Stephanie Johnson became famous later in life via the popular blog, “Humans of New York.” I learned of her a couple of months ago when a vignette of one of her stories showed up in my Instagram feed. It was the story of how she became a dominatrix in 1980’s New York. When I searched for more stories, I learned that she had a memoir titled Tanqueray, which was her burlesque stage name.
Stephanie has a distinct voice, and Stanton did a lovely job of telling her story without softening the hard parts or embellishing the more sensational aspects. Born in 1946 and raised outside of Albany, New York, Stephanie was the only child of a gorgeous, cruel mother and a silent, complicit father. Pregnant and kicked out of the house at seventeen, Stephanie gave birth while serving time in a local women’s prison after being convicted of theft. After relinquishing her son to the state, she was paroled and moved to New York City.
This is the story of a woman who knew she was more than what people told her she could be. She made costumes, she sold clothing, she was the first black Go Go dancer in New York, she was a famous burlesque performer, she was a columnist, she was a phone sex operator. She reinvented herself again and again. She never stopped working and she never let anyone stop her from doing what she wanted to do.
The book has hundreds of great quotes, but the acknowledgments sum up Stephanie’s attitude perfectly. She loved and cherished her friends, and as for everyone else, well, they can go to hell.
I don’t have many people to thank because most of this stuff I created by myself, and to be honest a lot of people fucked me. Men aren’t my friends when they find out I won’t sleep with them. And most women don’t like me.
― Stephanie Johnson, Tanqueray