PW: In writing Strip City, were you nervous about the response to such a sexplicit memoir?
LB: My family has made its uneasy peace with the fact that I was a stripper. The real area of objection came from male editor friends of mine, who had a very paternalistic attitude. "You're a real writer, you'll lose all credibility by writing on a subject like this from a first person point of view!" But, no risk, no reward... as in so many areas of writing.
PW: Why write this book now?
LB: Right now everything's "stripper chic." You see it in videos all the time, in hip-hop music, but we don't hear any stories about—or by—the women who do it. It's very popular now, within the community of stripper activists, to try to debunk the stereotypes, reverse the stigma. Which is fine, although in my book, I didn't have any particular agenda—just to give a window into the emotional complexities of this work, a little unvarnished truth about the lifestyle, how you make your business decisions, how it affects your personal life. And what your mom thinks, because frankly, that's the first question out of everybody's mouth.
PW: So what's your exhibitionist-self doing for fun, now that you're not stripping anymore?
LB: I don't categorize myself as an exhibitionist—that's so pathologized. Here's a woman who can't keep her clothes on, running through Times Square streaking—that's certainly right up there with dental surgery on a list of things I think would be fun. Anyway, at this point, to get my "stage-hots" out, I'm working on planning my readings; they should be delivered in a way that's more interesting than a Philosophy 101 lecture.
PW: In your book, your husband seems incredibly unjealous. Is he? Are you?
LB: No, actually, we're both wildly jealous people—but we can separate what's work from everything else.
PW: There's a stereotype of women in the sex trades, that they're "man-haters." But clearly, you're not. From what you've seen, is that a myth?
LB: In any service business, it's very easy to resent the entitlement of your audience. Men can come in and look at you all they want and you don't have an equivalent industry for women. I think occasionally we all go through periods of hating the whole human race. But basically, if you were predisposed not to like men when you came into the business, frankly, you're probably not going to like them any more when you leave. That's not me, though.
PW: Any plans for a movie?
LB: I really don't know. But if someone does, I hope Angelina Jolie plays me. There's no physical similarity whatsoever, but I think she's got the right spirit.
PW: Very out there.
LB: If someone's gonna take the time to read a book about this life, then I might as well be forthcoming—which is not to say I "tell all"—just like a stripper never shows you everything. It was difficult to write in the first person and not write defensively, because there are so many lines of attack, and your inner critic is manufacturing every single one of them—on a 10-minute rotation! That was the biggest challenge for me—I'm going, "you don't need to prove yourself to people, you don't have to be constantly redeeming yourself, showing people how smart you are, what a nice girl you are—come on, just tell the story, that's what people really want to hear." And that, in and of itself, may be redemption enough. And if not, well, there's always—
PW: There's always another dance.
LB: [laughing] Exactly! There's always clogging—my next memoir!
