“For [_Jolene_](https://www.instagram.com/otherwomxn/), specifically, I do a line-up of half trans and half cis woman, to show that you can be attracted to any of these girls, and all these girls can bring it”
This Thursday night, the new start to the weekend will see the sensual womxn of the new, all-inclusive womxn strip show, _Jolene_, take ownership of the stage at the iconic _Cheetah’s Strip Club_. [EthicalDrvgs](https://www.instagram.com/ethicaldrvgs/) allied a diversity of womxn to perform in celebration of trans strippers and womxn today. However, there is one thing to set straight: this is not a strip show of trans womxn in the singular, but rather the spectrum of trans womxn in the plural. Ethicaldrvgs, in a post to followers, writes: “I made a decision to rotate different performers into my event so that every role in our community has a chance to speak”.
Ethicaldrvgs wants to break the societal boundaries regarding sexuality. You will be attracted to the dancers of _Jolene_, and ethicaldrvgs wants this to show you can be attracted to whatever you want, regardless of social pressures! _Jolene_ empowers not only dancers, but the act of stripping. An art that, even having evolved into a cultural artefact and epitome of success in many cases, is often up-righted as a taboo section of sex work. Ethicaldrvgs welcomed _Flaunt_ to talk inclusion, sexuality, empowerment and the ways in which night like _Jolene_ are important in the progression towards an indiscriminate society.
Photographed by [Jaci V](https://www.instagram.com/virilefem/)
Our talk with Ethicaldrvgs confirms that, in this case, showing up and (literally) putting your money where your mouth is may be the best way to support the trans womxn dancers of Lo$ Angele$.
**I noticed that you mentioned on social media that you took control of the space, production wise, from this cisgender white gay man? Tell me about the process?**
When I started dancing, I was dancing for this specific night – super problematic. It was this cisgender white gay guy that called it ‘tranny strip’, it was super exploitative of the girls. So [Black Charmed](https://www.instagram.com/ethicaldrvgs/) and [the Wander Boys](https://instagram.com/thewanderboys?igshid=yuu7v7jk4ed7) group came to the night I was dancing. They were super chilled to have familiar faces there. (the POC Queer community in LA) From that, they approached me about doing Girls Like Us (which is the cabaret show we do).
**Is that the one with the milkshake? I’ve never seen anything like that before. How did you come up with that – is it something you’d seen?**
I saw a smoothie on stage: [Coco Ono](https://www.instagram.com/coco.ono/?hl=en), who is amazing – best performer. I’ve always had this fascination for eating on stage; I feel like it’s my backhanded way of saying “y’all are telling me to eat more, so here is me eating more”. So, I normally do a number where I’m eating on stage for three full minutes… and I get paid for it!
**My friend does the opposite she gets paid to vomit on people.**
I mean, shit, I don’t know.
Photographed by [Jaci V](https://www.instagram.com/virilefem/)
**Let’s talk about the Girls Like Us project cultivating this culture and the events around empowering this new wave of feminism that is reclaiming the ideas of the femme body.**
So, Girls Like Us came. I would see all these amazing burlesque shows but they never included any trans woman when there are so many trans womxn who are super fucking talented. It’s something that should be broadcasted more. So, it’s a show for the girls. Especially after Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
**There’s always that conversation about giving that kind of exposure to the drag performers. Is that doing justice for trans womxn?**
I feel like no, because there are so many talented queens but it pushed many girls out doing super-local shows where the budget isn’t much. They are just legendary trans woman. I just wanted to create a space where trans womxn are more celebrated; especially in WeHo. It is the whole spectrum. WeHo has become super misogynistic.
**I think there’s a beauty behind butch design, but not butch sociopathic tendencies.**
Yeh, not the prioritising one specific type of person because of societal standards. I wanted to create a group that is inclusive – it’s trans womxn of colour. I see Girls Like Us as hopefully, one day, becoming as big as some of the big names. I would love to be able to bring that to light for trans womxn.
**So, after Girls Like Us, Jolene was another one of your projects?**
Jolene happened because the guy who ran Tranny Strip – the previous event – he tried to call the venue and get us shut down. Said all these fucked up reason. Luckily, the owner and manager had our side and gave us a chance. People really showed up for the girls. When the other promoter was 86’d there was no longer a night for trans women to dance and have that as an avenue of income. I feel Girls Like Us was a moment that a lot of girls, and I personally, enjoyed. Especially with how weird sex work has got nowadays. There are so many laws changing.
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**It’s such a push-and-pull because it is also a cultural artefact. It reached this level, such as in the case of Cardi B, where it represents pride and authority.**
Absolutely, it is super embraced by society but there’s a lot of weirdness with how a lot of the world still uprights it.
**It will always be buried back into the sex workers space. It’s a matter of understanding this is a necessity of culture. In a way, we have to open up the dialogue to normalise, or at least destigmatise, to show that’s what life is. And protect people.**
For Jolene, I specifically do a line-up of half trans and half cis woman, to show that you can be attracted to any of these girls, and all these girls can bring it. To show you that it is ok to be attracted to whoever you want to be. There is still a lot of stigma around being attracted to a trans person. There are so many statistics of how many trans womxn are murdered by dates. It just shows that with less stigmatisation, and more acceptance, hopefully, we won’t have these statistics: 50% chance to live, or that the majority of trans womxn of colour live to 35. I hoping to bring acceptance of being attracted to whatever you want.
**It’s like a mental headspace we are verging into. It’s not just about the girls, but those involved with the girls. It doesn’t reflect on their mental wellbeing or where they are. So, you also have a charitable part to this.**
Photographed by [Jaci V](https://www.instagram.com/virilefem/)
I’m not very vocal with what I do but I work intensely for [SWOP LA.](https://swopla.org) We work on calling in for SB-233 and so that when someone whose working get into an altercation they can go to the cops safely and drugs can’t be used as evidence. Hopefully we can take steps towards decriminalisation. We don’t want legalisation, but decriminalisation, because the government shouldn’t tell me what to do with my body.
**Is there anything else you want to say about the project?**
Really just that this is a space to help normalise and, I really feel, to celebrate. Going to places like Jumbo’s Clown Room shows how much work each girl goes through. It’s hard.
**Do you feel you have progressed in the year in regards to your training?**
I love it. We have a lot of the top instructors who help and judge multiple competitions. It is just an amazing group. I got back into it because I wanted to challenge myself to get over my own fear of spaces and stand on my own two feet. I went through a shitty break-up and wanted to find that piece of me back. I’m grateful for the space, the education and the instructors have helped with a lot of my growth.
Photographed by [Jaci V](https://www.instagram.com/virilefem/)
Jolene | Thursday, September 19 at Cheetah's 4600 Hollywood Blvd from 9pm - 2am
[Get your tickets here](https://www.restlessnites.com/jolene)
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Interviewed by BJ Panda Bear.
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