Erotic+Dancing

By Amanda Nicholson, Heather Richards, Kristin Chapman, and Lorin Clay

Introduction
An exotic dancer is defined as someone who removes all or most of her clothing in a sexually suggestive fashion to a paying audience in a performance environment. Exotic dancers are also known as "strippers," "strip-teasers," "table dancers," "go-go dancers," and "adult entertainers" (Skipper & McCaghy, 1970). Performers engage in both choreographed stripping routines on stage to music as well as a one- on- one individualized performances in hopes of eliciting income.

Many reasons have been cited as to why some individuals become exotic dancers; however, the overriding motivation is to make money. The more desirable the dancer, the more business he or she generates. Therefore, attraction and sexuality act as the currency in this profession (Forsyth & Deshotels, 1997).

Historically, exotic dancing represented femininity and was utilized for sacred dance to bring forth fertility in women in countries such as India, well before the 1900’s. In the Americas, exotic dance was first known as a form of dance referred to as burlesque dancing. Originally, it was only comprised of women that performed in full costume in bars, nightclubs, and saloons mostly frequented by men (Mounds, 2004) .

**Male Exotic Dancers**

 Research shows that the roles of male exotic dancers differ from those of female dancers (Tewksbury, 1993; Ronai & Cross, 1998; Montemurro, 2001). Men working in the sex industry don’t incur nearly as much of the stigma as women. Research has shown that there is definite identity and role differences between male and female dancers. Tewksbury (1993) suggest that “male strippers often feel the same level of exploitation by the customers as female dancers; however, men are more in control of the audience than are women” (p. 15), which further contributes to the unequal power balance between men and women that occur in the exotic dancing profession.

Men in the profession do not seem to endure the level of shame and dishonor of their female counterparts. These negative associations have been far more damaging for women in that they have created a culture of stereotypes. Some research argues that, “female dancers offer a sexual fantasy to their clientele, whereas male dancers sell fun and entertainment” (Bernard et al., 2003, p. 7), thus attaching a positive connotation to the professional exotic dancer, and a negative one to that of the female. Male sex work continues to remain an under researched topic however (Logan, 2010).

Although placed in the category of sex work, many male erotic dancers do not identify as "sex workers," since sexual acts are not traded for money. For this reason, exotic dance is often seen as more socially acceptable than other types of commercial sex work.

Media Component: Example of Male Exotic Dancing
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