I miss you, stripper-era Diablo Cody

by Furry Girl

09.18.09

It's a real shame that Diablo Cody hasn't kept her old blog online.  I realize she's a famous Oscar-winner now and has important celebrity encounters and movie openings to blog about, but her earlier work was among my favorite stuff to read when I was new to the adult industry.  I recently sought out one of her posts via Archive.org, and I wanted to re-post it here as a little piece of sex worker history the web has almost forgotten.

This was written November 16th, 2003.

Under glass.

Saturday night is the cruelest shift at the peep show, and not just because I'd rather be abusing alcohol at my favorite bowling alley. No, Saturday nights suck because S-Mart attracts throngs of drunken curiousity seekers and couples who think it might be "fun" to go to that giant sex shop downtown.

Now, as you know, I do the dirty stuff in a private booth, away from prying eyes. But when I'm not doing a show, I have to sit in the "den," which is basically a big glass display case in the middle of the fucking store. I'm basically a doll. Anyone who walks in can ogle me in my underwear, tap on the glass, hurl insults, cluck with disapproval at how "exploited" I am, compare me to an animal in a zoo, etc. And they do.

Most nights, this isn't a problem. The usual gang of perverts who frequent the store are used to seeing us in there, and they don't even approach the glass unless they want to buy a show. But on Saturdays, that's when we get the kind of people who aren't used to seeing peep show girls in the flesh.

Worse yet, we get women.

Women shopping for bachelorette parties. Women on "girls' night out," who have had one too many Flirtinis and are feeling self-righteous, hilarious and/or bitter. Women who are with their husbands, and suddenly turn sour when hubby approaches the glass. I stiffen whenever I see a woman coming. They never have anything nice to say, even though I've mastered my sheepish "It's a living, sister" smile.

What made last night especially agonizing was that I was working alone. I brought a book on Buddhism and zoned out on the sofa (so much for mindfulness.) Everytime I slipped out of my book-induced reverie and looked up, there was a group of people standing at the glass. "Hey, she's real!" someone inevitably said. Or (with disgust) "They pay her to sit in there and read?"

I came home at 1:00 a.m. and had nightmares.





6 Comments »

  1. I figure model, and I LOVE when I get to pose while reading. The three hours FLY BY.

    No nightmares for me, and I get paid $50. I wonder how much Diablo got paid to be on display like a zoo animal.

    Comment by The Beautiful Kind — September 18, 2009 @ 3:45 am

  2. I don't think her job at a peepshow made her inherently animal-like. I think the point was the way assholes (and in particular, *women assholes*) treated her as such.

    Comment by Furry Girl — September 18, 2009 @ 1:55 pm

  3. If the place she worked was like most peepshows, she didn't get paid at all for the time she was sitting in the "den." A few places (like the Lusty Lady) pay wages like any other hourly job, but in most you get paid directly by customers, and you pay the house a booth fee. Some establishments may set prices, but in my experience the workers set their own.

    Comment by Christine — September 18, 2009 @ 7:16 pm

  4. This reminds me of the issues i have when i look at strippers. I want to hold up a big sign saying "hello! i am looking at you because i find you sexually attractive, not because i am judging you or because a man has forced me to come to this club!"
    Sigh. Maybe one day I will manage to display enough confidence to not seem awkward in those situations.

    Comment by Lisa — February 28, 2010 @ 10:03 pm

  5. Lisa, I often want to have a sign like that, too! Maybe a T-shirt that says "DYKE ON THE PROWL--I'M OGLING YOU" or something.

    Comment by Cae — March 14, 2010 @ 10:41 am

  6. I never got to read it in blog form, but I did enjoy Diablo's book version Candy Girl.

    Comment by Royce Icon — July 15, 2010 @ 2:03 am

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Furry Girl: a good time not yet had by all.

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