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Cyclical Role-Playing and Stigma: Exploring the Challenges of Stereotype Performance among Exotic Dancers

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 33; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01639625.2011.584277

1521-0456

Lara Catherine Morrow,

Gambling Behavior and Treatments

Abstract This article maintains that there is a cycle existent between common stereotypes about strippers and the images that strippers themselves put forth at work. Each of these elements reinforces the other. For some strippers, this cycle involves role-playing at work in order to put forth a profitable image, coupled with either additional role-playing outside of the club in the avoidance of stigmatization or the endurance of social maltreatment. The stigmatization that comes with common stereotypes is yet another form of disempowerment stemming from this profession. Acknowledgments The author thanks Dr. Anne J. Goldberg of Hendrix College for her guidance in conducting the research that went into this project, as well as Dr. Mindy S. Bradley-Engen of the University of Arkansas for her input pre-publication. Notes 1The term "dancer" is synonymous with "stripper" throughout this article. 2The term "stigma" as it is used throughout this article refers to an attribute, behavior, or reputation that is socially discrediting. 3My research concerns only women who work as exotic dancers due to the absence of male strip clubs in Arkansas as well as a deficiency in literature concerning men who work as strippers. 4The term "society" as it is used throughout this article should be understood as referring to the entirety of the United States and Canada. Although my ethnographic research was conducted entirely within the state of Arkansas, theories from my literature review that correspond to my informants' experiences have been derived from this broader geographical scope. 5By contrast to strippers, go-go dancers were not expected to remove clothing. 6The term "employ" is used loosely here; dancers are widely considered to be independent contractors, since they pay a fee to the club each night that they work for usage of that venue. Dancers do not earn a wage of any sort, but rather claim the money they make from patrons' on-stage tips and purchases of private dances. (However, there is currently ongoing debate regarding whether or not a stripper actually meets the legal definition of "independent contractor" and should thus be excluded from earning wages.) 7Referring to lips, nipples, and genitalia of persons in the strip club (persons of any ethnicity, actually, despite the term's inaccuracy in this respect). 8To clarify, I am passing no judgment upon "the world's oldest profession," but am merely pointing out that many people have incorrectly come to associate stripping with a profession that it is not. 9For the sake of maintaining anonymity, fake stage names are used throughout the article. 10The names of venues have been changed as well, in correspondence with the claim put forth by multiple informants that "it's another world" inside the club. 11While research as a motivation for dancing may be viewed as a somewhat limiting factor in terms of gaining an "emic perspective," I did find myself in situations at work that elicited emotional responses paralleling other dancers' reported experiences. Upon seeing that few dancers actually identified themselves as "strippers," Ronai, a dancer-researcher, wrote, "Perhaps believing that you are not really a dancer is part of being a dancer. Maybe I am a 'real' dancer after all" (Ronai 1992:123). 12It is important to note here that prior research has found that it is not uncommon for dancers to have been, at various points in their lives, victims of poverty and/or sexual abuse of various types and degrees (Wesely 2003). My point here is not that dancers are divorced from any form of victimhood, but that they are not especially victimized in terms of their being objectified women. Moreover, some dancers claim that they feel "empowered" by the attention that they receive while at work (Wood 2000; Forsyth and Deshotels Citation1998), which certainly is a result of disempowering social conditioning that teaches women that they are to be rewarded based on their physical attractiveness. Additional informationNotes on contributorsLara Catherine Morrow LARA CATHERINE MORROW obtained her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas with a double-major in Anthropology and Sociology and in Spanish. Her research interests include the intersection of anthropology and sociology, with an emphasis on deviant subcultures. Women's sexuality, popular portrayals of women, and popular portrayals of Hispanic cultures are specific interests of hers within this realm.