This is for all of the strippers
who we perceive as our insidious enemy,
who work in dollar bill precipitated atmospheres,
who we hate for wrapping around men,
putting them into trances with their mesmerizing eyes.
The fear of being positioned by their venom lingers.
We live by Darwin’s evolutionary beliefs.
Survival of the Fittest.
We know that sex sells.
Selling sexuality to survive?
I don't think so.

Maybe this is to more people than just the strippers.

This is for the kids.

You see we don't learn about sex.

Google, who was the first horny cavemen who paid for a lap dance?
Google, I think I had a wet dream… what's wrong with me?
Google, I had premarital sex. Am I going to Hell?

Teachers go down our ears and we learn not to do it.
“Well… when two people love each other…”
My ass.
In school you teach me how to speak Spanish.
You quiz me on the language of Shakespeare.
How about when I’m naked?
When he is naked.
How do I speak then?
This one isn't on Rosetta Stone.
You give me a lesson on STD’s.
You give me a lesson on abstinence.
You tell me to take my pick.
I know that either way… I am f***ed.

But, you see you drench my childhood
in sex-innuendo dense movies
that give me the rundown on sex, shame, and serving men.
Cinderella’s glass slipper?
Her virginity.
Belle?
A pawn in an abusive relationship.
Sleeping Beauty’s seemingly innocent kiss?
An act of r*pe.

Here I am, looking the snake of lust in the eye.
Adam, Eve, the serpent…
the backbones of humanity.
I remain fearful,
not of her bite but of my own inability.
This is to say to be a sexual woman
is a disappointment,
Strip clubs and criminalized
while strippers are victimized.
It's time to allow women of today to unleash their sexuality.
It's to preach what we teach our kids, Darwin’s theory of evolution.
It's time to make the strip club the classroom because
the snake has become the teacher.