Stripper
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A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events.
Modern forms of stripping minimize the interaction of strippers with customers, reducing the importance of the tease in the performance in favor of speed of undress (the strip).
Before the 1970s, strippers in Western cultures were almost invariably female, performing to male audiences, usually in strip clubs. At the same time, strippers of all genders were dancing in underground clubs or as part of a theatre experience. Since the 1970s, mainstream stripping has adopted a greater gender diversity and male strippers have become an established form of entertainment for female audiences. Their performances are usually fully choreographed, involving dance routines and costumes. Certain male and female strippers also perform for LGBT audiences as well as for all genders in bisexual contexts.[3][4] The term "male stripper" has decreased in use in books published in the 21st century.[5]
Work environment
Strippers perform striptease for a number of reasons, predominantly to make money. The
Touching strippers is not permitted in many localities. However, some dancers and clubs allow touching of dancers during private dances. If permitted, during a lap dance the dancer may dance sitting in the customer's lap, clothed or topless.[7] In parts of the US, there are laws forbidding the exposure of female nipples, which the dancers must cover with pasties.[8] The common practice of hiring strippers as contractors rather than full-time employees often leads to job insecurity, unstable pay and a lack of health benefits. Strippers are also sometimes required to pay fees to the club for renting their stage. This precarious employment is accepted because of the stigma associated with exotic dancing.[citation needed] Strippers typically use make-up, costume, and perfume to enhance their performance.[citation needed]
In strip clubs
Strippers most commonly work as providers of live entertainment in strip clubs. House dancers work for a particular club or franchise, while feature dancers usually have celebrity status, touring a club circuit and making live appearances. Porn stars often become feature dancers to earn extra income and build their fan base. High-profile adult film performers such as Jenna Haze and Teagan Presley have participated in feature shows throughout the US, as did now-retired stars such as Jenna Jameson. These dancers are not usually direct employees of the club but instead perform as independent contractors for a predetermined house fee.[citation needed]
The use of strip clubs to facilitate sex for hire is much more common outside the US, and stripping is viewed in those settings as advertising for sexually oriented services performed in private areas of the club or off premises.[citation needed]
Stage performance
Most clubs have a dancer rotation where each dancer in turn will perform for one or more songs in a fixed sequence which repeats during a shift. More informal clubs will have dancers take turns when a stage becomes empty or have a free flow of entertainers where the stage has any number of entertainers who wander off and on at will. Feature entertainers are not usually part of the rotation, and have set times where they will perform that are advertised throughout the shift. If a
Tip collection
During each set of one or more songs, the current performer will dance on stage in exchange for tips. Dancers collect
Private dance
Where legal (or legal restrictions are ignored), dancers may offer additional services such as lap dances or a trip to the champagne room for a set fee rather than a tip. This fee will typically include a set fee for the room, for a set amount of time. Private dances in the main club areas most often take the form of table dances, lap and couch dances, and bed dances among others. An air dance is a particular form of private dance where little to no contact between the dancer and customer occurs. This class of dance spans the different categories above, and some dancers can perform air dances when more contact-heavy forms of dance were expected and paid for.[citation needed]
Table dances are distinguished from other forms of dances in that they can be performed where the customer is seated on the main floor. Table dances also refer to a form of minimal touch private dance where the performer is physically located on a small table in front of the customer(s). Table dances should not be confused with table stages, where the stripper is at or above eye level on a platform surrounded by chairs and usually enough table surface for customers to place drinks and tip money. These stages are configured for close viewing of the striptease and are known for dancers lowering themselves from the stage onto customers during their set.[citation needed]
Lap dances can be (and are) performed in all manner of seating, ranging from plain stools and kitchen-grade chairs to plush leather armchairs. They can also be performed with the customer standing in these designated areas. A service provided by many clubs is for a customer to be placed on stage with one or more dancers for a public lap dance. Occasions for this type of performance are
A champagne room (also called a champagne lounge or champagne court) is a specialized VIP Room service offered by gentleman's clubs where a customer can purchase time (usually in half-hour increments) with an exotic dancer in a private room on the premises. Depending on the quality of the club, the room, which is away from the hustle and bustle of the main club, is well decorated and usually has its own bar. Clubs sell
Other locations
Strippers can be contracted for performances outside the strip club environment. Some strippers will only strip for private engagements and do not have a regular affiliation with a strip club.[citation needed]
