Line #113 Main/SingleMomStripper


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[Music/{{Juvenile}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rodeo_mom.png]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:Gonna be awkward when the little one is old enough to ask, "How was your day mom?"]]
7
8	->''"What would you do when your son's at home?\
9	Crying alone on the bedroom floor\
10	And he's hungry\
11	And the only way to feed him\
12	Is to sleep with a man for a little bit of money?"''
13	-->-- Music/CityHigh, "What Would You Do?"
14
15	Your nasty husband has cheated on you and left. Or maybe you're [[TeenPregnancy an unwed teenager]], and you [[GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion chose to carry to term]], but [[TragicDropout you had to drop out of school due to your pregnancy]], your very traditional parents [[HonorBeforeReason threw you out onto the streets]] once your pregnancy started showing, and [[GlorifiedSpermDonor the baby's father is completely out of the picture]]. Or maybe your husband died, he was the primary breadwinner, and you've been [[QuittingToGetMarried out of the workforce since you got married.]] Or you're a single mom, and your PointyHairedBoss fired you for a crappy reason (or no reason at all). Regardless, you're out of work, you've got a baby to feed and you're one missed rent payment away from being out on the streets.
16
17	You realize that the boys at school really liked you. [[FallenOnHardTimesJob Maybe you could make some quick fast cash waiting tables--in a bikini. Or pole dancing.]] Or [[TheOldestProfession going all the way]], if needed.
18
19	A Single Mom Stripper is a single woman working in any aspect of the sex trade (stripper, porn star/adult model, escort, hooker, masseuse, taxi-dancer, phone-sex operator, etc.) because she sees it as a practical way to support her child or children. On one hand, this trope can humanize the women and give them a story behind their beauty. But on the other hand, it implies that a woman who is only in the business due to circumstance is [[MyGirlIsNotASlut more deserving of respect and sympathy than one who does it by choice]].
20
21	May be a HookerWithAHeartOfGold or a JunkieParent. The children might be treated as a SonOfAWhore, whether or not actual prostitution is involved. May also be used to give the DisposableSexWorker a sympathetic backstory. Compare with JustifiedCriminal. Usually results from StrugglingSingleMother and sometimes overlaps with SecretSexWorker, with the mom trying to keep her profession a secret from her children.
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
28	* ''Manga/SevenSeeds'' had Semimaru's mother raising him on her own, while working as a [[TheOldestProfession night-worker]].
29	* This trope proves to be a godsend for Yuusaku Godai, the male lead of ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku''. The young man manages to graduate from college as a teacher trained in early childhood education and hoping to work in an elementary school until he's laid off and the only work he can find is a strip joint. After a humiliating period as a street barker, things turn around when one of the dancers, a single mother who couldn't afford daycare, is forced to bring her toddler kids to work. In this situation, Godai is ordered to take care of the child safely out of sight in the back and does so well that the other dancers, predominately single mothers themselves, ask him to take care of their little kids. Pretty soon, Godai is running an excellent daycare centre at the strip joint and is deeply valued by the rest of the staff.
30	* Nina from ''Manga/SweetGuiltyLoveBites'' isn't a stripper, but the hostess job she does to support Ryuna is dependent on her looks, and leads to some awkwardness. Though at the end [[spoiler: the single part is not so applicable anymore.]]
31	* Reiko from ''Manga/ForestOfPiano'' is a prostitute mother raising her son Kai on her own in the town's RedLightDistrict.
32	* ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'' has Mina temporarily sheltered by one while on the run from her enemies. She repays the favor by willingly surrendering to protect her and her daughter, and [[PayEvilUntoEvil brutally slaughtering the pedophile vampire "interested" in little Suzy]].
33	* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Yahiko's mother, the wife of a {{Samurai}}, turned to prostitution to support herself and Yahiko after her husband was killed in the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration. Unfortunately, this move cost her her life: she contracted syphilis from one of her clients, which eventually killed her. Yahiko makes it clear when some villains mock him for it that he considers his mother every bit the hero that his samurai father was, and that he is the son of two brave people who gave their lives to protect what mattered to them.
