ABSTRACT

Gendered Power Dynamics and Exotic Dance examines the social phenomenon of exotic dancing. Presenting a compelling multilevel analysis of dancer interactions, organizational practices, and institutional forces, this book challenges our understanding of sexuality and power.

Centering the voices and experiences of exotic dancers, this book explores the relationship between exotic dancing and power at the micro-interactional, meso-organizational, and macro-institutional levels, informing a feminist theory of power that seeks out systems of domination in order to challenge and change them. Through direct interviews and observations collected between 1993 and 2021 from 40 different clubs in the United States, Deshotels and Forsyth demystify the seemingly contrary findings about exotic dancing and power. They show how and why individual dancers can be simultaneously empowered and exploited beyond individual traits, interactions, or settings in the nexus of gender and power in exotic dancing.

The book will be useful for scholarly readers in the subject areas of sociology, cultural studies, gender/sexualities studies, sex work, and organizations theory. Written in a clear, accessible manner, this book will also appeal to a general audience interested in understanding the complex interactions of gender, power, feminism, and exotic dance.

chapter 1|16 pages

Introduction

Exotic dancing and power

chapter 2|16 pages

Dancing with power

Setting the stage

chapter 3|30 pages

You're sitting on a gold mine

Exotic dancing and power at the micro-interactional level of analysis

chapter 4|26 pages

Sex rules

The relationship between exotic dancing, organizational rules, and workplace culture

chapter 5|24 pages

McSexy

An examination of how market forces and cultural images impact dancer power

chapter 6|16 pages

The next stage

Power and empowerment