In the tra­di­tion of Antho­ny Bour­dain and Emi­ly Witt, cel­e­brat­ed bur­lesque per­former, sex edu­ca­tor, and social work­er Fan­cy Feast gives read­ers a back­stage pass to the nightlife and sex indus­tries, exam­in­ing our cul­ture’s hang-ups and obses­sions with bod­ies, desire, and even love.

Fan­cy draws back the cur­tain to reveal a world that most denizens of the day­time nev­er see. Part exclu­sive back­stage pass, part long-form lit­er­ary striptease, these essays con­front our cul­ture’s tight­ly held beliefs — like so many clutched pearls — about sex, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, pow­er, and the messi­ness of life on the mar­gins of respectability.

Fan­cy Feast does this all as a fat woman who makes a liv­ing tak­ing her clothes off — a tri­umphant punch back at a cul­ture that wants fat peo­ple to be self-hat­ing or sex­less. Nar­rat­ed with a fierce deter­mi­na­tion to find mean­ing in a world that is dark­en­ing around us, these essays are by turns splashy, vul­ner­a­ble, and hilar­i­ous, but always powerful.