SAN FRANCISCO—On June 9, Jennifer Worley released her first book, Neon Girls: A Stripper’s Education in Power and Protest

Worley, formerly a stripper at The Lusty Lady Theatre, is a professor of English at City College. In the late 90s, Worley began stripping to pay for graduate school at San Francisco State University. 

At The Lusty Lady Theatre, Worley participated in a series of pickets against the peep show’s management which led to the creation of the first strippers’ labour union in the country and the first worker-owner stripping cooperative. 

In addition to delving into the series of events that led to the union and fairer wages throughout the industry, Worley’s book centers around the passion of the dancers she worked with. 

In an interview with Salon, Worley boiled down the success of the union formation to “the unquestioning support” she felt she and her colleagues had for each other and for each dancer’s vision of a fairer workplace. She notes, in writing Neon Girls, “what I take away is that there’s a tremendous power in solidarity and in collective action based on common cause.”

This book is now available to preview on GoogleBooks and HarperCollines Publishing and available to purchase at major U.S. and international retailers.