Whorephobia: Strippers on Art, Work, and Life

by Lizzie Borden

Illuminating accounts of how stripping and sex work informs writers’ experiences of friendship, motherhood, teaching, working, creating art, and activism.

No one knows more than strippers about being looked at: as objects of desire, objects of curiosity, as angels or Jezebels or hookers with hearts of gold. In this anthology, twenty-three dancers whose careers span decades, geographies, and identities demand to be seen. Through stories from first nights on the job to the day they hung up their sky-high heels—or decided they never will—these writers offer glimpses into lives of camaraderie and celebration, joy, pride, despair, frustration, self-doubt, and fear.
 
Their unfiltered perspectives on their lives, onstage and off, are a powerful counternarrative to the whorephobia that shrouds the conventional portrayals of strippers in crime movies, TV shows, music videos, newspaper articles, and legislative debates. Each of these illuminating essays and interviews peels away tired myths and salacious speculation and presents the naked truth: that sex work is real work and strippers are real people.
 
Contributors:
Cookie Mueller · Kathy Acker · Jo Weldon · Susan McMullan · Maggie Estep · Chris Kraus · Julie Lynch · Jill Morley · Susan Walsh · Debi Kelly-Van Cleave · Elissa Wald · Essence Revealed · Sassy Penny · Jacq The Stripper · Reese Piper · Lux Atl · Akynos · Antonia Crane · Lily Burana · A M Davies · Selena

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Sex Work, Essays, Feminism, Anthologies, Sexuality

416 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2022

Reviews

[Olivia White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great anthology. I love that so many of the interviews are between strippers, and each interview is preceded with a piece written by the interviewee about their life and experiences. If you have triggers for violence against women, assault, etc: take your time, check in with yourself, and remember that it is an anthology—it’s okay to skip ahead to the next piece! It’s intense stuff, but it’s also heartwarming, hilarious, honest, and immensely valuable.

[Cait · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

“Work is sometimes pleasurable and sometimes grueling. And it’s just worth it to do something that just makes sense to you.”

This anthology does what it sets out to do: demystifies the world of stripping. There is no filter on these stories. At no point does it’s lens force them to convey messages of either unnecessary hardship or a sense of empowerment unless that’s what the author actually felt about their experience. It is simply recollections of each person’s experience without the expectation to justify or apologize for their choice of profession.

The essay by Reese Piper about working as an autistic stripper stood out to me the most but overall the lack of cohesiveness between the pieces left me feeling interested but not totally invested.

[LeaVixx · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's impossible for me to not enjoy essays from strippers. I love how every analogy was so different yet so similar. Some are funny and amusing, some are raw and painfully real, some are heartbreaking. I definitely recommend this book if you wanna get a deeper insight into the world that not many people speak about and is happening behind closed doors.

[Tziona · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book to end the year on. It was a deep look into a world I knew little about. Some of the chapters writing weren’t my style, and I wish the author provided a short bio on each writers career in sex work.

[Annie Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Sarah Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for the sociologist who is interested in fringe communities

[Ava Gallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first nonfiction book of the year, which should tell you everything you need to know about my relationship with nonfiction. Loved the narrative storytelling and getting to hear about so many different accounts of sex workers. This is a great place to start if you aren’t the biggest fan of nonfiction but looking to learn more about sex work.

[☆ tia ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great! The more and more I learn about sex workers, the more I am impressed by their resilience and ability to organize/support one another in their difficult line of work, where they are both oppressed by capitalism and patriarchal violence. This collection has some really strong voices - these women are such excellent writers. I learned a lot from this anthology. I picked it up because I am a fan of Borden's filmmaking, and now I feel like I've been introduced to some great writers I will have to check out as well.

[Sofi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

The amount of book references, legends, and perceptions you get in this book is incredible. I’ve never known much about sex work other than the overall stigmas attached to it. However, Lizzie Borden’s Whorephobia does so much more than just give some insight, it provides so many different types of experiences in the industry.
 
Whorephobia explores an array of key themes related to sex work and I’m going to go through them in a sort of list form to try to get to all the ones I wrote down.
 
