She opened one of the double glass doors and slipped inside, keenly aware that all eyes of both the women and men were on her. She kept her eyes down as she passed the front desk, allowing a small smile to the person behind the counter. The leather satchel she carried over her back trembled slightly with the rest of her body as she made her way past closed booths to the back of the hallway.

Suddenly a door opened, and she glanced briefly into the eyes of the man exiting the booth before she jumped out of the way and hurried down the hall to the very last door. She pressed the button next to this entrance, and was buzzed in.

She stepped into the small room for the first time since her interview, entering the as yet unknown world of her new job. Looking straight ahead, she was greeted warmly by another girl, lounging on a worn, black leather couch smoking a cigarette, completely naked expect for a pair of high heels.

"I can't do this," she kept thinking. "I'm not as pretty as she is, my breasts don't look like that, my hair is too short and too thin, I'm too fat..." A multitude of similar thoughts darted over and over in her mind.

She swallowed her fears, stood up straight, and smiled at the girl. She chatted pleasantly with her for a few minutes before the girl extinguished her cigarette, looked in the mirror, adjusted her hair, and after touching up her makeup, disappeared up a short flight of stairs.

Seconds later, another girl came down those same stairs. Again, she was greeted fondly and the two talked while the newcomer started painting her face. Ten minutes passed, and the routine became established. One girl would ascend those three stairs, and another would come down.

Finally, she took a deep breath, and started undressing. She glanced at the clock...15 minutes until she walked up those stairs herself. Her heart was racing, her blood flowing quickly through her veins. She opened her bag, removed a pair of black leather thigh high boots, and slipped them over her legs, and watched as the last remaining girl walked up those stairs.

The girl that returned this time looked very tired, but smiled and encouraged her with a whispered, "Good luck, have fun, and don't forget to smile." As she dressed, she gave her some last minute pointers and advice.

Tick... tick... tick... She watched the clock as the minute hand crawled to reach the top of the hour. For a fraction of a second, she hestitated, then walked resolutely up those three waiting steps. Thoughts of insecurity still racing through her head, she wondered if she would be pleasing enough...attractive enough.

At the top of the stairs, she entered a small 12 feet by 15 feet room carpeted in red and lined with mirrors. Tiny windows surrounded her that opened and closed, again and again, fevered eyes gazing in at her. The music flowed through her veins, and her body responded. She started to dance with the other four girls on the stage.

During the time she was on stage, she felt more like a woman than she ever had in her life. She strutted her stuff, showing off her most intimate parts to men she had never seen before, nor would ever be likely to see again. She looked into the eyes of the men and smiled, flirting, teasing, tantalizing them with her whole body, her whole being.

Occasionally, she would notice a man she'd been dancing for leave her booth and move to another, preferring to watch a different dancer. The first few times, it made her doubt herself. But after awhile she realized that she had plenty of men who would switch booths to watch her.

Small of stature, she was the shortest on stage and she had the largest breasts. She was the only red head and didn't have any body piercings or tattoos. She was different in appearance from the others, but realized this was planned by those who did the schedule. To keep the customers interested and entertained, the girls on stage at any given time represented different body types, hair color, body decoration, and even dance styles.

To be sure, all the women she worked with, while they may have not been the perfect size seven, were well formed, well shaped, toned, trim, and pleasant to look at. Their appeal to the men watching was based solely on physical looks and stage presence. Communication with words is impossible when there are two panes of plexi-glass between the dancer and the customer.

As the months rolled by, her stamina improved, and she was able to complete a shift without undo discomfort. What fat she carried at the beginning of her employment melted off incredibly fast with the schedule of dancing four hours a day straight, at least four days a week. Soon, she dropped down to an all time personal low weight as the fat in her body was replaced by muscle. Her whole body became completely trimmed and toned muscle, and though this caused her weight to increase again, she looked better than she had looked in all her young life.

Eventually, her confidence grew to be evident even outside of that tiny enclosed space. She no longer looked at the ground when speaking to people, or looked away lest someone notice her. She looked people directly in the eyes and smiled. She was proud of the way she looked, and enjoyed even more the increase in her self esteem, which allowed her to feel equal to anyone and any situation.

She stopped hiding behind jeans, turtle necks, and sloppy oversized T-shirts. She took to wearing flowing skirts, blouses with a button or two undone, and dresses which clung to her very generous curves. Tennis shoes were replaced with sandals or heels, and she stopped binding her long, naturally red hair, letting it instead flow freely down her back.

In a world where a woman's worth is judged initially on her attractiveness...her sexuality, the focus becomes her appearance. It doesn't matter if she was on the high school chess team, or graduated with honors, but whether or not she looks good.

As she became more sophisticated in the ways of the world, she realized that these traits, intelligence and attractiveness, as well as many others in the realm of being human, are not necessarily exclusive of each other. She began to understand that she could be proud of all of the many facets of her persona, and began the exciting and life affirming task of being a woman.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Looking back, those moments behind the looking glass were probably where I found my "slave belly". Some of my dancing sisters were into this kinky kind of play with leather and whips. But it never dawned on me to check it out at the time...only years later did I come to the BDSM community. And only recently have I realized from where my desires stem.

As a side note, this girl tends to intimidate most of the earthen men she knows. She asked them why, but no one could answer her. Then one day, discussing it with her Master, (though at that time, her husband, and not Master) she realized, "It's because they don't know what to do with a real woman...who isn't afraid to be a woman."

roxanne{TC}