A Stripper's Guide Podcast

In this season finale, hosted by Leilah and  friend-of-the-pod Erica Sosa , the girls are geeking out cuz get to talk with one of their own favorite podcasters: AUBREY FUCKING GORDON!!
Aubrey Gordon (also known as "Yr Fat Friend") is an author, podcaster, and activist focused on justice for fat folks. She stopped by the show for a chat about how--and why--sometimes former fat folks and former sex workers try to distance themselves from their pasts. We talk about the dangers of stigma, the realities of social pressures, and how the fight for sex workers' rights and the fight for fat peoples' rights are actually one and the same.

Aubrey's links & stuff:

• Maintenance Phase Podcast (available wherever you stream)
• Books: "You Just Need to Lose Weight" and "What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat"
• Social Media: Twitter, Instagram
• Your Fat Friend  Documentary

A Stripper's Guide pod is taking a little breaky-break for now, but you can stay connected with my newsletter!

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It's just a fact: lots of sex workers are moms, and lots of moms are sex workers. In this 2-part Mothers Day Special, we hear directly from different sex working moms who offer up some hard-won wisdom about parenting while living under society's microscope. This episode features sex workin' moms Roxy Hartless and Mina!

Links:

• Roxy Hartless: Instagram & TikTok
• Leilah's music stuff:
  • Tickets to see Leilah's band in Brooklyn, May 19
  •  Leilah's Spotify
  •  Leilah's music Instagram
• Life After MLM Podcast episode featuring Leilah
• Valley Latini on A Stripper’s Guide Podcast : 
  • Two Stripper/Pop Singers Walk into a Bar  (ep. 1.2)
  • From Stripper to Full-Time Musician  (ep. 4.13)

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

It's just a fact: lots of sex workers are moms, and lots of moms are sex workers. In this 2-part Mothers Day Special, we hear directly from different sex working moms who offer up some hard-won wisdom about parenting while living under society's microscope.

Today's featured guests: 

• Elle Stanger - certified sex educator, parent,  host of They Talk Sex Podcast, and sex worker since 2009.  Follow them on Instagram & Twitter 
• Kristen Thomas - certified breathwork facilitator, founder of Bad Bitches do Breath Work, mom, and sex worker of 16 years. Follow her on Instagram

Leilah's links:
- A Stripper's Guide Newsletter
- Tickets to see Leilah's band in Brooklyn, May 19
- Leilah's Spotify
- Leilah's music Instagram 

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Whether or not you're familiar with the concept of a "gold star lesbian", we're here to discuss why it's time to let that term die. Come hang out with me and my high school friend, Frankie, for a conversation about how "gold star lesbianism" is anti-femme, anti-trans, and anti-sex worker. 

• Frankie's art gallery
• Frankie's Instagram
• Leilah's Instagram
• A Stripper's Guide newsletter

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Hi! We have some special announcements today! 

Bad news first:
due to scheduling conflicts, Ataraxxxia isn't able to continue here on this podcast, BUT you haven't seen the last of her! She remains super dedicated to uplifting and de-stigmatizing sex work in Latin America. She will always be a friend of this show, and she will likely appear as a guest again sometime in the future. We love you, Ata!! Follow her on Instagram here.

Updates to the show:
For now, we'll be releasing episodes every two weeks while Leilah searches for grants, sponsorship, and any other funding that may be available to this podcast. We aren't going anywhere; we're just taking a slight step back while we figure out how to take some big leaps forward.

Calling queer, femme, or sex working filmmakers & podcasters!
If you have experience producing podcasts or documentaries, and you're interested in helping out or possibly collaborating with A Stripper's Guide on some exciting new projects, email us at info@astrippersguide.com

JOIN LEILAH'S NEWSLETTER for updates on both A Stripper's Guide and news about her music (live shows, new releases, & more)

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Today, Leilah interviews our very own Erica Sosa! Sosa is a pole dancer, sex worker, and fat Puerto Rican femme. On her blog, her social media, and in her new fashion styling business, she helps other fat femmes release shame and learn to celebrate their hot bods. Tune in for a combo pack of femme wisdom, titillating facts about the pole industry, and a sprinkling of Sosa’s signature magical pixie dust.

Click here to read Erica’s blog and find her on Instagram & Twitter!

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

CW: violence against sex workers and femmes.
From intimate partner violence to mass murder, sex workers aren't the only people who suffer the consequences of anti-sex worker bias. On March 16, 2021, a white man walked into three separate massage parlors and murdered eight people. Most of those killed, and all of those targeted, were Asian women. This episode explores the connection between anti-sex worker violence and violence against ALL femmes and women.

Click here to read A Stripper's Guide Blog on Substack

Related episodes:

• No Feminism Without Asian Sex Workers (featuring Dr. Connie Wun)
• What Does it Mean to Decriminalize Sex Work? (feat. Ariella Moscowitz of Decriminalize Sex Work)
• Are You a Good Girl or a Bad Girl? (a conversation about femme identity with Dr. Rhea Ashley Hoskin)

Also mentioned in this episode: Red Canary Song

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Inside a patriarchy, many femmes and women, both sex working and non, face common relationship issues. In this episode, Leilah talks about why.

Hey, it's me, Leilah. I started a blog! Subscribe to my Substack (subscriptions start at FREE) for a growing collection of essays, stories, and educational content about the fight for sex workers’ and femmes’ rights to life, love, and freedom.