As stated in the beginning, there is a certain stigma attached to sex work and that’s usually all people know. The book delves into that stigma and negative attitudes. It examines how sex workers, more times than not, face discrimination and judgment and how these stigmas can perpetuate harmful stereotypes that further isolate sex workers. The effects of this is further seen when discussing the legal isolation they face.
 
Borden also explores intersectionality of sex work, bringing an understanding that individuals engaging in sex work come from all different kinds of backgrounds and bring various types of challenges with them. We see how race, gender, class, and sexuality intersect with sex workers and their individual experiences in the industry.
 
A theme I really enjoyed in this book was empowerment in this industry. It challenged the notion of victimhood typically associated with sex work and explores the empowerment that some sex workers feel in their profession. This again shows how complex and diverse their experiences are and how the industry should be understood within a broader context.
 
Something that I’m sure not a lot of people think about but was brought up in this book is the legal/social issues in the industry. The book discusses the impact of criminalization on sex workers’ safety, integrity, and access to healthcare. Borden advocates for the recognition of sex workers’ human rights and the importance to recognize the violence faced by sex workers. You really get a view on how the negative attitude towards the industry directly puts them in danger and forces them to stay there. This really opened my eyes considering I had never thought about it too much. I always came at this with the mindset, I think this, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, after reading this, I realize how dangerous it is for sex workers for people to hold on so closely to their negative opinions on the industry. This is because people often forget they continue to exist after you finish thinking about them, therefore, they deserve the same rights to safety as everyone else whether you approve of them or not.  
 
Now a topic I really enjoyed exploring in this collection was how sex work intersects with feminism and debates surrounding sexuality. It offers up differing perspectives on sex work through the feminist lenses. It also argues how it can be an intricate aspect of women’s autonomy and empowerment.
 
This book contained so many examples I can include here but unfortunately, I decided to wait a month to write this review. But I promise reading this book for yourself to find these examples is worth it.

[Chanel Chapters]

3
An anthology of stories by strippers, gogo and burlesque dancers - and yes most of them end up doing penetrative sex work.
Each story is followed by an interview.
Some stories were interesting but also depressing.

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally, I adored the chapter of 'Bad Day at the Hair Salon', 'Dancing Steps on Tiny Feet', 'Amputee Queen' and many others. Its like delving into the other side of life that I have not previously encountered before. The book also discussess a multiplicity of topics: boundaries and what that means for strippers, Covid-19 and its implication to strippers, ethnicity fetishization and others. Overall, I like the book. What stalled me the most when reading this book is due to the interview sections that mostly entails similar questions, I just felt that it was a tad repetitive. Additionally, maybe because of the fact that the book is an accumulation of stories, rather than it being a biography dedicated to an individual, it is also hard to fully acknowledge the characteristics of the person writing it because it rapidly moves from one chapter to the next, entailing other writers.

[Dot Zhou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting book and a great read if you want to learn about the aspects of stripping + SW in the late 1900s. My qualm with the book lies in the fact that the memoirs themselves are often shorter than the interviews that follow them, and the interviews themselves just seem repetitive after you’ve read three or four stories. From a casual reader’s standpoint, I feel like weren’t as able to absorb these women’s stories and understand them as people in those time periods as I had hoped. I found myself skipping ahead of each interview because of this.

The memoirs themselves are still a very interesting read without the interviews, especially if you’re trying to read this from a research standpoint, which is why I still give it a 6/10 overall

[M. Ditmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating historical materials from Kathy Acker, Maggie Estep and Cookie Mueller. More from people working in clubs since the 1970s through today. I liked it so much that I blurbed it!

[Lyndsey Hobelmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7/5. I can’t tell if I want to be a stripper or want to kill all men anymore.

[Kate Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A VERY FUN ANTHOLOGY!! All about stripping, and dives into a wide array of perspectives. The good, the liberating, the ugly and difficult! I really enjoyed the interviews with the authors at the end of each chapter. So insightful. As a supporter of sex workers I enjoyed this very much.

