Diablo Cody's Oscar Win Inspires Strippers

"I have seen a lot of girls achieve their goals while dancing on the side. I'm glad to see that the media has put her in a positive light, but I doubt it will change things for most women trying to do something else who are always going to be judged for having danced."

Holly, who asked to be identified by her stripper name because she performs as a comic under her real name, does not talk about dancing in her comedy act and says many people don't know how she supplements her income.

"I have had people so repulsed by me when they learn I dance that they refused to shake my hand. There are tons of people in entertainment that have dabbled in dancing here and there, but very often they keep that part of their life a secret."

Holly says she earns a reasonable salary from comedy, but in order to live in New York she must supplement her income with dancing, a job that pays well and lets her set her own hours.

"No," she said, "her win doesn't make me hopeful. And I'm an optimist."

Before "Juno" earned $156 million worldwide at the box office, Cody belonged to a coterie of dancers who blogged about their experiences and hoped for a book deal. Cody's memoir, "Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper," was published in 2004.

Cody followed in the stiletto-heeled footsteps of another blogger who calls herself Lily Burana, who recently wrote on her blog, "I can't tell you how excited I am by [Cody] being shot out of the fame cannon and into the dazzling sky," and then goes on to recount how Cody, as a neophyte blogger, sought out Burana for advice.

Joining Burana and Cody in cyberspace was Ruth Fowler, 28, who wrote her blog under the name Mimi Fowler. After arriving in New York in 2005, the Cambridge-educated writer worked as a freelance journalist before she found work in a club, first as a waitress and then as a dancer.

According to Fowler, "2006 was a really bad time for me. I was stripping and waiting for a visa and every stripper I knew was getting a book deal. I had been in touch with Diablo and she gave me some good advice. If she can do it, I thought, I can do it."