This episode enters the world of stripping, with a focus on the film Hustlers. Anna’s first guest is Grace Barber-Plentie, a freelance film programmer and writer who recently curated a Barbican film event on Reframing the Fat Body. Grace draws our attention to a particular film in her programme that normalises fat pole dancers: Dangerous Curves. This segues into a celebration of Lizzo’s appearance in Hustlers and more generally the brilliant performances of the ensemble cast.
Grace and Anna revere the female friendships presented on screen, particularly between the characters played by Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu. Such strong bonds and respect between female strippers comes to life, as Anna speaks to friends and strippers Chiqui Love and Stacey Clare. As members of the Berlin Strippers Collective and East London Strippers Collective respectively, Chiqui and Stacey talk intersectional feminism, the issues facing the strip club industry, and misrepresentations of sex work on screen. They speak up for sex workers’ rights and envision what Hustlers 2 should look like…
Recommendations… Grace: P-Valley, Small Axe (series). Chiqui: Bombshell. Stacey: Harlots (series), The Deuce (series).
Other mentions: Dangerous Curves (short), 9 to 5, The Wrestler (2008), Showgirls, The Full Monty, Shameless (series).
Grace Barber-Plentie 
Chiqui Love 
Stacey Clare