Author’s Introduction:
I wandered into my basement and discovered my father’s glossy porno magazines when I was twelve. I became that which I thought my father loved—an adult entertainer. Today, in a quest to understand my stripper identity, I strip down and cast off the inessentials of being. I revisit my topless past to discover and make sense of my relationship to my body and to challenge the meanings and definitions I created for myself.
“Stripper Wisdom” considers the consequences of being a stripper through short graphic narratives and poems. I strip down to what really matters—the clichés of health, time, family. Even still, the persistent desires, which feel necessary, but selfish: my beauty, my body, being the perfect mother—trigger an exploration of female identity and body image, and a reexamination of how my childhood of hiding away resulted in an adulthood of overexposure.
Download the excerpt here: My Other Nudie Jobs – Nude Housekeeper
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Sheila Hageman is a multi-tasking mother of three. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College, CUNY. She teaches Yoga, Creative Writing, Composition and Literature. She has been published in places like Salon, Conversely, and Moxie. Check out her blog at http://www.strippermom.blogspot.com.
Photo by Mo Costandi.
