History Main / SingleMomStripper

* "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" a LameExcuse for not conforming to his idealized image of her from JuniorHigh.

--> '''Cartman:''' Knock it off you guys, she said she was young, and needed the money.\\

* Music/{{Metallica}}'s video for "Turn The Page" features a SingleMomStripper. And it just [[CrapsackWorld goes spiraling from there]].

* Metallica's video for "Turn The Page" features a SingleMomStripper. And it just [[CrapsackWorld goes spiraling from there]].

* 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 JapaneseRevolution. Unfortunately, this move cost her her life: she contracted syphilis from one of her clients, which eventually killed her.

* The song "Rockabye" by Clean Bandit 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.

* 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 a 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.

* ''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. 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.

* In a brief ''Magazine/{{MAD}} Magazine'' comic strip from the late 90's, 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 UsefulNotes/{{Sega Dreamcast}}s you've been bitching about." His tone ''quickly'' changes.

* ''Film/DangerousBeauty'' is about a 16th century woman who becomes a courtesan to support herself and her mother.
* Jasmine from ''Film/IndependenceDay''. Unlike most examples however, she has no regrets about the work ("It's good money. Besides, my baby's worth it."), she's well on her way to getting out of the "single" part, and the film deserves credit for not making her any less sympathetic.

* 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 to confessing on tape, and she not only wins full custody as a result, but her deadbeat ex-husband winds up back in jail]] .

* ''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.

* 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.

* T-Shirt Hell, purveyor of offensive cotton outerwear, feature a shirt that says "[[http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/i-support-single-moms/ I Support Single Moms]]" alongside a silhouette rather reminiscent of mudflap girls but dancing around a pole.

* 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.

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, CamWhore, etc.) because she sees it as a practical way to support her child or children. On one hand, this trope can humanize these women and give them a story behind their beauty. But on the other hand, it can imply that a woman who is only in the business due to circumstance is [[MyGirlIsNotASlut more respectable]] than one who does it by choice.

* T-Shirt Hell, purveyor of offensive cotton outerwear, feature a shirt that says "[[http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/i-support-single-moms/ I Support Single Moms]]" alongside a silhouette rather reminiscent of mudflap girls but dancing around a pole (pictured above).

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]]. [[DeterminedWidow 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 from fending for yourself out on the streets.

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]]. [[DeterminedWidow 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 from the street.

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* One of the "actresses" in the ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ''Blood Rites'', most of which happens in and around a porn studio (ItMakesSenseInContext) is a single mom trying to feed her kids.

* In Franchise/TheDCU, [[RubberMan Plastic Man]]'s ex Angel. (Also, her son is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial absolutely not Plas's]].)

* "Cassidy", Marisa Tomei's character in ''Film/TheWrestler''.

* Creator/JessicaBiel in ''Powder Blue'', playing it so earnestly straight.

* The drifting mother in Chapter 8 of ''Literature/ThePaleKing''.

* Miss Pasternak on ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen''.

* At least one of the strippers in the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Millennium}}''.

* It's the back story for Catherine on ''Series/{{CSI}}''.

* Bill's mom in ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' used to be this.

* Lieutenant Matthew Scott from ''Series/StargateUniverse'' [[spoiler: has an ex who turns out to be this.]]

* 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 work as a stripper to help her siblings.
* 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 winner of that season.

* The subject of the Funkadelic song "Cosmic Slop".

* ''Webcomic/KarateBears'': This would be a [[http://www.karatebears.com/2011/03/do-what-it-takes.html Single Dad Stripper.]]

* Mrs. Muntz, Nelson's mother, from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', 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.

** Creator/BillPlympton's couch gag for "Beware My Cheating Bart" had a couch play the role of a single mom stripper.

May be a HookerWithAHeartOfGold. 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.

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, etc.) because she sees it as a practical way to support her child or children. On one hand, this trope can humanize these women and give them a story behind their beauty. But on the other hand, it can imply that a woman who is only in the business due to circumstance is [[MyGirlIsNotASlut more respectable]] than one who does it by choice.

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]]. [[DeterminedWidow Or maybe your husband died]], he was the primary breadwinner, and you've been [[QuittingToGetMarried out of the workforce since you got married.]] Regardless, you're out of work, you've got a baby to feed and you're one missed rent payment from the street.

May be a HookerWithAHeartOfGold. 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.