Jacq the Stripper isn’t just a hot blonde in painfully tall platform heels. When she’s not lap-hopping in exchange for large piles of cash, Jacqueline Frances is a comedian with a monthly show in New York City, an illustrator whose single-frame comics go viral on Instagram, and a self-published author who is currently fundraising for her second book.
Striptastic!, is the end goal of a new Kickstarter campaign that raised over $3,500 in its first day. The 150-page book promises full-color plates of illustrations Frances created after interviewing 300 strippers from around the world. And from the samples that have been posted on Instagram so far, the stripper stories are pretty juicy and outright hilarious.
In a video promoting the project, Frances nods to 1980s infomercials that rely on lo-fi transitions and babes strewn across cars with ridiculously large microphones in hand.
“If you’re looking for a redemption narrative about a woman who feels ashamed about her body and the choices she’s made,” Frances says in the video, “you might not want to pledge this campaign. Striptastic! is a celebration of dope-ass cunts who like money.”
Frances told the Daily Dot on Tuesday that Striptastic! was born out of a few posts on her various Jacq the Stripper social media profiles.
“I anticipated a handful of women raising their hands, but the turnout was incredible,” Frances said in an email to Daily Dot. “Thinking I’d get, like, 20 babes to fill it out, I didn’t even use a survey site…hundreds of emails started pouring in.”
The majority of the roughly 300 strippers interviewed hail from the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada—with a few European nationals in the mix as well.
“The answers these women submitted are hilarious, insightful, and filled with strength and pride in the work they do,” said Frances.
Some of the stories found in Striptastic! will be familiar to those who already follow Jacq the Stripper on Instagram—where Frances’s comic series #100DaysofPleasantries has slowly rolled out hilarious illustrated snapshots of conversations overheard in clubs and stories told by veteran strippers.
Yeah, as it turns out—guys say some pretty weird stuff to sex workers.
The Daily Dot asked Frances what readers can expect to find in Striptastic! that hasn’t already been published on Instagram.
“I can tell you that I’ve compiled a list of all the absurd ways strippers have been fired,” Frances responded. “Strippers give no fucks and I could not be more proud to walk among them.”
One of those dancers was fired for eating a cheeseburger onstage, which basically makes all of us want to be her best friend. There’s an illustration of that incident, of course—and it perfectly captures the dancer’s attitude, which seems to scream, “I’ll be sexy on my own damn terms, thank you very much.”
Talk about eating lunch at your desk.
Overall, Striptastic! promises to be an endlessly entertaining coffee table book delivered by a woman who, as she told the Daily Dot, just “wants to be the John Waters with tits.”
“Stripping is a fascinating job with a multitude of experiences, emotions and characters,” said Frances. “And I want Striptastic! to convey that.”
