Seedy strip clubs exist everywhere. Overpriced drinks, sticky floors, and a creepy bloke in the corner throwing notes over a dancer that’s a quarter their age. You’re offered a lap dance downstairs but start questioning the ethics of it all. Is she a victim of trafficking? Should I really be here? You turn red before dashing out the door.

All of those issues disappear when you’re in a virtual reality (VR) strip club, unless you spill your pornstar martini tinnie on the floor that is. In VRChat (VRC), one of the most popular VR experiences, dancers don’t earn money rather doing it simply because they enjoy it—stripping away one moral dilemma.

Those attending the clubs are often vetted before the event and will be wilfully banned if they overstep any boundaries (no touching, no filming, no sexual language).

‘It’s much safer than dancing in real-life clubs where people can easily hurt or assault you, if a player makes you feel weird you can block them,’ a dancer told me. ‘You don’t have to be physical with other players at all if you don’t want to, you can perform solo and just show off your moves.’

These clubs started to gain popularity in 2019 as full body tracking started to become accessible. During the pandemic, the scene grew even further as a result of people craving a clubbing experience while stuck in lockdown. However it wasn’t until 2021, when full body tracking became commonplace, when private clubs opened and the scene started to flourish. 

Since then, over 200 clubs have formed, opening their virtual doors every week. Over 20 events happen every day on VRC with hundreds of attendees fighting over roughly 40 spaces.

The club experience differs depending on where you attend, some cater to music genres (i.e. Sinners Garden = heavy metal and dubstep) while others tend to specific interests (i.e. Silver Fang = furry community). I was looking to attend Monstrum Inn, one of the most elite clubs in the scene, which specifically only lets ‘monster girls’ dance at their club.

It’s a rigorous process to get into a club, not suited to a VRC newbie like me. You must join the club’s Discord, pass age verification and add the host on VRC, before clicking ‘request invite’ before the other 200 party-goers.

I met with Jogi, a student in real-life but a male anime with fox ears for some ‘cute points’ in VRC, through a Discord server and linked up minutes before Monstrum Inn opened. He introduced me to a handful of his friends who were also trying to get into the club.

‘It’s your first time on VR? Wow, you’re really jumping into the deep end,’ Vhalake laughed, dressed as the female version of Jogi’s avatar. ‘Let’s just hope you get in!’

Doors opened at 8.50pm. I sat in my room, wearing jogging bottoms and a pizza-stained t-shirt, watching the seconds tick down. I had the ‘request invite’ page open and was told to hit it as soon as they screamed at me—this felt like the VR version of getting into Berghain. 

Fortunately, I hit the button quick enough and entered Monstrum Inn.

Do I Wanna Know by Arctic Monkeys leaked out of the club doors. I slowly walked through the red carpeted entrance and it felt daring and surprisingly sexy. Soon, the corridor opened into a spacious room with a large purple sofa circling a stage with drawn red curtains.

Jogi found me and invited me to sit with his friends, one of them didn’t make it inside. I turned to him and asked: ‘You come here often?’
‘I started going in February and I’ve sort of got addicted to them,’ he laughed. ‘Nowadays I go to lap dance clubs almost daily, up to three a day.’

Before I could push the conversation deeper, the event was set to start. The DJ hit play on Earned It by The Weeknd as the red curtain fell. Behind it were six girls—a 10-foot demon, a busty maid, and a dragon-lady that would randomly go invisible—all with hentai-esque unnatural curves.

To be a real-world dancer, you might need the natural assets to wow the crowd but in VRC, you can be anything you’d like—and for many dancers this is empowering.

‘In real-life I’m a scary looking giant, I put on a little teddy bear avatar and was the shortest in the room for the first time in my life,’ says one dancer. ‘I was able to go up to a stranger and not be treated like a threat first and person second. Changing how you’re socially coded is a powerful drug. Some people have never been called beautiful until they put on an avatar.’
Equally, it’s a powerful tool for those with gender dysphoria. Trans dancers have often never felt fully accepted in their real-world body but on VRC they finally feel accepted for who they are.

As I was looking across the room at the wide range of avatars shaking ass, I suddenly started hearing some squeaking from my left. I turned to see Vhalake with the busty maid on his lap, slowly caressing his chest.

Apparently, those fully immersed in VR can often feel things that happen to their avatar—this is called ‘phantom touch’. Vhalake has extremely sensitive phantom touch, he can be tickled, teased, and feel pain. While getting a lap dance the feelings make him squeak, a response so common they’re labelled ‘squeakers’ within the community.

As the event went on, the reality that these dancers were actually dancing in real-life started to hit me. It was undeniably impressive. I saw one dancer do a cartwheel while another used a swing and a pole to perform moves.

The avatars the dancers chose often enhance their performance. One dancer had an anime character with an absurdly huge ass that she would make jiggle with subtle moves.

The event was nearing its end, and I still hadn’t got a lap dance; Jogi explained it was likely due to my nerdy fox avatar. But I was soon approached by the dragon-lady.

I sat there awkwardly, just like a real strip club, as she approached me. She went invisible then reappeared with her scaly breasts in my face—I had no phantom touch. She then gracefully fell to the floor with her legs in the air presenting her crotch to me before flipping over to twerk on the floor.

Admittedly, it wasn’t for me, I prefer my women without dragon breath. But, I admired the skill the dancer had over their avatar while I stiffly giggled to not offend the dancer.

As the event ended, everyone entered an after-party where the dancers and party-goers mingled. When speaking to party-goers, there was a divide on whether or not attending events was for sexual gratification.

‘It is sexual, obviously. But, I did not join this community for sexual desires,’ Jogi explained to me. ‘I actually don’t get hard or get sexual excitement. There are people though who are, obviously, doing this for sexual desires though. But not me.’

For Jogi and others, the scene is about community. In contrast to the real world, VR strip clubs are notably friendlier and safer. Dancers participate out of genuine love for the craft with an audience of familiar faces with respect as a core value. Anyone steps out of line? You can kick them out or block them with one click of a button.

VR strip clubs aren’t my thing, neither are real-life ones to be honest. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to leave the world with a full heart. People have discovered a safe space for self-expression and that’s truly beautiful.