We were lucky to catch up with Kristin Garth recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kristin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

The job that I had that most influences my work in both content and style is stripping at a topless club in the panhandle of Florida, a small Bible belt town. Taking off my clothes (or most of them, it was a topless club) was embarrassing but also liberating. I grew up in a very abusive, puritanical home and was sent to a strict religious college until I ran away and took control of my life. (You can read about that in my book Puritan U and a book devoted to my stripping years in catholic school girl and cheerleader uniforms in Candy Cigarette Womanchild Noir.) My sexual curiosity that led me into a strip club with friends, as patrons, in braids and a plaid skirt and ended up being recruited to work there, which I did for five years. I did very well and it helped me establish myself in the world as an autonomous woman who could speak

Working at the club taught me to be exactly who I am and that if you are brave enough to be your authentic self, there are people who will support and love you for that. It felt so incredibly freeing and divergent from my childhood path. It was more than a job but a life course correction. When I write poetry and stories, I try to do so with that bravery I learned there — the idea that if I feel a little embarassed or overexposed, it’s okay. Often when I feel like that in the process, I will feel the most satisfied after because the work will resonate with people the most. There is a power in exposing yourself in an artful way, and I definitely learned that stripping and use that in my writing every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kristingarth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristiningridgarth
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lolaandjolie
• Other: My substack Womanchildishness:

  https://kristin3o160.substack.com