34	* Implied in ''Anime/GingaHyouryuuVifam'', as Sharon once mentioned that her mother isn't around much to take care of her due to her job as a dancer.
35	* ''Manga/BootyRoyaleNeverGoDownWithoutAFight'': Recurring character Goujima Sara is an extreme porn star who is revealed in chapter 22 (at least a year in-universe since her last appearance) to have an infant son with no further explanation. Main character Misora criticizes her for swearing in front of the kid when they go out to dinner together.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Comic Books]]
39	* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': In the {{flashback}}s, Rorschach's mother is a single mom prostitute. Perhaps an InvertedTrope, in that she ''hates'' him because he inadvertently drives away business. ("I shoulda had the abortion!") The woman living in the next apartment from him in the present is also a prostitute but successfully keeps this secret from her children. Though she lies to the news about him trying to rape her, Rorschach doesn't kill or seriously hurt her because her children are present -- and also because her efforts to hide what she does from them indicate that, unlike his own mother, she cares enough about her children to protect them from the ugliness of her life.
40	%% * In Franchise/TheDCU, [[RubberMan Plastic Man]]'s ex Angel.
41	* Creator/GarthEnnis' ''ComicBook/ThePro'' is a superhero parody in which a woman in this trope gets given superpowers. She doesn't stop working as a prostitute since she has to pay the bills somehow.
42	* Despite having been a prostitute long before the birth of her son Pepito, Clara (or Betty, for English speakers) from ''Clara... de Noche'' (aka ''Betty by Night'' or ''Betty by the hour'') claims that she continues as a hooker to support her son and grant him a decent lifestyle.
43	* In a brief ''Magazine/{{MAD}} Magazine'' comic strip from the late '90s, two teenage boys are looking at internet porn when one asks the other if that's his mom. At first, the second boy thinks he's joking until he realizes it ''is'' his mom. He runs home and asks her how she could do such a thing, and she nonchalantly replies, "I made enough money in ten minutes to afford one of those Platform/{{Sega Dreamcast}}s you've been bitching about." His tone ''quickly'' changes.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Fan Works]]
47	* Downplayed ''Fanfic/BentOrBrokenItsTheFamilyTree''. Esmeralda is a single mother who dances to make money. However, it's just that--dancing, fully clothed, in the streets. It's still [[DeliberateValuesDissonance somewhat scandalous]] by 1400s France standards.
48	* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12599635/1/4-horsewomen-Family-is-forever Four Horsewomen - Family Is Forever]]'', this is Wrestling/{{Bayley}}'s backstory. Her mother was only a teenager when she had her, then her boyfriend (Bayley's father), a musician, was killed. She took it hard and wound up doing this for a living, as well as getting into drugs & alcohol and having a boyfriend who abused Bayley, which led to her being taken in and adopted by Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH. By the time the mother comes back into Bayley's life nine years later, she's cleaned up her act, married a nice guy, found religion, and had another daughter.
49	* Played with in ''"Batteries"'', where Ryuuko started off as a stripper but she had her baby, Hoshi, after she took up work as a prostitute. Though, while she was doing sex work to support herself after running away from home, if she had custody of her baby, she most likely would have become this, but getting pregnant again, she opts to leave sex work for a more "honest" job at a laundromat.
50	** In ''Secret Sunshine'' (by the same author), Ryuuko mentions "turning tricks" as something she considered to better support her niece, Kiko.
51	* By the end of the ''{{WesternAnimation/Zootopia}}'' fan comic ''The Longest Night''. Nadja returns home to her daughter Anya with groceries bought with the money Nick paid for her services.