Adult industry trade shows often have strippers working, though many of them are affiliated with individual companies and not necessarily
Bachelor and bachelorette parties
A bachelor party may involve activities beyond the usual party and social-gathering ingredients, such as going to a strip club or hiring a stripper to perform in a private setting like a home or hotel. In some traditions, there are hazing-like tests and pranks at the future groom's expense. These pranks can involve a stripper if the entertainer is willing. Some women also participate in a similar party to be held for the bride-to-be. This is known as a bachelorette party or Hen party.[citation needed]
Private parties
Private parties are popular events for which to hire strippers. There are many entertainment businesses that have strippers contracted for private performances. Some of these companies have a national presence, with strippers contracted in multiple states and some who work regionally over a multi-state area. Strippers will also do side work and handle their own agreements and payment arrangements. Written agreements are atypical in this type of transaction unless a formal, registered business is involved. They could also travel over significant (i.e. flight required) distances for private events and appointments, most of the time passing the cost of travel and accommodations onto the customer. Patrons at the clubs in which the strippers work are a primary source of customers for their work outside the club. Much like activities inside the club, different dancers have different comfort levels for services they will provide during a private party.[citation needed]
Other activities
Aside from advertising for striptease services outside the club, an unknown percentage of strippers also work in other aspects of the sex industry. This can include erotic and nude modeling, pornography, escorting, and in some cases prostitution (which is now illegal in all states other than Nevada within the U.S.).[citation needed]
Performance
While working, a stripper is not necessarily required to remove all of their clothing. Regardless of size, name, or location in the world, strip clubs can be full nude, topless or bikini.[10][11] For any type of strip club there are exceptions based on the individual dancer and management, and clubs are classified based on typical performances, zoning, and advertised services.[citation needed]
Style of dress
In some localities, strippers are required to obtain permits to work in adult entertainment.
Bikini (Go-go)
Go-go dancers retain their tops and bottoms for the duration of their performance. What differentiates a bikini dancer from other types of performers is the degree to which her body is exposed.[citation needed]
The stripper, in the case of a bikini performance, may begin with layers of clothing worn over the bikini which then would be removed during the course of the dance set. When a bikini performance is being performed, many dancers will forgo a
In many clubs, while a stripper is walking the floor she will be required to wear her full
Topless
Women are at times employed in adult-only venues to perform or pose topless in forms of commercial erotic entertainment. Such venues can range from downmarket strip clubs to upmarket
Even the dancers that will go topless have been known to stay covered during a dance during slow periods in the club with few customers. This is particularly true if the customers do not appear to be engaged or actively tipping because they are not being
Full nudity
Strippers are banned from dancing
Not all strippers are comfortable dancing fully nude. If viewed as a continuum, fewer dancers will dance topless than go-go and fewer still would dance fully nude. It has been reported when in direct competition with more conservative offerings, fully nude formats are seen by customers as a superior enough substitute for them to switch clubs.[17] In areas where choice in formats exist, exotic dancers express concern that the more they offer in their performance (nudity included) the more they stand to profit. Still, strippers have been known to dance only at topless clubs because of their desire not to strip completely nude.[18] Some clubs permit both nude stage dancing and fully nude lap dances. Where nude private dances are allowed with contact, some dancers choose to place some type of barrier (cloth or occasionally plastic) over the customer's lap as a precautionary measure.[citation needed]
Customer interaction
Strippers are focused on making money from customers. Strippers are employed as independent contractors and expected to generate income themselves making the profession similar to a sales job. How dancers go about maximizing revenue varies. For customers they do not already know, dancers use factors such as clothing, shoes, age, and race to determine whom they wish to interact with. Dancers are the primary enablers to encourage potential patrons to spend time in strip clubs. The dancers continually interact with the customers in the club by walking around and attempting to solicit drinks and lap dances, usually scanning the floor of a club to find the most lucrative customer to target.[19]
While clubs can generate revenue through means such as cover charges and drink fees, dancers make most of their profit from giving lap dances or VIP dances where regulations allow. Otherwise, customer tips to dancers from a stage set are their primary form of payment per shift. The dancer qualifies a customer by sizing up their appearance and personal characteristics. Once the dancer identifies her mark, she approaches and attempts to create social relationship with her customer using tactical interactions and manipulations. Alternatively, customers can make the first move and engage the dancer directly. Strippers appeal to
Mainstreaming
In the 21st century, as adult themes and work are becoming more commonplace, more of the population is attracted to this type of work.
