The Incredible, Edible, Akynos is sharing her life lessons as a showgirl while showing us why we need to initiate our new class of legendary showgirls sooner than we may think.
Guest post by The Incredible, Edible, Akynos
Content note: underage entry into the industry, trafficking, sexual and domestic abuse, financial crisis, depression, addiction.
The conversation has already been had and a decision has been made. Based on historical data, scholarly conversation and those in the industry who have chimed in, burlesque is sex work. Hell, being a showgirl of any kind is so closely aligned with sex work, it’s part of the conversation too. And if you ask me, if you are a mainstream actor—youz a hoe.
My name is The Incredible, Edible, Akynos. I started in the adult entertainment industry when I was just 17 years old. By the legislative definition, I was technically trafficked into this industry. A product of my environment.
I grew up in New York City when seeing the covers of Playboy and Hustler magazine was regular. The Playboy office was just around the corner from Martin Luther King Jr. High School, which I attended. I dreamed of being a magazine model. I thought: glamour! Beauty! Admiration! I want that. And I would have that. I would be a cover model and centerfold for Black Tail magazine just a handful of years later. I unfortunately would be too short, thick and Black for magazines like Hustler.
I got into this business for several reasons. One, and this is likely the case for all the people who enter the work: I needed money. In particular, I had a newborn son and wanted to make sure I could take care of him. My mother held on to my papers since I was a Jamaican immigrant, making it difficult for me to obtain any other form of employment outside of the informal economy.
Secondly, I was a dancer and I wanted to dance. So when that man approached me at that young age at 42nd Street station, likely coming from school, I hopped on it and subsequently would hop on his dick. I was nervous going to the club for the first time. And in order to loosen me up, he would lay me on his couch in that Bronx apartment before we headed over to Al’s Mr. Wedge. Many other men like him received a fee to recruit girls like me.
This would be my pipeline into Sex Worker activism. The abuse I would endure at the hands of a jealous baby daddy, men who only wanted to lay me down but never pick me up, and a ruthless system and society that cared nothing about Black mothers with dreams deferred plummeted me into being one of the first Black Sex Worker rights organizers in New York City, who created spaces to fight back against the system. As a result of a life of neglect and maltreatment, I wanted this space to nurture those who weren’t being nurtured. Those who were ostracized because of misogynoir, systematic disenfranchisement and the loathing we have particularly for women who dare to use their sexuality to advance their lives.
I will likely not get credit for the work I have done. I am a Black migrant woman who grew up at the margins. Erasure of the herstories and work like mine is par for the course. It’s easier to demonize me than it will ever be to recognize the amount of people I supported along the way.
I personally don’t listen to rumors. I firmly believe if you have a gripe with me, come say it to my face. But I have watched people’s behavior towards me. I have seen in this industry how rumors have spread like a wildfire, making people not want to work with me, which is the easy part. The hard part is trying to be about the life you built and watch people in your community use you, betray you, and sit on their asses while you drown under mounting work, disappointment and the absolute degradation of building a grassroots space. The only thing that compares to the pain I have felt over the past 8+ years in building this space is trying to have meaningful relationships with men.
Imagine building yourself up from growing up in extreme poverty, from Jamaica to New York. Then moving to Germany to continue your work. Spearheading the only Black Sex Worker–led physical space of its kind in the entire country. But being left to rot with the memories of all those you have helped and supported acting as if you don’t exist.
This is part of the story of transition—not just out of sex work, but out of grassroots organizing and any system that just drains you. You have to always be planning. Because your failure to plan will be your downfall.
Burlesque Is the Show
Now that we have gotten that out the way, let’s make something clear. Burlesque is the show. What the performers are doing is striptease, aka taking your clothes off for strangers. AKA sex work.
I am sure all the showgirls’ feathers are in a ruffle about this, but I don’t make the rules. Nor will your whorephobia change it. When it comes to the laws that govern our bodies, our bank accounts and our right to family—baby girl, youz a hoe. And the sooner you realize it, the more likely we all will be free from the delusion that our rhinestones and feathers will save us from a closed bank account. A closed fundraiser. Or hell, a custody battle.
In case you haven’t heard me harp on about this previously: the promiscuity of actors—lip-locking and dry humping with a plethora of their peers in the mainstream, getting paid top dollar to do all of that and all of the things in between—is some hoe shit.
And if you have been living under a rock, intercourse and sex aren’t necessarily interchangeable. You can have sex but you aren’t always having intercourse. This is why there are often healthy debates about whether a lap dance is sex. Short answer is, yes. And this is why the conversation about disabled people being able to receive and experience sexual pleasure is rife with a misunderstanding about how sex—works.