52	* In the Worm fanfic ''[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/alternate-beginnings.300219/ Alternate Beginnings]]'' one of the characters has an 18 year old sister. She's not the mom, but when her parents both lose their jobs (and after the younger teenage son has turned down joining of the worse gangs in the city) and they're about to be tossed on the street, she takes up hooking to get money to support them. The younger brother catches her at coming home one night and tells her she's not doing that again and promptly joins up with the gang. Some months later she's managed to land a temp job and between that and the income he's pulling from gang duties they're managed to make ends meet.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
56	* ''Film/DangerousBeauty'' is about a 16th-century woman who becomes a courtesan to support herself and her mother.
57	* Jasmine from ''Film/IndependenceDay''. Unlike most examples, however, she's not the least bit ashamed of her line of work ("It's good money. Besides, my baby's worth it."), she's in a long-term relationship with an airman who is a great stepdad to her son, and the film deserves credit for not making her any less sympathetic.
58	* Note to [[KidsAreCruel cruel kids]]: Do not tease Michael Myers in the ''Film/{{Halloween 2007}}'' remake about how his mom is a pole dancer.
59	%%* Arlene [=McKinney=] in ''Film/PayItForward''.
60	* Creator/DemiMoore's character in ''Film/{{Striptease}}'', though she starts out not to support her daughter but to get money to appeal the custody decision against her. Bet that really helped her case... [[spoiler:Oh, but it did, because Fate moves in mysterious ways here. After [[CorruptPolitician a congressman who not only frequents the club but has arranged for the murder of his political opponents]] starts to fall for her, he hires her for personal dances. He says too much, she starts to get wise to his shady dealings, then he tries to blackmail her by helping her ex-husband. Consequently, she helps the police expose him by tricking him into confessing on tape, and she not only wins full custody as a result, but her deadbeat ex-husband winds up back in jail]].
61	%% * "Cassidy", Marisa Tomei's character in ''Film/TheWrestler''.
62	* Heather Graham's character in ''Film/TheHangover'' is both a single mom stripper ''and'' a single mom prostitute. She says that she works at a strip club as a way of meeting clients.
63	-->'''Stu:''' I married a whore!\
64	'''Alan:''' How dare you, she's a nice lady!
65	* One background character in ''[[Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera Repo!]]'', [[{{Fanservice}} based on what she does in her one scene.]]
66	-->I needed an organ transplant desperately\
67	Geneco showed this single mom sympathy\
68	This makeover came for a small added fee\
69	Now I look smashing [[PublicExposure on live TV!]]
70	%% * Creator/JessicaBiel in ''Powder Blue'', playing it so earnestly straight.
71	* Halley in ''Film/TheFloridaProject'' at first works as a stripper in order to support herself and her young daughter. When she gets fired, she tries to find other means of getting money, eventually having to resort to [[spoiler:becoming a prostitute, which ends badly for her and her daughter when word of this gets out]].
72	* In ''Film/SandsOfIwoJima'', Sgt. Stryker (John Wayne) is disgusted by the prostitute he meets -- until he finds out that she has a baby. (It's implied she's in the business to support her son.) Stryker dandles the boy for a while, gives the woman money, and leaves.
73	* Nasa from ''Film/CallHerSavage'' goes out hooking one evening so she can buy her baby medicine. The baby dies in a fire after the girl Nasa asked to look after the baby gets distracted.
74	* Daka from ''Film/StVincent2014'' is a Russian stripper/prostitute who is quite visibly pregnant for most of the film, at one point losing her job at the club because of her belly. It's never quite stated whether or not it's Vince's kid.
75	* A dancer in the nude stage show in ''Film/{{Showgirls}}'' has to chase down her son running through the dressing room. This appears to be a frequent occurrence.
76	* In ''Film/GinzaCosmetics'', Yukiko was once a higher-class {{Geisha}}, until her client knocked her up. Now she is a rather forlorn middle-aged bar girl and prostitute struggling to support her boy.
77	* ''Film/JeanneDielman23QuaiDuCommerce1080Bruxelles'': Jeanne is a widow and a prostitute who receives callers in her apartment during the day while her son is off at school.
