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Defining the Emotional Contours of Exotic Dance

Cerys Davies 20'
(journal article)
This source compares two different accounts of strippers and connects them to the emotional work that isstripping. Lerum, the author, does not give an opinion of the matter, merely
presents the information and leaves it to the reader to decipher their own opinion. She starts by describing
the book G-strings and Sympathy: Strip Club Regulars and Male Desire by Katherine Frank. This book is
particularly interesting because it gives a lot of insight into the people that actually attend these strip clubs
who are predominately heterosexual men. Frank makes a clear line of reasoning to the fact that these heterosexual
men “are willing to spend their money on such a public, voyeuristic (although interactive) fantasy” (Lemur). Lemur
evaluates how Frank exposes male privilege to be the cause of the success of the stripping industry. Frank “cautions
against concluding that men go to strip clubs simply to regain a sense of power over women, as men demonstrated a
variety of motivations in visiting strip clubs” (Lemur). Through this claim, Frank makes clear that she is evaluating all
sides of this topic and Lemur is equally presenting this topic to the reader. Then Lemur brings up the fact that G-strings
and Sympathy draws a line to exotic dancing to the success of heterosexual marriages. Frank argues that when a husband
is secretive about going to a strip club, it might allow the marriage to be “successful (especially in terms of longevity)
precisely due to a lack of need for complete emotional honesty” (Lemur).
Then Lemur goes on to examine a different book about stripping entitled Bare by 
Elizabeth Eaves which is a personal account of her life as a stripper. Eaves recalls her life as the “journey to her little girl self
who preferred to be naked and ends it as a thirty-year-old woman who realizes that she ‘didn't have to be the naked girl’” which
leads into the point of her story that describes her sexual evolution as an individual. Lemur discusses Eaves’ “frustration with the
sexual double standard that still relegates sexual stigma and shame upon sexual women” and how it affected her job as a stripper
(Lemur). Once she analyzes Eaves’ perspective on stripping, she goes on to compare the two books. She concludes that the two books
“coming from similar starting points can diverge so widely: Frank problematizes the customer; Eaves problematizes herself. Frank analyzes
the practice of voyeurism; Eaves practices it” (Lemur).
This is different from my other sources because it draws on an analytical dissection of two different perspectives and aspects of stripping.
And it is similar to my other sources because it once again draws no clear conclusion and leaves the reader to decide their opinion. The intended
audience for this source is people who want to know more about stripping from an educated perspective. It is significant to my research because
I now have more accounts to compare and contrast and have a wider range of opinions to draw my own conclusions from.

Lerum, Kari. "Defining the Emotional Contours of Exotic Dance." Sexuality & Culture, 
vol. 8, no. 1, 2004, pp. 44-52. ProQuest, 

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