Revelations

ARTS AND CULTURE

By Michael Persico & Alli Katz

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Dec. 26, 2007

Kelly O'Connor
Stripper

"I'm a nude psychologist. Most people who come into the club and spend a lot of money just want to connect to another person. The fact that it's a barely clothed attractive female is a bonus. I don't call myself a dancer, because it always leads to people asking, 'What kind of dancing?' The kind where I swing around brass poles and rub my ass on people for money. If you have a problem, it's your issue. You should find out why you feel threatened by it. It takes a certain kind of personality to do this. You have to enjoy the attention. People talk about how stripping is degrading; I see it as the exact opposite. When I'm onstage, I'm in power because you can't control yourself. Everyone sells themselves. Whatever it is, you sell a part of yourself that's better than what other people have. I'm just using what I have at my disposal."