ABSTRACT
In setting the stage, this chapter describes the methods we use and the setting we examine in our analysis of the relationship between exotic dancing and power. We analyze data from observations and interviews of 165 female dancers and 76 managers and support staffs at 40 different clubs across the southeast and west coast of the United States collected between 1993 and 2021. Based on the observations and interviews, we describe the differences and similarities between three levels of clubs: high-end upper middle-class ‘gold clubs,’ middle-class ‘neighborhood’ clubs, and low-end working-class ‘trucker or biker’ clubs. The focus is on women exotic dancers who primarily dance for a heterosexual audience, not because power is more pervasive here than elsewhere rather because normative heterosexuality is one of the cultural resources that is reproduced and challenged in the field of exotic dance.
