This is my real name

Description

A Stripper’s Memoir

While this is not marketed as a book by an anarchist, the author is one, has been interviewed on From Embers podcast, and brings an anarchist sensibility to the complex relationship of work, sexwork, co-workers, and self definition.

Sexwork is a fraught topic, easily romanticized and exploited for the appeal that sex has in a repressed society, and books like this are the best option for learning what we can without living the life ourselves.

“Brunet spent ten years working as a dancer at strip clubs using the name Michelle. From her very first lap dance in a small town bar to her work at high-end clubs, Michelle learns she must follow the unspoken rules that will allow her to succeed in the competitive industry. Along the way, she and her co-workers encounter compelling clients and unreasonable bosses, and navigate their own relationships with drugs and alcohol. Michelle and her friends rely on each other’s camaraderie and strength in an industry that can be both toxic and deeply rewarding.”

We offer this book in the spirit of personal histories and feminist praxis, akin to “I, Capitalist,” “Living with the Monster,” and “Nuances,” zines that speak to how we live our lives as much outside and/or against the status quo as possible (with a varying value for “possible”). It is mostly a series of vignettes about a wide range of experiences in sex work, the only honest way–without romanticizing it or denying its good points–to talk about this loaded topic.