Naked Lives

Inside the Worlds of Exotic Dance

Mindy S. Bradley-Engen

• Publisher: Excelsior Editions
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781438426068, 9781438426051
• eBook ISBN: 9781438426327
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Criminología

Looks at the experience of being an exotic dancer in different kinds of strip clubs.

Is stripping good or bad for the women who do it? According to sociologist Mindy S. Bradley-Engen, there's no simple answer. An exotic dancer's experiences can be both empowering and degrading: at times a dancer can feel like a goddess, at times ashamed and dirty. Drawing on extensive interviews as well as her own experiences as an exotic dancer, Bradley-Engen shows that strippers' work experiences are shaped by the types of establishments-the different worlds-in which they work. A typology of strip clubs emerges: the hustle club, the show club, and the social club, each with its own distinct culture, expectations, and challenges, each creating circumstances in which stripping can be good, bad, or indifferent. Going beyond the warring rhetorics of exploitation and empowerment, this book provides a rich and complex account of the realities of exotic dance and offers a fascinating, thought-provoking consideration for both academics and general readers.

Table of contents

• NAKED LIVES
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. METHODOLOGY
• 3. DANCING AT THE HUSTLE CLUB
• 4. DANCING AT THE SHOW CLUB
• 5. DANCING AT THE SOCIAL CLUB
• 6. THE SOCIAL WORLDS OF EXOTIC DANCE
• 7. CONCLUSION
• NOTES
• SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX