The Stripper Next Door

Three years ago, playboy published a ten-page pictorial feature that illustrated a simple reality: In this age of political correctness, safe sex and unsafe feminists, men's clubs--a.k.a. topless joints--were making a serious comeback. Were we right? Were we ever. "Today," says playboy Photography Director Gary Cole, "there are approximately 10,000 women in the U.S. who call themselves strippers or exotic dancers--women from every community, some with college degrees, others working their way through school, some who are supporting a parent or a child." Even Hollywood, often an oddly accurate barometer for trends, has begun rolling out tributes to workaday doffers, including Showgirls, Exotica and Demi Moore's Striptease. So turn the pages and meet the women who take it off with the best. Tipping is allowed.