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Lena's Reviews > Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper
Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper
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Diablo Cody wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for the smart and funny movie Juno. As one might expect, her memoir about a year spent working as a stripper is also smart and funny, but much, much harder edged.
Cody was working as an office drone in Minneapolis when she spontaneously decided to try out "Amateur Night" at a nearby strip dive. Though her first attempt garnered her all of nine dollars, she was so fascinated by the world she saw she got herself put on the schedule at an upscale strip club.
Driven in part by a last-ditch rebellious desire to escape the cubicle farm hell of "respectable adulthood" as well as by an urge to master the secrets of a mysterious profession in which successful dancers could make thousands of dollars a night, Cody worked in half a dozen different clubs. In her quest for sex-industry success, she also transformed herself from a pink-haired, punk nerd girl into a fake blond with hair extensions, lacquered death nails and more make-up than a circus clown.
Cody is unflinchingly honest as she describes the stripping profession from the inside. Earning a living by removing one's clothes, it turns out, is nowhere near as easy as one might presume. Bored customers, passive-aggressive DJ's, and extortionist club quota policies that can leave dancers in debt to the house at the end of a slow night are just a few of the challenges she had to overcome. Cody eventually figured out how to play the game well enough to sock away a down payment on a house, but that cash came at the expense of physical and emotional exhaustion, not to mention permanent foot damage from those towering stripper shoes.
While Cody's smart insights into this unfamiliar, forbidden world make for fascinating reading, much of what she relates is so graphic there were places I learned more than I wanted to about what really goes on behind those blackened windows. There is a decidedly un-sexy reality behind the cold, hard commercialization of sex, one that even Diablo Cody's skilled storytelling and punchy humor is hard pressed to balance out.
Cody was working as an office drone in Minneapolis when she spontaneously decided to try out "Amateur Night" at a nearby strip dive. Though her first attempt garnered her all of nine dollars, she was so fascinated by the world she saw she got herself put on the schedule at an upscale strip club.
Driven in part by a last-ditch rebellious desire to escape the cubicle farm hell of "respectable adulthood" as well as by an urge to master the secrets of a mysterious profession in which successful dancers could make thousands of dollars a night, Cody worked in half a dozen different clubs. In her quest for sex-industry success, she also transformed herself from a pink-haired, punk nerd girl into a fake blond with hair extensions, lacquered death nails and more make-up than a circus clown.
Cody is unflinchingly honest as she describes the stripping profession from the inside. Earning a living by removing one's clothes, it turns out, is nowhere near as easy as one might presume. Bored customers, passive-aggressive DJ's, and extortionist club quota policies that can leave dancers in debt to the house at the end of a slow night are just a few of the challenges she had to overcome. Cody eventually figured out how to play the game well enough to sock away a down payment on a house, but that cash came at the expense of physical and emotional exhaustion, not to mention permanent foot damage from those towering stripper shoes.
While Cody's smart insights into this unfamiliar, forbidden world make for fascinating reading, much of what she relates is so graphic there were places I learned more than I wanted to about what really goes on behind those blackened windows. There is a decidedly un-sexy reality behind the cold, hard commercialization of sex, one that even Diablo Cody's skilled storytelling and punchy humor is hard pressed to balance out.
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Wendy
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Mar 16, 2008 10:44AM
No less than Gloria Steinem,as a young reporter, went "undercover" as a playboy bunny in one of the famous Playboy clubs to discover a similar unsexy grind and wrote about it. The more things change...the more they remain the same...
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I bet that would be very interesting. Makes me wonder about how the industry has changed with the changing roles of women since that time. Doesn't seem like it's put much of a damper on business, that's for sure.
I know one very highly intelligent young woman -- a close friend of the younger daughter -- who worked as a stripper through college -- and came close to marrying one of the boss men at one point. I think I'll read this one to gain some insight into what she may have experienced in living this life for the time she did so. As for the film Juno -- I almost bolted as I said in a thread earlier but I fought my qualms as they arose and am glad that I did. Powerful film and story well-told indeed. Cody totally won my admiration by the time the credits rolled.
I also had a friend who paid her tuition working in the industry. She got involved because another friend had started working in a club as part of her master's research in human sexuality. Cody highlights the fact that you'll find a much wider cross-section of women in these clubs than most would expect. But I think she does a very good job of pointing out that this is far from an easy way to make a living.
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Petra is wondering when this dawn will beome day
(last edited Dec 03, 2010 06:14PM)
(new)
Its as sleazy to take money off women who are stripping as it is to strip, but the sleaziest of all is to promote this sort of life style as the acme of female success, a la the 