Gender roles
Male strippers
Until the 1970s, strippers in Western cultures were almost invariably female, performing to male audiences. Male and female strippers also perform for
The modern male stripper show usually involves
A male stripper will likely perform at club, bar, workplace or private home with private advanced bookings or ladies nights being prevalent over strip clubs which is the norm for female strippers.[23] This is different from the Chippendales scene that emerged to prominence in the 1980s with today's norm being one sole performer, or a series of individual performers rather than a group of strippers.[24]
The social psychologist Richard Tewksbury argues that male strippers 'masculinise' the role; thus are not disempowered in the way that, he asserts, female strippers are.[25]
Sexuality and gender bias
In popular culture
This section is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (April 2015) |
The image of strippers as known today evolved through the late 1960s and 1970s in the U.S. and international cultures which embraced Americanized striptease. By the 1980s pole dancing had become popular in America, and the highly sexual imagery associated with the period's performers was widely accepted and frequently portrayed in film, television, and theater.[citation needed]
1980s–1990s
In addition to lesser-known videos, the 1980s also featured mainstream films involving strippers and their work as part of the central narrative. These included
In
2000s–present
The seventh episode of season 6 of the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds focuses on the BAU team tracking down a trio of young men, one of whom is revealed to be the son of the sheriff leading the investigation, who kidnap, rape, and murder several exotic dancers in Indiana. The 2012 film Magic Mike and 2015 sequel Magic Mike XXL are fictionalized stories of the lives of several male performers.[citation needed] In We're the Millers (2013), Jennifer Aniston plays a stripper who is hired by her drug dealer neighbor to pose as his wife in order to smuggle marijuana from Mexico into America.[31] Lap Dance (2014), which stars Briana Evigan and Carmen Electra, focuses on an aspiring actress who makes a pact with her husband to take a job as an exotic dancer so she can make money to care for her cancer-stricken father. It is based on the true story of the film's director Greg Carter. Dixieland (2015) involves Riley Keough as a stripper making money to support her sick mother and is also being abused by her manager.[32][33] In the TV series La que se avecina, Lola Reynolds (played by Macarena Gómez), changes her job and works as a stripper after know she will earn more money.[34]
Music and spoken word
Strippers have been the inspiration for a number of musical artists, with several of the songs resulting in hit singles. An instrumental, "
Video games
Duke Nukem 3D, released in 1996, became the original pioneer video game for the inclusion of strippers.[35] The Grand Theft Auto series has strippers and strip clubs in many of its games, starting with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002).[36][37][38][39][40][41]
Legal issues
From ancient times to the present day, striptease has been considered a form of
Laws and court cases
Many U.S. jurisdictions have specific laws on the books related to striptease, with more being added increasing both complexity of enforcement and impact. For example, the classification of dancers as independent contractors has been challenged in court, successfully in Massachusetts in 2009.[42] One of the more notorious local ordinances is San Diego Municipal Code 33.3610,[43] specific and strict in response to allegations of corruption among local officials[44] which included contacts in the nude entertainment industry. Among its provisions is the "six foot rule", copied by other municipalities in requiring that dancers maintain a six-foot distance while performing.[citation needed]
Touching of performers is illegal in many U.S. states. However, some dancers and some clubs condone touching of dancers during private dances. This touching often includes the fondling of breasts, buttocks, and in rare cases the vaginal region. In some locales, dancers may give a customer a "lap dance", whereby the dancer grinds against the customer's crotch while they are fully clothed in an attempt to arouse them or bring them to climax. Other rules forbid "full nudity". In some parts of the US, there are laws forbidding the exposure of female nipples, which have thus to be covered by pasties by the dancer (though not applied to the exposure of male nipples). In early 2010, the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan banned fully exposed breasts in its strip clubs, following the example of Houston, Texas who began enforcing a similar ordinance in 2008.[8] The Detroit city council has since softened the rules eliminating the requirement for pasties[45] but kept other restrictions. Both municipalities were reputed to have rampant occurrences of illicit activity including prostitution linked to its striptease establishments[46][47] within their city limits.[citation needed]
