Strip+Club

Daniel Carmona ** Strip Club ** In today’s sex industry, strip clubs, also called gentlemen’s club, have become popular since the tradition of strip dancing resurfaced during the late 19th century. The beginning of strip clubs in the United States date back thirty years before the great depression. Throughout the years, the strip club industry has become a multi-billion dollar business and thousands of strip clubs can be found across the United States and across all social stratus’s (Sherman, 2007). In today’s strip clubs, it is considered illegal to have sexual contact with clients, not unlike the old strip clubs that dated back years before the great depression. Across the United States, strip clubs can vary by the type of entertainment services they offer. For example, some have only topless dancing and other clubs offer fully nude dancers; however, all clubs forbid the client from touching the dancer. Any contact is usually initiated by the dancer. In the United States, the strip clubs that offer fully nude dancers do not serve alcohol, perhaps to avoid inappropriate behavior from over-intoxicated customers. The entertainment in strip clubs varies from on stage performances, private dancing or no private dancing at all. There are many factors that could influence certain behaviors at a strip club, from enticing clients through various behaviors performed by the strippers, to the influence the strippers have which depends on the stage of their menstrual cycle (Miller, Tybur, & Jordan, (2007). Studies have been conducted on male sensitivity to the cyclic changes in a female’s pleasant appearance. Research shows that female lap dancers receive more tip earnings when they are fertile, which is when they are midway through their ovulation cycle and will receive less earnings when using birth control in the form of hormone intake which can prevent certain hormones from being released by replacing them with estrogen. During these studies, the tips received were recorded by the professional lap dancers in a gentlemen’s club over a two month period. Results showed the dancers were more likely to maximize tip earnings by appearing more sexually attractive during mid cycle than the other dancers that may be working in the club (Miller, Tybur, & Jordan, (2007). Knowledge and keen control of their menstruation would allow dancers to capitalize on their earnings during the height of their menstrual cycle and enable them to be more competitive with the other dancers.
 * Introduction **
 * Women’s Cycle **

** Emotional Labor ** Emotional labor is a form of emotional regulation where workers are expected to display certain emotions to assist them in being successful during their shift. In this case, as an exotic dancer conveys the emotions of being needed by the gentleman, the emotion of being desired can capture the attention of clients. The intentions of emotions are directed at clients, customers and employees. It can also involve pleasing, sometimes faking or suppressing emotions, to modify the emotional expression in a workplace interaction (Grandey, 2000). For example, professional lap dancers in the strip club environment are selling the idea of a sexual experience by having their client create the thought of doing a sexual act (Miller, Tybur, & Jordan, (2007). They further feed on the clients’ explicit intent of fantasy by promoting their sexuality and receiving more attention. It becomes interplay between the client and the stripper, giver and receiver, where the client needs that specific attention, and the dancer, by providing it, will also receive monetary compensation. In essence, the client creates this illusion in his mind of sexual emotional connectedness and the stripper will fully satisfy that sexual fantasy while still fulfilling her monetary objective.

** Counterfeit intimacy ** In a strip club environment, female lap dancers take off their clothes for the exchange of currency. In return the client receives physical, erotic, emotional, and most importantly sexual gratification, albeit in a non-physical way, because dancers just fulfill the fantasy (Miller, Tybur, & Jordan, (2007). They provide the visual stimulation and verbal exchange for the client to complete any sexual function without her presence, through masturbation or with another consensual partner. The purpose of this exchange is based on the belief of counterfeit intimacy. Dancers pretend they are sexually interested in their client’s by performing exclusively for them. Sexual movements, eye contact, and some minor contact through the clothes are intended to make the client happy in exchange for monetary compensation. In addition to the regular tips offered at large, some clubs offer clientele a list of services so the dancer knows beforehand what services need to be carried out which is a form of bonus. The real interest is in receiving tips. Many of them will perform and fulfill that sexual intimacy the client needs and desires.

Another form of sexual communication within the strip club can be linked to the voluntary facial behaviors and eye contact from the professional lap dancer to their clients (Grandey, 2000). Facial expressions and eye contact are a vital form of nonverbal communication that engages the face to display various emotional stages and eye contact to sexually attract. The professional lap dancer is able to communicate sexually by simply making eye contact with her potential client. This type of contact makes the client feel special to the dancer which can maximize tips and earnings.

** Flirting ** Exotic dancers also increase their amount of tips by flirting with there customers verbally. Dancers who tell their customers what they want to hear in a sexual encounter will arouse their cliental to the point where they will purchase lap dances and tip the dancer for more time. This verbal exchange will arouse the client and have him fulfill his fantasy to hear exactly what he wants to hear. Flirting can take many shapes and forms, like verbal communication, which allows the dancer to exchange words and emit emotions with various sounds, like purrs, to exciting the client (Deshotels & Forsyth, 2006). Combined with sexual dancing and twirling of bodies, clients feel embraced and attended to which results in higher tips for the dancers. An exchange of words can lead to so many fantasies and the client and dancer can express exactly what they are expecting and experiencing.

** References **

Deshotels, T., & Forsyth, C.J. (2006). Strategic flirting and the emotional tab of exotic dancing, //Deviant behavior//, 27, 223-246.

Ellis, C. & Ronai, R.C. (1989). Turn-Ons for money: Interactional strategies of the table dancer. //Journal of contemporary ethnography//, I8, 271-298.

Grandey, A. A. (2000) Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. //Journal of Occupational Health Psychology//, 5, 95-110.

Miller, G., Tybur, M.J., & Jordan, D.B. (2007). Ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by lap dancers: economic evidence for human estrus?. //Evolution and human behavior//, 28, 375-381.

Sherman, W. (2007). The naked truth about strip clubs. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from NYDailyNews Website: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/07/08/2007-07-08_the_naked_truth_about_strip_clubs.html

Sherman, W. (2007). The naked truth about strip clubs. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from NYDailyNews. Image: Jasmine. Website: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/07/08/2007-07-08_the_naked_truth_about_strip_clubs.html

Image: The lap dance moves. Retrieved April 8, 2011, Website: http://www.learn-pole-dancing.com/how-to-lap-dance.html