78	* ''Film/{{Polar}}'': The prostitute Vizla visits in Belarus has a young son to support. When he pays her for spending two days with him in a hotel, which is actually a cover while he's on a job, she's incredibly pissed off for potentially putting both their lives in danger and demands that he break off all contact.
79	* In ''Film/ZombiesZombiesZombies'', Harley is a single mother who has recently come to town and moved in with her brother and grandmother in an attempt to make a better life for her daughter Jenna. The zombie outbreak occurs on her first night working as a stripper at the Grindhouse.
80	* ''Film/{{Hustlers}}'': Ramona, who strips to provide for her young daughter Julia. Destiny quit stripping after her daughter Lily was born but had difficulty supporting her after she breaks up with her babydaddy Johnny, and returns to the club after some time. Both women later move up to more lucrative and morally gray acts.
81	* In ''Film/{{Stag}}'', Serena is a stripper and prostitute (she sleeps with some clients to earn extra cash) who has a 10-year-old son Jamie at home. When the men learn of this, they try to use her son as a bargaining chip against her.
82	* {{Deconstructed\|Trope}} in ''Film/WorkingGirls'', where one of the prostitutes immediately loses a client after he overhears a phone call she has with her son. On top of the discomfort she shows with her job earlier that day, she ultimately leaves after the other girls scold her for her performance.
83	* Diana "Diamond" Armstrong from ''Film/ThePlayersClub'' began stripping to support her and her son and help pay for college with the aspirations of becoming a television journalist. She was able to balance everything fairly well until her young cousin Ebony came to live with her and given her wild and authority-hating persona, it got worse from there.
84	* Two of the three women who live with Djay in ''Film/HustleAndFlow''. Lexus has a baby and Shug is pregnant; it's not stated if Djay is the father or not.
85	* ''Film/WereNoAngels'': Molly works as a prostitute to take care of her deaf daughter (whose father is never mentioned).
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Literature]]
89	* ''Literature/DancingAztecs'': Jerry's one-night stand Myra is a stripper and mentions having a kid who's staying with her mother.
90	* One of the "actresses" in the ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ''Literature/BloodRites'', most of which happens in and around a porn studio (ItMakesSenseInContext) is a single mom trying to feed her kids.
91	* In ''Literature/ChroniclesOfNick'', Cherise Gautier (Nick's mother) had him at fifteen and works as a Bourbon St stripper, but is supposed to be just about the sweetest human being you could ever meet... until she's murdered and left for Nick to find. This doubles as a BerserkButton for Nick; in the spin-off, he gets into fights to protect her honor and part of the reason he is bullied is that he doesn't complain about the dorky shirts she makes him wear.
92	%% * The drifting mother in Chapter 8 of ''Literature/ThePaleKing''.
93	* In ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'' Sonya becomes a prostitute to feed her brothers and sisters.
94	* Fantine from ''Literature/LesMiserables'' is fired from her factory job for having a child out of wedlock, which also makes it impossible for her to find any other legitimate employment. Leaving her daughter with the money-grubbing Thénardiers does not help her financial situation, and when she has run out of other things to sell, she resorts to selling her body.
95	* ''Literature/StripTease'', by Creator/CarlHiaasen (both the book and the movie above), hinges on this trope: Erin Grant becomes a stripper, but only because she has to do something lucrative to pay off her legal fees from trying to get custody of her daughter from her sleazeball ex-husband. She never actually has much of a romance with anybody, let alone being saved by ThePowerOfLove, and she gets the happiest ending of anyone in the book.
96	* Ryuji's mother Yasuko Takasu in ''Literature/{{Toradora}}'' isn't a stripper but a [[HostClub bar hostess]], which in Japan is regarded as practically the same thing; using her sex-appeal while waiting tables and entertaining bar patrons is part of her job.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
100	* Tiffy in ''Series/TheUnit'' worked as a FamilyFriendlyStripper after separating from her husband. Unable to find a regular job due to a DUI conviction (she'd taken the rap for the Colonel's wife), she states it's also about keeping her daughters in horse-riding lessons. The bar was shut down after a fire led to the police finding drugs.
