Cinematic Strippers: My Top 10 On-screen Hustlers - Part 1
From Showgirls to Star Wars – a slightly inappropriate list of my biggest stripper influences in film.
There are mixed feelings among strippers about Anora, the latest film by Sean Baker — a movie that swept the Oscars this year, winning five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress.
Many believe it’s a form of cultural appropriation, and that Baker doesn’t have the right to tell a story about sex work when he’s not a sex worker himself. He’s been criticized for how he portrays the industry and for the titular character, Anora (played by Mikey Madison), who some feel is a poor representative of the profession. Some consider it an inauthentic depiction that glamorizes sex work; others feel it exploits and trivializes the trauma tied to the job. I was surprised to see how many strippers on Reddit were angry, annoyed, or even triggered by a fictional stripper being celebrated for the very things real strippers are judged for.
I respect my colleagues’ opinions and understand where much of the criticism comes from. I also agree that the film should not be considered a representation of the stripper community as a whole — we all have vastly different experiences with the job. Not all strippers are going to find a scene where a dancer is bound and gagged by men funny, even if it’s meant as slapstick and she doesn’t get hurt.
I’ll admit, I feel a little guilty for liking the film as much as I do. It probably has a lot to do with my incredibly safe and privileged working experience here in Norway. But personally, I didn’t have a problem with how the film handled either stripping or sex work. I think Sean Baker made a sincere effort to show respect for the industry — and for those of us who work in it.
I also agree that a story about sex work is only truly authentic when told by a sex worker — just as queer stories should be told by queer people, or Black stories by Black creators. But striving to be authentic when telling someone else’s story — by including people with lived experience, acknowledging their contributions, and portraying them without dehumanizing them — is not the same as appropriation.
In my opinion, Baker’s portrayal of sex workers in his films is an attempt at allyship, and he deserves more credit for things like hiring a sex worker consultant to help Madison prepare for the role and improve the script. He also cast real dancers: Luna Sofia Miranda plays Lulu, Anora’s best friend, and Lindsey Normington plays her rival, Diamond — both actual strippers.
I don’t think he’s trying to define us or claim to represent us as a filmmaker. His films aren’t “about” sex workers; they’re about people who happen to be sex workers. Anora might not be a character everyone can relate to, but the film isn’t pretending otherwise. All strippers are different, and Anora is just one character — not the rule.
Disliking or not identifying with the film is valid. But after 12 years in Pleasers, I think I’m also allowed to say the opposite.
To me, Anora is one of the most authentic portrayals of the stripping world I’ve seen, at least compared to my own experience working in Oslo’s tiny clubs. And while I don’t see much of myself in Anora, I can still relate to the moments: making faces at my friend behind a customer’s back during a lap dance, getting yelled at for dancing for someone else’s regular, or falling asleep on the bus ride home after a long night.
Baker’s film isn’t a definitive representation, and negative reactions from other dancers are valid - but am I the only one who remembers what kind of representation strippers used to get?
Not every stripper has to like or identify with Anora, but isn’t it at least a step up from the reluctant victims with no other choice, like Demi Moore in Striptease? Or the cautionary tales that end in violent death, like Tracee in The Sopranos? Or the predatory chain-smokers who’ve lost all sense of morality, like Lindsay Lohan in I Know Who Killed Me?
Yes, Anora depicts violence and trauma, and it ends with its titular character sobbing — but it’s completely free of sexual violence, and none of the sex workers die. Meanwhile, Anora’s struggles with stigma, exhaustion, and disappointment are very real parts of the job — ones even the luckiest strippers can recognize — and rarely portrayed elsewhere.
Respectfully, I think the two main criticisms of Anora — glamorization of sex work and exploitation of trauma — kind of cancel each other out. There’s both glamour and hardship, just like in real life.
I don’t see Anora as a “stripper movie” at all. It’s a film about class differences, young love, and disappointment — with a main character who just happens to strip.
But strippers have existed on screen long before Anora — and not all of them were cute brunettes with Brooklyn accents and glitter in their hair, starring in well-made Oscar-winning indie films. I have my own favorites from before pole classes, TikTok, and stripper-positive music videos.
Some of these characters come from films with depictions far worse than anything in Anora. Others aren’t even technically strippers, but they embody the energy and qualities I associate with us.
Whether you love or hate Anora, these characters deserve their place in cinematic history.
So, in honor of Anora — and all who came before her — here are my Top 10 Cinematic Strippers.
(Some of which may surprise you!)
1. Nomi Malone – Showgirls (Paul Verhoeven, 1995)
If I could only watch one movie for the rest of my life, it would probably be Showgirls, because I never get tired of it. I’ve watched it at least once a year since I found it in a dusty DVD bargain bin in 2010 and met the wild, beautiful, furious Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley).
First of all, Nomi might be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. But honestly, her blonde angel curls, flawless 90s porn makeup, and a body that looks just as good in cowboy boots and Daisy Dukes as it does in her “Versayce” dress – are the least interesting things about her. Nomi isn’t just hot – she’s batshit. Unstable, violent, and full of rage, whether she’s licking the pole at Cheetah’s or doing chaotic pool sex with Kyle MacLachlan.