Lots to discuss here. Some stand-out chapters for me were:

PUSH AND PULL - ESSENCE REVEALED (I loved the push and pull concept of how this was written, juxtaposing the good and the bad)

DANCING STEPS TO TINY FEET - SASSY PENNY (Great visuals)

SECRET LIFE OF AN AUTISTIC STRIPPER - REESE PIPER


TAKEAWAYS:
- Antonia Crane "Stripping is a hard taxing job. It entails waiting, hustling, and negotiating physical boundaries in a place where strangers assume access to your body. As an art form, stripping is joyful, magical, and adrenaline-inducing. But it was also emotionally and politically confusing"
"Stripping was a public-facing revolt against demure feminity and heterosexual norms. Monetizing straight desire and performing as patriarchs play thing was fun and lucrative"
"Strippers are usually depicted as mere background, invalids awaiting rescue or sociopaths".

- There's unfair termination, racist hiring and firing policies and harassment, whorephobia and class shame. Business models of theft are common eg; paying dj, paying the house mum, tip stealing, extortion and coercion. There's a lot of talk in here about the power of unions for stripping which is so great to see.

- NOTES FROM THE CATWALK - ELISSA WALD
-The conditions Elissa talks about emphasize the need for unions. Such as 50 bucks for lateness, 25 bucks if your stocking have a run, 100 bucks for missing night of work- doesn't matter the reason. So a lot of strippers turn up to work sick


- DANCING STEPS TO TINY FEET - SASSY PENNY
"I can do this, I used to do this all the time, week in, week out. I can totally stay up all night and deal with a difficult customer"
"I was the purest embodiment of a woman who had free choice"
on strip clubs: " you don't always get to control your outfits or what customers you see. You just have to take in what you've got. In a club you've got to abide by the rules. You can blossom and have a sense of individuality, but only as far as the rules or boss let you"
" I love the feeling of celebrating what gorgeous creatures you are and what gorgeous friends I've got. The travel has been amazing. You put on a new personality and meet new people, you've got music and a good time, that's a really nice way to switch off"

FLASHING MY GASH FOR CASH - JACQ FRANCES

When they are about to flash their hole for a customer "I've never been particularly asshole confident, is anyone?" I laughed at this!

"strippers are ubiquitous in pop culture but only ever in 2 dimensional way". "Sex work wasn't an option outlined on my guidance counsellors office wall of career pamphlets" - I liked thinking about what if this was the case, interesting I like it, cool visual.

"In spite of showing a fantasy, you're actually just interacting with people on a very real level. When you're honest you're funny, when there's truth theirs humour"

SECRET LIFE OF AN AUTISTIC STRIPPER - REESE PIPER

" When I started dancing, I learned how to pick up non verbal cues. Through all the hours of talking to customers, I learned how to communicate in the moment. Dancing gave me independence".

DIARY OF A BLACK HEAUX - AKYNOS

This made me laugh, on dating. When people say or you say to yourself you have shitty taste in men, why do you keep choosing these men say instead "men who exist in astronomical numbers and are incredibly hard to avoid meeting"

OVERALL a great read that I would recommend to anyone seeking a full spectrum view of stripping. I have a lot of respect for strippers.

[Christina Pace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whorephobia is a collection of essays and interviews by strippers across generations, social class, race, sexuality, gender identity, and more. It was facilitated by Lizzie Borden, director of Born in Flames and Working Girls, which I didn't realize until I looked up the author and saw those films pop up!

As someone who has spent my life outside of the world of sex work and stripping, this is a deeply illuminating collection of its history in the modern Western world, told from the perspective of the people most essential to it - the sex workers themselves. They speak with candor and earnestness about their lives before and after stripping, how their life was affected by it, the minutiae of the job, and if they'd return to it. I like reading these anecdotes from people who actually worked in the field. Not only does it destigmatize the idea of strippers and what they do, but it humanizes them. Also it's just plain INTERESTING to read about people's experiences working in a job such as this.

If you're the type that likes to read about the mundane lives of people, this is a solid read for that kind of itch.

[Sheehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still remain interested in how people work, how jobs are performed, that Studs Terkel oral history style reporting back about livelihoods. This book seemed a part this, and also a bit more, as strippers/sex workers were also interviewed about the 1st person narratives that were discovered from the late 1980/90s. I think the two-perspective, first person reporting and then investigation of the narrative with a peer, in an interview format, worked great, was engaging and allowed for a variety of voices.

The persistent theme through the book was strippers striving to navigate a world of contradictions and community while also balancing a persistent "whorephobia" which overlays moral perspectives over a base capitalistic transactional path, and opens space for consistent cognitive dissonance most all of the writers had to contend with in navigating this profession.

This book was informative and personalized the work in a way devoid of stigma, that I really appreciated.

[LindsayLee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it. I saw one of my fellow dancers reading it in the locker/ changing room one night at the club and I purchased it that evening. The book included accurate accounts in the form of personal essays of what it's like working/ dancing in a club. As a person who has danced in a bikini club, it was refreshing to read true-to-life firsthand experiences. Whorephobia includes accounts of everything from work at bikini clubs that serve liquor to fully nude clubs. This book is informative for the curious and also helpful to someone considering dancing. The compilation of essays provides a broad perspective on the good, the bad, the grimy and the ugly, painful side of dancing. It's also inspiring and is making me strongly consider quitting my "day" job to go back to working less and making my own hours.

[Stevie Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was stellar. Every essay or short story had a slightly different take or perspective on stripping or sex work at large, and I really fell in love with each and every one of these people. My only complaint is that they didn't have any male strippers write for it, but in the introduction Borden talks about how this book was originally going to be a lot broader and she had to narrow it down. Highly recommend!!

rep: asian rep, Latine rep, Black rep, all sex workers, amputee rep, disability rep

tw: discussion of assault, depiction of loss of limb, discussion of loved ones dying, discussion of abuse

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lizzie Borden, who also directed and produced Working Girls (1986), does this amazing job of challenging the convictions that often surround sex work. It's a job, and like a job it can be empowering, tedious, require mastery, exhausting, and exploitive. She has collected stories from icons such as Cookie Mueller, Kathy Acker, Chris Kraus (and on), of writing inspired by their experience in stripping and go-go dancing, followed by interviews after each short story.
This collection normalizes the work history that levels the financial playing field, and sheds whorephobia one story at a time.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I cannot handle being in my physical and emotional body at once."
-Kayla Tange

"He has paid your rent tonight with his aching loneliness, which has entered your heart like black matter. He will pay your rent again next month if you let him."
-Lindsay Byron

"How can I enjoy life to the fullest and respect other people's boundaries? So, first, what are my boundaries? Then, the much longer and more painful process: What are everybody else's? But their boundaries don't extend to their right for me to not exist and not be seen."
-Jo Weldon

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic anthology that collects writing by and interviews with strippers, looks at their lives outside of and in the green rooms at the clubs, the discrimination they face, and the reality of their lives as opposed to some of the portrayals in media and anti sex worker bullshit. Yes, some of the contributors are dead or only do burlesque work, but it's still a more honest look at what goes on, and honestly looks at this through an intersectional lens; there's works from autistic, Black, amputee, and various other contributors, and the interviews that are done with them humanize them a great deal as well. Definitely worth a read through.

[Angel]

I had been meaning to read this book for quite some time but just hadn't had the chance and kept putting off purchasing a copy. It was well worth the wait and its a book I'll likely read again. Each essay was beautifully written and featured a diverse group of dancers with varying perspectives on the lives they lived or continue to live as sex workers.

[Tara N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good; short stories by strippers and the like, telling their stories of getting into it, wanting to get out of it, being lured back into it, trying to stay the hell away from it, or why staying in is their option. I believe we all have a story to tell...

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most collections, this is bit and miss. I did like the variety of voices, and loved the interviews at the end each essay. It was an enlightening read.

[Paula Mock · Rating 5 out of 5]

changed my whole perception of stripping!! really interesting stories, funny and heartbreaking and happy and devastating—i LOVED it

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

yes yes yes!!!!!

[Ally Renwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check your whorephobia at the door!

[Samantha A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic anthology that shines a light on the the real work and thought behind such a stigmatized industry. Beautifully done and eye opening!