101	* Sharona [[PublicExposure posed]] for a Magazine/{{Playboy}} magazine {{Expy}} in ''Series/{{Monk}}'' in the past.
102	%% * Miss Pasternak on ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen''.
103	* Niki on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Technically, she's not single, but seeing as her husband escaped from jail and went on the run, she's pretty much on her own when it comes to raising Micah.
104	%% * At least one of the strippers in the pilot episode of ''Series/Millennium1996''.
105	* Hilda on ''Series/UglyBetty'' once ended up working at a [[BrandX Hooters analogue]] for this reason.
106	* Cassie on ''Series/GuidingLight;'' did this to try to make enough money to get her daughter out of foster care. Cassie was later so {{Anvilicious}} about treating her past as an OldShame you'd think she'd been a prostitute dealing cocaine to school children.
107	%% * Bill's mom in ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' used to be this.
108	* Frederico in ''Series/SixFeetUnder'' had an affair with a stripper who was a single mom. He didn't really have that much sex with her, as much as he just bought her lots of nice things she never asked for in the first place.
109	* LT Hawkes spends a night with a prostitute on R&R in ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond''. Halfway through the night, he stumbles into the next room to find a sleeping baby. While the woman was upset that he found the baby's room, earlier she was excited to see he had a stash of painkillers highly addictive for their species.
110	* ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': One of these is Starsky's love interest of the week in "The Las Vegas Strangler". Surprisingly, she makes it out of the episode alive.
111	%% * Lieutenant Matthew Scott from ''Series/StargateUniverse'' [[spoiler: has an ex who turns out to be this.]]
112	* Gillian Darmody on ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' was a Single Mom Stripper in the past, and later becomes a Single [[PromotedToParent Grandma]] [[MissKitty Madam]]. This comes back to bite her horribly; her control of the whorehouse gradually slips through her fingers as it's taken over by Gyp Rosetti's gang, and [[spoiler:Richard, afraid to let Tommy grow up in that environment and convinced that Gillian is not looking after him, fights his way through them and kidnaps Tommy, leaving a trail of dead men behind him. In the ensuing custody dispute, Gillian's unsavoury lifestyle and habitation are major black marks against her]].
113	%% * A few victim-of-the-weeks in ''Series/CriminalMinds'' are these. One uses it to [[IHaveAFamily attempt to garner pity]] (as expected, it doesn't work). And in Rossi's ItsPersonal case, the eldest of the orphans works as a stripper to help her siblings.
114	%% * In the French version of ''Series/BigBrother'', it was revealed in the first season that one of the candidates, Loana, had such a background. She ended up the winner of that season.
115	* In season 3 of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', Isobel Crawley discovers that Ethel Parks has become a prostitute after having had an illegitimate son in the previous season. TruthInTelevision -- this was all too common among disgraced unwed mothers at the time.
116	* ''Series/{{Hung}}'' [[GenderFlip gender-flips]] this, but otherwise plays it absolutely straight: the main character is behind on his mortgage, and wants to get his kids back from his wife (who also cheated on him)... His only talent is a [[BiggerIsBetterInBed huge wang]], so he decides to try his luck at hooking.
117	* The VictimOfTheWeek in a ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' episode was working as this to support herself and her stepson, having fled from her abusive husband. Unfortunately, one of the customers at the bar happened to be one of his coworkers...
118	* In ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'' "The Return of Hotsy Totsy" (Season 3), Rosalie Totsie has dropped out of Buchanan and works at a nightclub to support her baby. Kotter and the Sweathogs help her to finish her education at Buchanan so she can improve her job prospects.
119	* ''Series/{{Hightown}}'': Renee once Frankie Sr. is taken to prison and his assets are frozen. She has to start working as a stripper again for herself and her son. Though she's in a relationship with him they're not married.
