Summary

In "Badlands," Hough details her experience as a bouncer at a gay night club in D.C. She explains how she and her fellow bouncers were all poverty-stricken, working late nights at the club and relying on fellow bouncers and bartenders for food. One night when Hough is still new to the job, a bartender brings free bread to all the employees. While the others are quick to accept the free food, Hough is ashamed to admit she is poor. Someone eventually shares their bread with her, and she realizes they are all in a similar situation. She spends her nights enduring misogyny from the gay men at the club. One night, a man gropes her, and when she tells her boss, he tells her that she can hit them back. She feels a sense of freedom when she realizes...