Flesh for Fantasy: Producing And Consuming Exotic Dance

With a recent burst of feature films, documentaries, and books on strippers, the business of exotic dancing is hotter than ever. Over the last decade there has been a steadily expanding interest in exotic dance, from its role as an ＂art form＂ to its benefits as a means of exercise. While the breadth of discussion generated on this topic has expanded, the fundamental debate remains the same: are female strippers empowering themselves or allowing themselves to be exploited?

With her follow-up to Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire, M. Lisa Johnson moves beyond the old debates and gives the reader a glimpse of what exotic dancing is like through the eyes of the stripper. The essays here cover everything from workplace policies and conditions to legal restrictions to customer behavior and the struggle to overcome the stereotypes associated with the profession.

M. Lisa Johnson, PhD, has worked as a stripper and is the editor of Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire (Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002), a collection of essays on third wave feminism and sexual politics. She teaches American literature and women’s studies at Coastal Carolina University.

R. Danielle Egan, PhD, is a sociologist and former exotic dancer. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at St. Lawrence University, where she teaches courses in sexuality, sex work, the body, social theory, qualitative methodology and deviance and social control.

Katherine Frank, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and former exotic dancer. Her first book, G-Strings and Sympathy: Strip Club Regulars and Male Desire (2002) is an exploration of the motivations and experiences of the heterosexual male customers of strip clubs. She is currently a research fellow in the sociology department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying the ways that contemporary American couples negotiate sexual exclusivity in marriage.