“The naked girl business left me with an interesting lingerie collection and an ease with the camera’s insect eye. As planned, I saved my wadded up 20s, and used them to make myself an artist. Eventually, I became a well known one. Posing for magazines, I remembered the old lessons of self presentation. How I looked, which had been a harassment inducing burden, then a way to get cash, finally became my own. Women’s looks are supposed to be our salvations. In a sense, mine were. But looks are an escape hatch to other places where they’re no longer as important. Beauty is powerful because it is pleasing. Real power means not having to please.”
— The World of a Professional Naked Girl Molly Crabapple
