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Sex, Drugs, and Power
“Hustlers” and how women get ahead
When Wall Street crashed, I was living in an apartment in Brooklyn, later condemned. The stairs creaked dangerously when you walked up them. Holes in the walls let in bedbugs and rats and every other kind of creature known to man. The windows had gaps between the wall and the pane, letting in cold wind in the winter. My landlord’s religious convictions prohibited him from being alone in a room with me or shaking my hand or, apparently, taking my complaints about his property seriously. However, when my dad called from 900 miles away and requested he fix a problem, he reluctantly made sure it was taken care of.
At night, when my friends would walk to my apartment, other men who shared my landlord’s faith would often hit on or catcall them. Sometimes, those catcalls rose to propositions. Sometimes for money.
This is the message that women receive: you have no power, except in sex. And only on men’s terms, only at their behest. So while the actions of the women of Hustlers are not morally defensible, they are understandable. Because in the women of Hustlers we see the struggle of all women, trying to find our power in a world that tells us we have limited paths to achieve it.
Did you grow up thinking you could be anything you wanted? I did. My mom, who had books such as The…