In Britain in the 1930s, when the Windmill Theatre, London, began to present nude shows, British law prohibited performers moving whilst in a state of nudity.[48] To get around that rule, models appeared naked in stationary tableaux vivants. To keep within the law, sometimes devices were used which rotated the models without them moving themselves. Fan dances were another device used to keep performances within the law. These allowed a naked dancer's body to be concealed by her fans or those of her attendants, until the end of an act, when she posed naked for a brief interval whilst standing stock still, and the lights went out or the curtain dropped to allow her to leave the stage.[citation needed]
In 2010, Iceland outlawed
Collective bargaining
As the sex industry has grown and become a more established sector of national economies, sex workers—strippers included—have mobilized to negotiate or demand workplace rights. One means of collectivization pursued by strippers is the formation of labor unions, which involves formal membership. These strippers' unions have tended to focus on economic and workers' rights rather than civil rights, which constitutes a significant departure from the advocacy groups for prostitutes' rights that began in the 1970s and 1980s.[51] The stigma attached to sex work also creates another obstacle to organization because many strippers and other types of sex workers are uncomfortable with declaring their profession publicly, even in a movement to improve their work environment and benefits.[52]
One potential critique of the organization of strippers and sex workers of other types is that people in management positions in these industries, who are in a position to perpetuate the exploitation that sex workers face, can infiltrate these labor organizations and lobby for the maintenance of a status quo.[53]
Australia
The Striptease Artists of Australia formed in 2002. The SAA successfully negotiated an
Another group, the Scarlet Alliance, has been involved in advocacy and projects geared towards improving the standing of sex workers since its inception in 1989. While labor rights are an important part of this group's agenda, it is not a labor union.[51]
Britain
The International Union of Sex Workers is a branch of the GMB, a major general union in Great Britain.[51]
Canada
In the 1980s, the Vancouver Exotic Dancers Alliance formed and was active for about a decade.[52] The Canadian Guild for Erotic Labour was established in 2004.[citation needed]
United States
The Lusty Lady of San Francisco is a notable example of collectivization of strippers in the U.S. When the strippers of the establishment successfully unionized in 1996 through the Erotic Dancers' Alliance, the owners of the club closed it. In response, the strippers formed a cooperative in 2003 to run the club themselves, renamed the Looking Glass Collective.[51] The Lusty Lady closed in 2013.[54]
In 2023, strippers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood, California voted to unionize and join the Actors' Equity Association, which made them the only group of unionized strippers in the United States.[54][55][56]
See also
- Bikini barista
- Bubble dance
- Burlesque
- Neo-Burlesque
- Exhibitionism
- Feminist stripper
- Gown-and-glove striptease
- Hunk-O-Mania
- List of strip clubs
- List of strippers
- Pole dance
- Sex workers' rights
- Sex show
- Pornography
References
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- ^ Bernard, Constance; DeGabrielle, Christen; Cartier, Lynette; Monk-Turner, Elizabeth; Phill, Celestine; Sherwood, Jennifer; Tyree, Thomasena (Winter 2003). "Exotic dancers: gender differences in societal reaction, subcultural ties, and conventional support". Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 10 (1): 1–11. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017. PDF Archived 25 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
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- ^ Wendroff, Darren (September 2004). "Strip-Club Etiquette". Men's Health. 19 (7): 86. Retrieved 10 May 2013.[dead link]
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- ^ Matteucci, Megan (22 October 2009). "Police: Strip club offered drugs, sex". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
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- ^ a b c Grove, Jack. "Acceptable face of 'party night' striptease". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
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- ^ Squires, John (14 November 2017). "'Planet Terror' is 100x More Badass in 2017 Than It Was in 2007". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- ^ "Heather Graham confesses that she lived as a stripper". Daily Telegraph. News Pty Ltd. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
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Further reading
- Egan, Danielle; Frank, Katherine; Johnson, Merri, eds. (2006). Flesh for fantasy: producing and consuming exotic dance. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. Distributed by Publishers Group West. OCLC 62901866.
- Frank, Katherine, ed. (2002). G-strings and sympathy: strip club regulars and male desire. Durham, North Carolina; London: Duke University Press.
- Trautner, Mary Nell (December 2005). "Doing gender, doing class: the performance of sexuality in exotic dance clubs". S2CID 17217211.
External links
- Media related to Strippers at Wikimedia Commons