Seriously Warped Article in *Glamour*!

Did anybody see this? It is a demented article in Glamour magazine about one woman who started out with a pathetic life, becane a stripper, hated her life even more, quit being a stripper, and is now trying to save all the other strippers. Among the horrendous and retarded things they are implying or even stating outright is that ladies my age cannot make money dancing and so are letting the customers "put it in" while attempting to disguise the act by throwing table cloths over thier laps. What kind of club is that? As irritated I get with the Pig Pen, that is jsut unthinkable!

I wrote this reply, and I encourage you to do reply as well. The more they hear form us dancers and the people who love us, the better they will rethink this stupid position they have. Let's tell 'em what we think!

Dear Glamour:

I have read and loved your magazine for years. However, I am very disappointed to see your article, "No One Should Have to be a Stripper."

Ms. Dust seems to be doing an important and useful service for those girls who sincerely want to get out of dancing but are not sure how. I commend her for her work and her non-judgmental attitude.

Your portrayal of exotic dancers as being, to a woman, sad, desperate individuals willing to do anything to make a buck, is absolutely disgusting.

As I write this, I am sitting in my quiet farm house, having a cup of coffee and listening to Christmas music before I leave for my shift as a dancer at a small bar in Stone Park, Illinois. My life, like that of many of my friends and colleagues, is completely normal. I myself have a wonderful husband (who has a job and does not have a drug habit) and a happy, healthy son. I provide for my family an income greater than what I made teaching science, while committing fewer hours outside the home. My work provides us with extra cash for family vacations and day trips, along with the flexibility to take weeks off at a time if I need to be with my family.

I have been dancing on and off since I was 18. In fact, I will pass my 19 year anniversary next month. As a veteran in this business, I found this statement particularly offensive:

Ahnee says she saw women "who'd been working for 18 years. They had bad plastic surgery, and they'd have to have sex with customers because they weren't in demand as dancers; they'd put a tablecloth over their lap and let the man put it in." She didn't want her life to get to that.

I know many women who are my age or older, who have naturally spectacular bodies, and are in extremely high demand. Not only do they have regular customers they have cultivated over the years; they are constantly attracting new customers who admire thirty- and forty-something women for their beauty and their conversation. We are all making a good living, and we are not throwing table cloths over our laps to do so.

Sincerely,

Colleen C. O'Reilly
colleenoreilly.com


Post Script:
About 2 dozen of us at my stripper forum site sent replies to this letter. We shared them on the forum, and I can tell you, each letter was original, articulate, and intelligent. Each of us got a patronizing form letter, but no other reply. To the best of my knowledge, none of the other letters were ever published in the "Letters to the Editor" section.