Strip Her: The Pop-Up
The revolutionary pop-up strip club for women… with a twist!
On June 10 a pop-up strip club (or something like it) for women-only is landing in Marrickville for one night. Nope, it’s not a queer night. It’s more like… well, it’s like nothing else around. It’s a revolutionary concept where instead of going to see a show, guests go to BE the show. It’s called Strip Her: The Pop-Up and the stage is open to any woman who wants to take her turn in the spotlight and live out the fantasy of being a stripper… just for a night.
Women take their turn flaunting their novice, yet, awe-inspiring moves to a passionate crowd of cheering women who are all there for the same reason: to unleash the parts of themselves they’re used to having to hide… and to be celebrated for it. As one attendee put it, it’s a place where women go “to express their sensuality for no one else but themselves.”
Instead of tipping with money, the women tuck compliments into each other’s garter belts, the straps of their lingerie collecting love-notes like ‘powerful’ and ‘captivating’. There’s an air of reverence in the space and an undercurrent of innocent cheek and mischief that’s somewhat reminiscent of the days of high-school slumber parties as women whip out moves they’ve been secretly practising in their bedrooms for years.
We should explain at this point that Strip Her: The Pop-Up isn’t actually a strip club. There’s no money exchanged and no solicitation of services. Rest assured you won’t go home with a fast $2,000 on your credit card, but you may go home a changed woman.
Attendees claim it’s a deeply healing and transformational experience. Jess X Goh, founder of Life In Confidence, said of Strip Her: The Pop-Up “I’m a trauma coach in childhood abuse and I’ve come a long way with my personal experience of sexual abuse and really embracing myself as a woman, and this workshop has created a great opportunity that I’ve been looking for, for such a long time - where I can be safe in being a woman and really owning it. I felt there was a massive transformation in how I showed up with my body; the way I stripped myself and danced with other beautiful Goddesses in the room and I’m just really grateful. … I'm definitely not the same woman and I can't wait to attend again!”
Caitlin Erica, the creator of this and other similar events, teaches the art of stripping as a means of self-reclamation. Caitlin became a stripper herself after training as a birth doula and came to see the link between sexual shame and birth trauma, but that’s a conversation for another time. Her mission today is to help women release shame and reclaim their full feminine expression. She says she’s healing the sisterhood one strip tease at a time. Well… we don’t know if it’ll work but we’re willing to give it a crack!
So who goes to this thing? Strip Her: The Pop-Up is for any woman over the age of 18. The stage has been blessed by pregnant women, trans women, professional strippers, women with two-left feet, the straight and the queer... if you're a woman, you're in!
If you’re still reading this but the thought of getting up on stage makes you nauseous, rest assured, Caitlin says most of the women who go to Strip Her: The Pop-Up arrive full of nerves. To ease you into the space, you’ll be warmly greeted by a ‘Pussy Priestess’ and given a ‘pussy blessing’ to break the ice. As guests swap nervous glances and stories of ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here’, Caitlin does all she can to make everyone feel safe and comfortable.
“I’ll be honest, at the first ever event a year ago, I thought I’d fudged it.” Caitlin admits. “When the guests showed up and nobody took to the cloakrooms to de-robe, I wondered if there would only be three of us wearing lingerie for the event. But then I led the women through some grounding exercises and gentle guided movement before two graduates of my 8 week program, Strip Her, opened the stage with a killer dance for us all. The freedom they oozed activated something in the other ladies and suddenly - BOOM! The women literally jumped to their feet and threw their clothes on the floor. The night went from zero to one hundred in eight minutes. That’s what happens when a woman gives herself permission to be fully expressed; she unlocks it in others. The moment the attendees knew they were in a safe and supportive, they invited us into the most breathtaking, inspiring parts of themselves - an honour and a privilege I don’t take for granted! Strip Her: The Pop-Up showed us just how much women are aching for an opportunity and a safe space to unleash the sensuous siren within. And I’ve got them covered.”
Strip Her: The Pop-Up lies somewhere between an empowerment workshop, an interactive theatre production, a wild party and the church that no one grew up going to but maybe should have. To be honest, we’re still trying to figure it out.
We know this much though: we want to be in that room when the next event lands.
Next Event:
Saturday 10th June
Bodyspace Studios
3 Shepherd St, Marrickville NSW 2204
Tickets: $89 each (or Bring-A-Friend-Bundle: $160 for 2 tickets)
