Woman Shares Her Crazily Eventful And Spicy Life Story On ‘Humans Of New York’ And It Goes Viral
Humans of New York regularly gets into the news by finding people whose stories inspire us, make us angry, and more. The photographer’s latest story from a former stripper has everyone talking — so much that she got not one, but three features, and followers still can’t get enough.
It starts out as typical HONY fare, with the speaker, a flamboyantly dressed older black woman, telling of being kicked out and arrested as a teenager. But within a couple of sentences, the story dives into wild territory with her sharing how her costume design skills got her jobs dressing adult entertainers and made her friends in New York’s drag scene. She likely entered these circles at a time when ball culture was flourishing, when New York’s Black and Latino communities were pioneering a bolder and more expressive offshoot of early, white-dominated drag, and the 1969 Stonewall Riots had injected the gay club scene with new pride and defiance.
Please read with discretion, as the original quotes from Tanqueray contain a slur used to refer to transgender women, descriptions of drug use and sex acts.
Humans of New York photographed a former dancer with some wild stories to tell
Image credits: humansofny
Followers were so captivated by the story that HONY had to post another installment of her tales. Tanqueray, as she reveals was her stripper name in her heyday, could fill a book with crass and hilarious stories about the shows she and her fellow dancers put on. And while popular history says the 1970s were the beginning of the end for the mafia in New York, Tanqueray confirms that its stronghold over the clubs where she performed was still going strong at the time. Overwhelmed with demand, the photographer posted yet another paragraph of Tanqueray’s story, and the third post is even juicier: some commenters say her descriptions of the mobsters controlling 70s New York’s strip clubs and sex work scene are true, and she even incriminates an unnamed US president.
Image credits: humansofny
Image credits: humansofny
We doubt Tanqueray is up for the book deal that followers are calling for, since she says she “can’t afford the lawyers” to print everything she knows, but even if this is the last we hear from her, it’s a fascinating glimpse into the legendary trash and glamour of 70s New York.
People were wildly intrigued by the story:
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Well.... In the late 90's turned 2000's no one gave a shit that a kid like me 16, was taken by a pimp forced to work Hunts point NY. Forced to work in D.C , and Maryland clubs NO ONE CARED THEN WHEN I WAS BLOODY NAKED AND RUNNING FOR MY LIFE SCREAMING FOR HELP DOWN RHODE ISLAND AVE IN D.C ... Glorifying sex work and the industry is dangerous as fk it's not a walk in the park. It's fkn violent unforgiving, and those if us who got out alive I think will get where I'm coming from. Don't glorify this shit ,women are being butchered kids are being taken , oh but wait you have a chance to make money so every warning I just gave don't count here in MERICA
I'm very sorry for what you went through. And I totally agree, people should stop glorifying prostitution. Most of the times it's nothing more like human trafficking and in almost all cases there is so much suffering in all those women. None of them dreamt of living (suffering) a life like this when they were children. But I'm not telling this to you, you already know.
I lived in that area. I would have cared. I wouldn't have ignored you running down the street. I'm so sorry that you went through this, and I'm so sorry that there wasn't a decent human being to give you the help and love that you needed. Big hugs to you.
I’m sorry that happened to you, but what does that have to do with story? She was a stripper, not a sex trafficking victim. I’m really not seeing the connection.
If I may, her point is about the dangers of glorifying sex work, which this post could easily be seen as doing.
Madame Blanche stands for 'White Witch..' very apt in her field of trade l think..
Guys, Alfred Bloomingdale was a department store magnate who supposedly liked BDSM. He was involved with a woman named Vicky Morgan who also was involved with politicians. She was later murdered. Happened in late 60s.
Vicki Morgan never been to NY, she was from Colorado according to wiki, when she was 9 years old her mother relocated to Montclair, California, then she went to Hollywood in search of fame. And she was murdered in 1983 by her boyfriend so not in the 60's
I'd honestly read her biography.
Well.... In the late 90's turned 2000's no one gave a shit that a kid like me 16, was taken by a pimp forced to work Hunts point NY. Forced to work in D.C , and Maryland clubs NO ONE CARED THEN WHEN I WAS BLOODY NAKED AND RUNNING FOR MY LIFE SCREAMING FOR HELP DOWN RHODE ISLAND AVE IN D.C ... Glorifying sex work and the industry is dangerous as fk it's not a walk in the park. It's fkn violent unforgiving, and those if us who got out alive I think will get where I'm coming from. Don't glorify this shit ,women are being butchered kids are being taken , oh but wait you have a chance to make money so every warning I just gave don't count here in MERICA
I'm very sorry for what you went through. And I totally agree, people should stop glorifying prostitution. Most of the times it's nothing more like human trafficking and in almost all cases there is so much suffering in all those women. None of them dreamt of living (suffering) a life like this when they were children. But I'm not telling this to you, you already know.
I lived in that area. I would have cared. I wouldn't have ignored you running down the street. I'm so sorry that you went through this, and I'm so sorry that there wasn't a decent human being to give you the help and love that you needed. Big hugs to you.
I’m sorry that happened to you, but what does that have to do with story? She was a stripper, not a sex trafficking victim. I’m really not seeing the connection.
If I may, her point is about the dangers of glorifying sex work, which this post could easily be seen as doing.
Madame Blanche stands for 'White Witch..' very apt in her field of trade l think..
Guys, Alfred Bloomingdale was a department store magnate who supposedly liked BDSM. He was involved with a woman named Vicky Morgan who also was involved with politicians. She was later murdered. Happened in late 60s.
Vicki Morgan never been to NY, she was from Colorado according to wiki, when she was 9 years old her mother relocated to Montclair, California, then she went to Hollywood in search of fame. And she was murdered in 1983 by her boyfriend so not in the 60's
I'd honestly read her biography.