Sex Work--preface

"Now I can accept that having been a stripper means I may always be an easy
target for ridicule. Act cheap, reap the cheap shot, right?
[But in my evolution] I'm less distracted by outsider derision and insider
propaganda: the slut-baiting, the proselytizing, the rationalizations.
I'm learning to examine the chaos of my past yet remain in the present.
I'm learning to repress less and discriminate more.
Through this account-settling and inventory-taking, I may be "better".
Less angry. Less defensive.
I'm more realistic about what can't be wished, or litigated, away--the burn
rate, the danger, the market demand for novelty, youth and beauty.
And I'm more concerned with my quality of life than my shelf life.
I'm definitely more balanced.
But I'm nowhere near finished.
And I'm nowhere near Zen.
Honey."

- excerpted from Strip City by Lily Burana