120	* Christie on ''Series/{{Mom}}'' is a single mom and used to be a stripper, though whether she stripped before or after having her kids is somewhat vague and she's a waitress at the start of the series.
121	* ''Series/Scoundrels2010'': To better support her family, Heather first becomes a cocktail waitress at a strip club then upgrades to being a FamilyFriendlyStripper on occasion at the club. Her mother is ''not'' happy about it when she finds out.
122	* ''{{Series/CSI}}'': In the 2022 revival, Catherine’s daughter Lindsey is a single mom and has an [=OnlyFans=], basically meaning she’s doing virtual stripping. She says Catherine is being hypocritical when Catherine disapproves, since she was a stripper before her crime lab days. Catherine gives a IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney kind of reply, which doesn’t help much.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Music]]
126	* The song "Rockabye" by Music/CleanBandit implies this about the subject of the song, who is going to "do what I got to do" to provide a better life for her young son, and also mentions how she can't find the child's father anywhere. The music video makes the stripping aspect more explicit, with the mother twirling on a stripper pole in a bar in her underwear.
127	* The Kenny Chesney song ''"Dancin' for the Groceries"'' tells of a desperate single mother who resorts to stripping in order to make ends meet.
128	%% * The subject of the Funkadelic song "Cosmic Slop".
129	* Savaged mercilessly in Music/BloodhoundGang's "A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When the Stripper is Crying"
130	--> "I have to admit it was even more of a turn-on\
131	When I found out she was doin' me to buy baby formula."
132	* Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" is about the daughter of a tent show dancer (not a single mom; papa's a tent-preacher or snake-oil seller and would have protected his daughter if he'd known what was going on, and helps support his grandkid) who becomes a Single Mom dancer herself. Stripping may or may not be involved.
133	* The Decemberists' "A Cautionary Tale" is about a mother who makes the rounds through the local sailors late at night to support her children, and advises said children to be grateful and eat the "collard greens" she bought with the money.
134	* Although Music/PaulMcCartney apparently intended "Lady Madonna" as a more general ode about working women, the song is often interpreted as being about a prostitute, with the days of the week referring to her regular appointments. "Thursday night your stockings needed mending."
135	* "What Would You Do?" by City High is about a woman named Lonnie who is a stripper, a prostitute, or possibly both, to support both herself (having run away from home to escape ParentalIncest) and her baby, whose father is addicted to drugs and has been in and out of {{Prison}} (and out of the picture for a long time). The speaker [[SlutShaming berates her]], and calls "having a child to take care of" and "no regular job" an excuse for not conforming to his idealized image of her from JuniorHigh.
136	* "Borderline Angel," by country trio Farmer's Daughter, is about a single-mom prostitute who prays to Jesus that she won't need to do this for a living anymore.
137	* Implied with Music/CageTheElephant's "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked", in which a prostitute offers her services to the speaker. When he asks how she got into that situation, she mentions that she has "bills to pay" and "mouths to feed".
138	* O.C. Jones recorded ''Music/TheSonOfHickoryHollersTramp'' about a woman who turned to prostitution to feed her kids; he looks back after having made it out of poverty.[[/folder]]
139
140	[[folder:Music Videos]]
141	* Music/{{Metallica}}'s video for "Turn The Page" features a Single Mom Stripper. And it just [[CrapsackWorld goes spiraling from there]].
142	* Madonna was one of these in her "Open Your Heart" video; at first, the little boy trying to get in to see her was sort of weird, before you realize it's her son.
143	* In Juvenile's video for "Rodeo", the camera goes "behind the scenes" at a strip club. The dancers are all [[TheWoobie sympathetic]], facing such issues as overdue bills, jealous boyfriends, schoolwork, breakups, crass treatment from patrons, and all that, but TheShowMustGoOn. One of the dancers has a baby with her backstage.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Theater]]
147	* It was implied that Madea (''Film/DiaryOfAMadBlackWoman'', etc) might have been a single mom stripper at least once.
