting with the dean of education, head of the English dept (my major), and members of the school board (all male), where I spent an hour being talked down to by people with a smaller vocabulary and grasp of the broader world than mine, and was informed that I would never teach in my city or surrounding area, and that in fact I would be removed from the end of my student teaching and given the A I was in the process of earning. When I consulted every lawyer in town, I was told that dancers do not have a right not to be discriminated against, and my very expensive degree that I worked hard for is useless.
Taxpayers R Us
May 12, 2012 at 10:55am
I don't think gender plays a part in this, Charlie.
If it were a male moonlighting as a stripper I'd imagine they would have done the same thing.
R U Kiddingme
May 12, 2012 at 3:43pm
Was she fired for not disclosing outside income, or because the outside income was stripping? There is a huge difference.
joe black
May 12, 2012 at 10:19pm
If they want to fire her because she is an exotic dancer, so it is fair to fire all her audiance too, as doctors lawyers manager and the list will not end.
We should fire all the politicians too as they are exotic dancer in different way without mooning us with their body they moon us with their ideas.
Missing the point
May 13, 2012 at 10:19pm
Why was this newspaper paying her so poorly?