I remember arguing online (as I always do) some time ago about some medical field right in there with the definition of sex. Since I have a vulva, let’s go ahead and say gynecology is high-level, highly revered work where sex meets a medical need. Now I know you are probably side-eyeing me right now. But with the way the Trump administration has stripped away the legitimacy of many medical trades—and the herstory of what has become of midwives—I think it’s safe to say anyone can be a hoe. Depends on who is making the laws.
Let’s face it. Gig after gig, all the show people are showing their tits and other jiggly bits for an audience of strangers. In most instances you are a broke-down stripper making so little money you (1) have to hustle your ass off like a migrant entering a new country, and if you are lucky, (2) moonlight as a show person because you got a day job that actually pays the bills.
Twenty Years In, and the Pay Hasn’t Moved
As I embark on 20 years in the industry, I gotta tell you how jarring it is that the pay has barely moved from when I first started shaking my ass back in 2007.
One of my earliest memories was at Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg when Murray Hill used to host a regular show there. There I met Narcissister, who is still one of my favorite artists until this day. Then there was Starshine Burlesque at the now-defunct Rififi in the East Village, which is where it actually all started. I saw a show one night and my biological need to be an entertainer took me over, and I have barely looked back since.
To be honest, I am barely performing on stage these days. I still create art, yes. But I am barely seen on a stage anymore, and that has been the logical choice for me. I have been wanting to transition out of striptease and into other sectors of art where I actually get paid since the early years when I began. I wanted to create different art, something more moving and long-form, but somehow, even after my art degree, I never managed to do it in a way that catapulted me into a “respectable,” sustainable art practice.
There are a plethora of reasons I can rattle off. But the bottom line to me is that I needed to really try harder to make the move. I sort of did when I started the Black Sex Worker Collective, which is to date my most successful art project. I created collaborative pieces of work which received financial support and community involvement. But the disrespect has been so great. You have to read about this in longer form for a later time. Let’s just say all that practical and formal training was met with disdain, dishonor and absolute disrespect.
Time Has No Patience
But this piece isn’t about me griping about what I should’ve and could’ve done as an artist. It is about what all of you reading better do, because time has no patience.
You and I both know that the burlesque stages don’t pay enough money. Most of the entertainers are not making hundreds or thousands of dollars per show, no matter how many rhinestones the costumes have, how big the stage is and who the producer is. In order to make ends meet, a mainstream day job is needed. Or more performers than you think are also working as escorts or in strip clubs, selling cookies or food (me), or making content. Because the income must be supplemented.
While you are supplementing the income and fulfilling your biological need to be on stage, please keep in mind that your first year turns into 20 years when you least expect it. And if you are planning to stay in the business that long or transition out of it, there is a lot to know.
While you can be a showgirl or a Sex Worker well into your 60s if you so please, you cannot keep chasing paying rent and bills on time and building a credit profile. Working that far into the game is not for the weak. But contrary to popular belief, old bitches don’t age out. We can always make money if we keep our bodies up and have learned from what life has taught us.
So preparing for financial stability and a life that doesn’t have you hustling will take some serious discipline. Discipline which has been fleeting for me for many reasons, such as addiction (not what you think), depression, other undiagnosed issues and, my personal assessment, a lack of nurturing. Which is something you can read about in the future piece on the case for AI.
As I write now, I currently have 2 euro in my bank account. For reasons that were not totally out of my control, I am left with having to go back to the drawing board in order to not be housing insecure again and to be able to build my business. To be honest, building that business is part of why I am cash poor now.
But let me say this to you: plan your future in stages. Start with what you want it to look like over five years. But if you are as deep in a pickle as I currently am, plan out what the next year will look like, or how you want it to go. Then move on to the next two years and build from there.
If You Start a Space
I started the BSWC at a time when people cared about Sex Worker rights, and at a time when Black Sex Worker–led spaces were lacking. So if you see a need in your community, either assess whether a space is needed that you can create, or join one which already exists and put in your sweat equity to build it.
I must warn you—these grassroots spaces are neither easy to manage, maintain or oftentimes get money for. Particularly now, when funds and services have been deliberately cut from arts, migrants, Black people and women. For a later piece I will discuss in detail how absolutely heartbreaking it has been not only trying to be a Black woman leader, but how difficult it is to give support to people who would rather struggle or get “opportunities” from spaces they complain about than get it from you. I could easily say this is a Black woman leadership thing (and it is). But I have seen other women leaders deal with the same kind of dismemberment from the people they have tried to support.
