This article grows from research in the form of in-depth interviews with female exotic dancers but foregrounds the ways that the author's lived experiences were informed by the interviewees and other aspects of the project. While engaging and then complicating feminist theory and methodology, this article focuses on howthe authorwas drawninto this research in variousways, including conversations, observations, and confrontations. Narratives outline the process of her disillusionment about her own safety as a woman. Overall, this piece challenges the notion of any one, fixed identity as the author negotiates meanings of herself related to objectification and privilege.
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