Click here to read my first post, “She Was a Stripper. Her Boyfriend Didn’t Like That.”

For Erica Sosa's blog, click here!

Thank you so much for your continued support & enthusiasm for A Stripper’s Guide! Please don’t be a stranger — we always wanna hear from you, whether it’s in the comments on any of our other platforms, or ratings & reviews of A Stripper’s Guide Podcast.

With my love & gratitude,

Leilah (& Team)

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

When you watch a rom-com or a sitcom, who do you normally see as the romantic lead? You’re probably picturing a slim, slightly curvy, probably white or racially ambiguous cis woman with everything “just right.” More than likely, your mind did not drift to someone fat, Black, Brown, or queer. So how do we combat this? By embracing everything society wants us to be ashamed of. This way, we practice revolutionary resistance to the patriarchal idea of who deserves love, softness, kindness, and respect. 

Check out Erica's blog, Revolutionary Hotness, which dives into removing shame from her relationship to her body and celebrating herself as a fat femme.  Also, find her on Instagram here! 

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Dr. Rhea Ashley Hoskin is blazing trails in the field of Femme Theory, which aims to center and include femme narratives and experiences in all realms. From conservative communities to feminist and queer communities, why is it that so many femmes know what it’s like to feel somehow both underestimated and overlooked, and at the same time behaviorally policed? Why is it that so many femmes, from sex workers and food servers to teachers and corporate professionals, know what it’s like to be sexually harassed at work, at home, and out in the street? Dr. Hoskin and I ponder these questions and more.

• Find more of Dr. Hoskin on Instagram, Twitter, and her website
• Find Leilah on Instagram
• Can femme be theory? Exploring the epistemological and methodological possibilities of femme - Dr. Hoskin’s article mentioned in this episodes )
• Queer Femme Erasure - another Stripper's Guide episode you may like

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Ataraxxxia habla con ASTRASEX, un sindicato que lucha para los derechos laborales y humanos de les trabajadores sexuales en Colombia. Acompañanos en esta conversación en donde compartimos nuestros puntos de vista y una vez más hablamos de lo que nadie habla.

• Encuentra a ASTRASEX en Instagram y Twitter
• Sigue a Ataraxxxia en Instagram

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Did you know that sex work is a criminal offense in most of the world, including virtually the entire United States? Attorney Elizabeth Ricks is here to explain how criminalization vastly increases violence towards sex workers, and why efforts to end human trafficking MUST be led by sex workers, not police (if we actually want to end human trafficking).

Also check out our sister episode: What Does It Mean to Decriminalize Sex Work? with Ariela Moscowitz of the organization Decriminalize Sex Work

Mentioned in this episode:

• TransLife Care program at Chicago House 
• SWOP (Sex Workers Outreach Project)

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

For this season's finale, we're joined by my fellow veteran stripper and mentor to new dancers, Alexa the House Mom! Sit down with me and Alexa, your stripper fairy god aunties, while we chat about sex work, dating, and dating as a sex worker.
Also in this episode: a very special announcement about my *cough* new cohost *cough* and more...

• Follow the podcast's NEW INSTAGRAM
• Follow Leilah on Instagram
• Follow Alexa the House Mom on Instagram

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Topics include: how my stint in a fitness cult forced me to contend with my white privilege, the similarities between cultic abuse and 1:1 abuse, and why multilevel marketing is trash.

This bonus episode originally appeared on the From Huns to Humans podcast, whose host, Danielle, is a former MLM cult member and now works to help folks transition out of MLM cults.

Are you a cult survivor or want to learn more about how to support cult survivors? Check out the #igotout movement.

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Can sex workers be faithful lovers? Is it ever okay to hide your sex work from your partner(s)? Do sex workers "deserve" to be cheated on? If you've grappled with these questions in your own relationships, this episode is for you.

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Lots of sex workers, myself included, have run into issues with romantic partners who feel uncomfortable about our jobs. This episode is about what happens when they don't confront their insecurities.

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

I'm taking a little break, but I'll be back on October 5th with a brand new season full of hot n spicies. In the meantime, check out a few of my favorite episodes (these links are for Apple Podcasts, but these episodes are available wherever you stream):

• What Does it Mean to Decriminalize Sex Work?
• Whorephobia in Belly Dance & Pole Dance
• Date Smarter, Not Harder

Love the show? Leave a rating and review! It means so much <3

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Too often, when a sex worker needs help with something, they don’t get the right help (if they even get help at all). Something a lot of us worry about is that we won’t be understood or taken seriously by therapists, coaches, doctors, realtors, lawyers, etc.  We need support from people who really *get* us; we need service providers from within our own community.

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Valley Latini tells us all about how she used her time in the strip club industry to build her dream career as a touring musician! 

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.

Butterfly Mush (Andrea Acevedo) is a painter, mom, and retired stripper. These days, you can catch the her making art from her new home in a small Colombian town, where she recently moved with her whole family.  She was able to use her stripper career to transform into a full-time artist and business owner, and she left NYC to follow her dreams of rural living in her home country. If you're a sex worker with big dreams of your own, tune in and get inspired!

• Follow Butterfly Mush on Instagram

Love the show and want more of it? Click here and become a premium subscriber for $4! Your subscriptions make it possible for me to continue producing this pod, which I am so passionate about.