Ecdysiast

A striptease performer.

An exotic dancer.

A striptease artist.

A performer that provides entertainment through skillful and erotic dance routines.

Soon, I may join the forces of all those who adhere to these definitions.

Why?

Because:

1. I love dancing naked.

2. I love feeling sexualized by others, sexual, and sensual.

3. I love being active.

4. I love putting on makeup and doing my hair and sexy lingerie.

5. I love being watched by others when I am naked. I would get to fully express my exhibitionist side.

6. I would love to put my pole dancing skills to use, practice, and continue to get better.

Also, the following also bolsters my convictions that stripping would be something fun for me to do:

1. Making some serious money.

2. Infusing my relationship with J with high octane sexual energy.

This is something that I almost didn't put on this blog... The slut-shaming that accompanies those in the adult entertainment industry is fascinating to me. (I also know this is one area of my life that I definitely plan on keeping from my parents because of the definite slut-shaming that would come out.) And I didn't want to to invite any concerns from people in our lives that I am making a big mistake. But I felt like this was an important topic for me to write about and post.

I ended up buying a book published this past year from a woman who stripped her way through college. It's not as good as I had hoped, but there are some good tidbits in there so far about tipping procedures, finding a good club, etc. One interesting quote so far: "All the money you make you trade for a little piece of yourself each and every minute you continue dancing." It's obviously a perspective unique to her experience. After reading the quote to J, he said, "Well, yeah! Any job you do you are giving up some of yourself and your life." I agree. If stripping feels like your only choice for making money, and you feel degraded and worn down for doing it, it probably does feel like you are giving up parts of yourself to do it. But I also think many jobs can have that effect if it feels like worthless, soul-sucking work.

I have posted on here before about the intersection between feminism and highly sexualized work, like porn or stripping. I feel like I have my eyes wide open thinking about the possibility of getting naked for strangers and taking home money for doing it. I won't really know until I try it, either. And it's quite possible that I will hate it and never want to do it again. And that would be fine with me; I would not regret gaining life experience and learning something about myself. There is also the distinct possibility that I will genuinely and totally enjoy the work, and love doing it for a while, while I feel a little lost with where I am going with my life. It would feel fantastic to earn and save some money while doing something that engages my body and sense of sexuality, and my people skills. I'll keep y'all updated with where this all goes :-)