I’ve been head over heels in love with Nomi for nearly 15 years, but I don’t think I’d enjoy working with her in real life. She’s not at the club to make friends – she’s there to get paid, and she’ll push you down the stairs if that’s what it takes to become a star. Best to stay out of her way and admire her from afar.
2. Poison Ivy – Batman & Robin (Joel Schumacher, 1997)
Unpopular opinion: Batman & Robin is my favorite Batman movie.
I know it’s bad. But it’s so fun! Top-tier camp with a ridiculous budget, a script full of Schwarzenegger puns, a homoerotic Batsuit with nipples – and most importantly: the stripper/drag queen hybrid in green, Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman).
In my experience, strippers do best when we adapt to the preferences of each customer – which is easier when you look kind of basic and keep your opinions to yourself. But not Ivy!
She’s evil, literally toxic, does a striptease in a fluffy gorilla suit – and still sparks a bidding war at the Wayne Enterprises charity auction. Even Batman pulls out his credit card, and he doesn’t strike me as the type who usually goes for militant vegans with Manic Panic hair who talk like Mae West.
3. Santanico Pandemonium – From Dusk Till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez, 1996)
For almost 30 years, strippers have been copying this goddess – the first one of us to ever dance to the now-ubiquitous After Dark by Tito & The Tarantulas. (A song that’s become way too played in clubs around the world - that I’m also guilty of using in my shows as well.)
In Oslo, Santanico (Salma Hayek) would’ve been one of those dancers who always makes money – even on a slow night. She’s exotic and stunning, says she’s Latina even though she’s clearly got an Eastern European accent, and is somehow allowed to dance barefoot on stage. (Which only happens in clubs written by Tarantino, by the way.)
She’s not messy, but she knows the other girls don’t like her – because she’s distracting, too popular, and steals all the attention with her show.
Honestly, I’d probably be one of those dancers staring up at her from the back of the room, forgotten by my customer. So here’s a petty little shoutout to the background stripper who keeps dancing while the rest just freeze and stare at Salma.
Dick move – but I respect the hustle. Get that bag, girl.
4. Diamond – Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria, 2019)
Cardi B doesn’t dance now – she makes money moves. But fame hasn’t stopped her from being a voice for the industry. She’s never hidden what she did before becoming hip-hop royalty, and she’s said she actually enjoyed it.
As Cardi told The Guardian in 2017:
“People want me to be so full of shame that I used to dance. I would never be ashamed of it. I made a lot of money, I had a good time and it showed me a lot – it made me open my eyes about how people are, how men are, about hunger and passion and ambition.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Cardi was, and will always be, one of us. And I love her. But after seeing her drag Constance Wu away from a customer by the hair in Hustlers, I’m also kind of glad we never worked together. Yikes.
Bitchy NYC strippers named Diamond are iconic onscreen (there’s one in Anora too), but they’d never put up with working in tiny, high-tax, low-cash, no-hair-pulling Norway. Probably for the best, because there’s no doubt she would’ve eaten me alive.
Then again, I doubt even she would’ve messed with some of the scarier Slavic girls I’ve worked with. You know, the ones who look you dead in the eye while talking shit about you in dark Russian voices — but who’d never bother pulling your hair if you pissed them off, blyat. They’d wait until you were asleep and cut it all off instead. :)
5. Esmeralda – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1996)
I know it might feel a little inappropriate to include Disney on a list of cinematic strippers, but… isn’t it also a little inappropriate to make a kids’ movie out of a Victor Hugo story that includes genocide, public executions, and a horny priest choking a woman and singing about it? Not to mention a certain racial slur I’m pretty sure Disney really regrets using repeatedly throughout the film?
Exactly.
Disney’s Esmeralda isn’t technically a stripper — but she was the first complex female character I remember seeing on screen, and she still embodies a lot of what I value in a good stripper today.
She looked like the Disney heroines I was used to, but she was a broke street performer instead of a princess. A rebellious Romani woman who stood up for what she believed in, no matter the risk. Gorgeous and charming, but not afraid to get angry and speak her mind. Creative. Empathetic. Independent. Living life on her own terms — and without shame.
She was also kinda magic — though more magician than Hogwarts alumn — and honestly, that made her way cooler than any princess.
And come on — she dances on a pole while people throw money at her, the slut-shaming priest mutters “Look at that disgusting display,” and the blond soldier with the Ken-doll hair responds, “Yes, sir,” in the most customer-y voice I’ve ever heard.
Also? She was voiced by Demi Moore — the same year she starred in Striptease.
I like to think of her as an activist pursuing her dreams of becoming a tambourine soloist, supporting herself by dancing on the side.
That concludes part 1 of this list! If you’re still here after I may have ruined part of your childhood by comparing Disney princesses and Batman villains to money-making pole dancers, then first of all: you officially deserve a discount on your next lap dance.
But more importantly: more inappropriate comparisons in Part 2.
Originally published in Norwegian at Narrative.no, March 24th, 2025. Updated version. Translation by the author.