The collective created opportunities for me to travel and connect with other grassroots leaders all around the world through conferences and other travel opportunities. And with some of these grants I was able to pay myself a regular income, so I wouldn’t be reliant on the stage or be haggled by a potential client who may not have wanted to pay my rate.
I will say this though: if you start a space, there are some major things you need to keep in mind.
Learn to be selfish. Most people don’t want better for themselves. And in the process of being ok with a life of struggle, they will try to stop your growth.
Develop boundaries. You will have to adjust them day by day. But treat organizing like dating. Would you tolerate that from any other kind of relationship? No? Then don’t tolerate your community either. They are typically worse than any lover or client will ever be.
Document everything. Keep receipts, keep good records, make time for admin. This will come back to bite you in the ass every time.
Starting a Small Business
The same goes for starting a small business. If you are in the U.S., let me tell you something. People talk a lot of shit about America. A lot of it is valid. But a lot of it fails to realize why it has been considered the land of opportunity. As a native New Yorker, the saying goes: if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Friend, I promise you—the truth is, if you can make it in a small business of any kind in Europe, New York is a BREEZE. Hell, all of America, with its services and support.
I live in Germany now and I am no longer sure I will return to the States full time. As I write this, there is 2 euro in my account from the German finance department taking every last dime I had and leaving me with nothing. This is on a technicality which I was unaware of. Now I sit and wait for the week ahead to see what kind of money I will make to buy new supplies to sell at the café, so I can afford to buy a coffee since my machine is currently not working.
With that said, make sure you have a good accountant. And if you are anything like me, bookkeeping is your Achilles’ heel. Find a good bookkeeper. Not just good at their jobs, but people who respect you as a small business owner and the field of work you are in. This is honestly going to be more vital to your existence than finding someone that is an expert at their job (at least I think—but I am also speaking from a place of trauma. More on that later).
Build Your Financial Backbone
As you are building these new forms of income and scraping by on what being a dazzling showgirl is paying you, make sure you are building that financial backbone. I have said this before in a social media post. I will put it here again to drive the point home.
1. Get a whole life insurance policy and put as much money as they will allow each year in it. In addition, pay your premiums on time. If you gotta do a week at the strip club or on the hoe stroll to get the premium money, do it. It will pay off in the years to come when you have forgotten all about it.
2. Whatever debt you have will affect your credit score. Pay it. If you have student loans, defer them. If you have other old debt, try to at least go to a credit repair agency. And if you know anyone who has A1 credit and is generous, get them to add you as a payer on their account. No need to have a card. Just be added as a payer.
3. Get rid of trash people early. As previously mentioned, you’re going to have to develop some thick boundaries. And as you are developing them, you’re going to flex your muscles in places that may not be appropriate too soon. Unfortunately, there might be occupational hazards along the way. Some you’ll be able to mend. Others will never recover. But the takeaway here is to not develop PTSD because you stayed in places among people you needed to delete from your space.
Make sure you are also building a healthier network of people you trust, who are supportive and who you can grow with. It’s important to nurture these people and spaces. Otherwise you’ll lose out big time.
Final Lesson
In closing, this is a short list of things you will need as you navigate different stages of your life and career. But remember some ground rules. First, the rules exist for a reason and were set up long before you. No need to recreate them. Second, 20 years from now is closer than you think. The basic law of the universe is to put in so you can get back. We live in a selfish, fast-paced world where we think we can skip the basics. But if you forget your basics, you will always, always have to come back to them.
Editor’s note
Akynos has spent nearly 20 years doing magical work including performing, organizing and building space for Black sex workers when no one else would. Everybody Wants to Be a Showgirl is about giving flowers to exceptional talent while they are still here. We nurture, feed and highlight LIVING flowers in real time. Our archive gives showgirls of all kinds a platform to tell their stories, share their talents and inspire the next generation of entertainers. We honor our past by uplifting the present and guiding the future.
In burlesque spaces, we tend to honor our elders only in the later stages of life, or after they’re gone. The next class of elders is here now, and Akynos is one of them. We’ll be honoring her as one of our next class of legends at our pop-up installation in Denver, December 3–6. Throughout 2027, we’ll continue honoring living legends who have made a global impact in burlesque, drag, sex work and nightlife entertainment.
Today, we’re raising $2,000 that goes directly to Akynos. If 100 readers send $20, we can reach her goal by the end of the week. Send support here:
PayPal: akynosburlesque@gmail.com (send as Friends & Family, and leave the note blank)
Cash App: $BSWC
Everybody Wants to Be a Showgirl takes no portion, and contributions aren’t tax-deductible. If you can’t give financially, no worries. Sharing her words helps too. Thank you for reading.
Aquarius Moon
Curator, Everybody Wants to Be a Showgirl
