Candi's Cabaret

Abstract

Candi's Cabaret is a novel in stories centered on place/theme/character. The stories are all tethered in some way to a strip club on the outskirts of Youngstown next door to a motel and focus (primarily) on the women who do/have worked there. Each section has its own plot but in the background of each it follows the story of Grace/Elliot, zir sister Lindsey, and Celeste. The overarching background plot follows Grace/Elliot and Celeste developing a romantic relationship while Grace/Elliot rejects zir assigned sex and starts to neglect zir younger sister in favor of exploring zir new identity. Eventually (about midnovel) Lindsey is abducted/goes missing which begins to erode the relationship between Celeste and Elliot, until the end when Lindsey's corpse is discovered hidden in the trees behind the club. Candi's Cabaret was written to display a sense of solidarity between marginalized women and explore the identities of women who do sex work (ranging from our society's most acceptable to our least). While doing so the novel also explores the attitudes and dangers surrounding this kind of work and the environment it creates, not only for the women themselves but female sexed children who grow up near it. Intersecting issues of gender, sexuality and poverty are examined through the different narrator's perspectives to try and reach a comprehensive view of how these things shape the world that marginalized women live in.