In the recession-scarred landscape of 1990s New York City, a young writer and dancer faces a brutal economic reality: no one will hire her, not even to bus tables.
When she impulsively takes a job as a topless dancer, Stoehr begins a nine-year journey through the misunderstood world of sex work—a journey that runs parallel to her struggles for artistic recognition and personal autonomy.
From the neon-lit stages of New York City to the debauched clubs of San Francisco, Stoehr chronicles the dualities of creating art while being objectified, and of finding camaraderie among fellow dancers while enduring an increasingly abusive marriage.
With unflinching honesty, Stoehr dismantles the stereotypes and stigma surrounding sex workers, revealing the humanity, resilience, and sisterhood that flourishes behind the curtain of societal judgment.
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Girls Girls Girls : One Woman's Experience as a Sex Worker in the 1990s by Shelley Stoehr was published on 13 August 2026 by Legacy Book Press. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Book Tour, I am delighted to share an interview with the author here today.
Interview with author Shelley Stoehr
1. What compelled you to write this memoir now, decades after the events it describes? Was there a specific moment when you knew this story had to be told?
This was partly a pandemic book! After I left the sex industry in 2000, I didn’t really talk about my history as a sex worker. It simply wasn’t a part of my life anymore—I was living in a new state, was married, and had a child. I didn’t think the PTA would appreciate the 9 years I worked in the sex industry.
When I went back to graduate school for an MFA in Creative Writing in 2016, I began to consider writing about my past as a stripper, but I wasn’t brave enough yet. Then, during the pandemic, I had time to ruminate, and I ended up writing and publishing an essay about stripping and my toxic relationship with my ex-husband. The reactions from friends and colleagues were positive, which inspired me to write my story as a full-length memoir.
Although I didn’t start writing until 2020, I think I first knew this story needed to be told when the #MeToo movement began gaining steam online in 2017. I had a MeToo story to tell about my ex-husband’s abuse, but I wasn’t brave enough to write about it. Writing about sex work wasn’t as daunting as writing about the sexual abuse I endured because I am a feminist and was deeply ashamed that I’d allowed my former husband to treat me the way he did. Now that my book is coming out and my story is going to be public, I still worry a little bit about that portion of my story, but I think it needs to be said.
Like many former and current sex workers today, I am finally able to be part of the conversation around sex worker rights, but I’m also now able to tell the story of being oppressed by my ex. I don’t need to be embarrassed about it! Although the cultural permission to speak about the nuances of sex work and about sexual coercion and abuse didn’t exist in the 1990s like it does today, I believe that now I can talk about my past without being overly judged for it.
2. The title Girls Girls Girls is borrowed from the neon signs outside strip clubs. How does the sign relate to your experiences as a sex worker?
One of the things that makes my memoir, Girls Girls Girls, powerful and important is my portrayal of the comradery, support, and sisterhood of sex workers. A lot of the book takes place in the dressing rooms of the various strip clubs I’d worked at and highlights the mutual support and creative lives of the women I worked with. To me, the title both refers to the neon signs, which provide context to my story, and to the sisterhood of women who are or have been in the business.
My cover art shows the neon sign but as if hand-drawn, which I intended to represent that my book is also about artmaking and trying to live a creative life while struggling with economic precarity. I chose hot pink to show that stripping, while sometimes dark, can also be playful and light. It depends on the day, the club, and your point of view.
3. Was it difficult to write about the sensitive, often misunderstood topics in Girls Girls Girls? How did you navigate topics so often steeped in shame?
At first, it was difficult, although as I said above, the harder part was writing about the abuse I’d endured from my ex-husband than writing about my work in the clubs. In my first draft of the book, I even tried leaving my ex out of the book altogether! For obvious reasons, that didn’t work. I needed to dig in and be honest about my entire experience and the shame imposed on me by my ex-husband, which gradually sank into my skin and became part of me. I now call it “third-person shame,” because I wasn’t personally ashamed of my job, but I did allow the shame that others felt for me to affect me. Part of the effect was feeling that I needed to keep my work secret from civilians, neither writing nor even talking about it. I deeply regret that!
This is not to say that sex work is easy! But it’s not all dark and dangerous, either. In my experience—perhaps because of their marginalization—sex workers make up the most open, inspiring, loving community I’ve ever encountered. I really wrote this book for them and keeping that in mind made it easier to write about things I’d formerly kept secret.
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She publishes internationally in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction and has received awards from the DeGroot Foundation, The North American Review, New Millennium Sunshots, Writer's Digest, WOW: Women on Writing, The New York Public Library, and the American Library Association.
In her work, Shelley seeks to challenge societal stigmas and to encourage open dialogues about issues that are often shrouded in silence.
Shelley identifies as disabled and is a former sex worker.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoehrshelley/
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