148	* Fantine in ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' turns to prostitution in order to raise money for her daughter, Cosette.
149	* After escaping Vietnam and going to Bangkok, Kim in ''Theatre/MissSaigon'' works as this in order to support her son.
150	* In ''Theatre/MadameButterfly'' (the inspiration for ''Theatre/MissSaigon''), Cio-Cio-San is horrified by the thought of becoming a single mom ''geisha'' to support her son if his father never comes back. Though unlike with her modern counterpart Kim, [[spoiler: the final tragedy]] plays out before she can reach that point.
151	* ''Theatre/AngHulingElBimbo'': Joy is eventually forced into prostitution by Banlaoi, and she continues for her daughter and because he pulls a gun on her when she tries to quit.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder: Video Games]]
155	* Lauren in ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' became a prostitute to support her son after her husband abandoned them. She became even more sour and cynical when her son went missing and the police were useless in finding him. Lauren would eventually join Scott Shelby, a private detective, in the hopes of finding who took her son away.
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Visual Novel]]
159	* "Envy" from ''VisualNovel/BeingADIK'' works at the Pink Rose and is revealed to have a school-age son, a ten-year-old named Marvin. Nicole goes into more detail about it during her date in Episode 10: she had Marvin when she was 20, and after she broke up with Luke she felt like stripping was her best option to provide for them. She even talks about the troubles she has faced: it has taken her a long time to get used to the demands sex work makes of her; Luke has not come to terms with her work, once asking for full custody of Marvin and saying she isn't fit to be a mother (a feeling Nicole herself struggles with); and [[SecretSexWorker she keeps her job a secret from Marvin]], hoping that he doesn't find out for a long time yet.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Webcomics]]
163	* Danika, a minor character from ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan''. The "single Mom" part actually saves her life, because after Celesto gruesomely murders her client he decides to spare her upon realizing she only has that job to support her daughter.
164	%% * ''Webcomic/KarateBears'': This would be a [[http://www.karatebears.com/2011/03/do-what-it-takes.html Single Dad Stripper.]]
165	[[/folder]]
166
167	[[folder:Western Animation]]
168	* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', where Steve distracts some strippers by telling them their kids that they left in their cars has gotten into their stash. Naturally, every one of them runs off.
169	* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter and his friends are trailing Lois to find out why she's acting suspicious, and Quagmire says "Maybe she's a prostitute! But only on the weekends, to pay for her mom's kidney dialysis... like in my fantasy... ''(awkward pause)'' You know, let's start again. Hi, I'm Quagmire!"
170	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' :
171	** Mrs. Muntz, Nelson's mother although she isn't very attractive. One episode featured Nelson's father returning, but he hasn't been mentioned since then and it is implied that the family still consists of Nelson and his mother.
172	** Another episode had his mom getting cast as [[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} Lady Macbeth]]: "I don't have to take off my top... but I do anyway!"
173	%% ** Creator/BillPlympton's couch gag for "Beware My Cheating Bart" had a couch play the role of a single mom stripper.
174	* Played for laughs on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' with Eric Cartman's single mom Liane who not only has slept (for free) with nearly the [[ReallyGetsAround entire town]] but has also worked as a porn model and actress. Eric chooses to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that all this was in her past. For example, in ''[[Recap/SouthParkS1E7Pinkeye Pinkeye]]'' there's a RunningGag in which Stan and Kyle tease Cartman over his mom having appeared in ''Crack Whore'' magazine.
175	--> '''Cartman:''' Knock it off you guys, she said [[IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney she was young and needed the money]].\
176	'''Stan:''' Cartman, those pictures were taken like, last month.
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Other]]
180	* T-Shirt Hell, purveyor of offensive cotton outerwear, features a shirt that says "[[http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/i-support-single-moms/ I Support Single Moms]]" alongside a silhouette of a stripper.
181	** Another FunTShirt / bumper sticker reads "I support single moms, a dollar at a time".
182	[[/folder]]
183

Context Main / SingleMomStripper