ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates a male-for-male gender arrangement of erotic dancing. For most of the dancers in the decision to strip was one that made sense given their skills and opportunities. The dancer community was initially accessed via an affiliation network. The dancers who circulate through Syncopation are older than those at the Silver Bullet. The occupation of stripping does not require the production of any tangible object; rather, the dancer’s sexual and corporeal selves are constructed as a product to be consumed in the course of the interaction. The social setting within which the stripping performance occurs establishes the parameters within which the dancer’s “personality” will be constructed, as well as the type and limitations of the emotions that will be manipulated. The production process encourages dancer self-consciousness and an awareness of himself as both a worker and an object of value.
