Even when he was a child, Steve McGinness thought it would be "really cool to be a male stripper -- but I never had the balls to do it."

At least not until his girlfriend got him involved.

The first time McGinness, 24, saw his girlfriend, she was stripping at a bar where he worked as a bouncer.

"Just because she was a stripper, I thought she was a slut; I thought she was kind of sleazy," he said.

But his impression quickly changed.

"She's really clean about it," said McGinness (freshman-division of undergraduate studies).

"My sister was doing it, and she got me into it," said his girlfriend of six months, Becky Rinehuls, 20, (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies). Rinehuls has been stripping for a year.

Then McGinness decided to try it too.

McGinness and Rinehuls now work for Truly Yours, 250 E. Beaver Ave. Mary Jane Schiavo and her husband Jim bought the store in 1986 and continued the "Strip-o-Grams" because they were a popular service.

Two men and two women currently work as strippers, and Schiavo considers their work PG-rated.

"It's not done for what some people want it to be done for," she said.

And Rinehuls said stripping is not meant to be a turn-on.

"It's more of an embarrassment" for the person who receives the Strip-o-Gram, she said. Usually the man sits in a chair so that she can dance around him.

"I just do what I feel like doing," Rinehuls said. "People sometimes crowd around and it's hard to do the whole routine."

Schiavo said potential strippers have to audition.

"You have to bring your own music and someone to dance to," she said. "It has to be entertaining. It's not so important to be dressed in underwear; it's the actual teasing of taking your clothes off."

And Rinehuls said, "Having a nice body helps -- more than that you have to be able to dance well."

Both Rinehuls and McGinness have to bring their own music when they go on a strip adventure; they both enjoy stripping to "Lipstick and Leather" by Y and T because of the beat.

Rinehuls stripped at a construction site this week for a man's 40th birthday. Unfortunately for Rinehuls, he was sitting behind a table with 11 other men.

"That's hard; it takes away a lot of your moves, and you end up doing the same thing over and over," she said. "Everyone was staring like 'what the hell's she doing?' "

The birthday boy unzipped her skirt, and she unbuttoned her blazer. Rinehuls always strips down to her bra and panties. She said people sometimes request that she wear a G-string, but she usually dresses in clothing she feels comfortable wearing.

"It's not as much as people make it out to be," she said. "You see as much as you see on the beach; it's just the way you present yourself."

McGinness agreed, adding, "I try to pick on every girl," he said. "I try to make her feel special; it makes me feel good if the girl had a good time."

He said he tries to involve the entire crowd, especially the individual for whom the strip was ordered.

"It feels like stripping in front of a TV set if she doesn't get into it," said McGinness, who strips down to a black leather G-string and bow tie.

"It's so much more fun if a girl tips," he said. "When I start getting down to my underwear I tell them, 'tip me.' "

But tips aren't a stripper's main source of income -- McGinness said he likes to receive tips to add to the individual's embarrassment.

Schiavo said a five-minute strip costs $45, and a 15-minute strip costs $65. Part of the money goes to Truly Yours, and the stripper can keep the rest. Some of the money they earn pays for gasoline and for their clothes.

"I wouldn't go around doing it for nothing," McGinness said. "But I'd rather have a good time for $45 than $75 for nothing."