Strip Clubs

Considering the possibility that there might be something utopic about strip clubs, this paper traces the relays between power and powerlessness, feminism and antifeminism, utopia and dystopia within a broad psychoanalytic framework. It is interested in analyzing the social and psychological stakes for the male heterosexual consumer of strip culture. Strip clubs, this paper argues, are the special site of a masculine debasement amounting to a kind of moral masochism, to use the Freudian typology. The male masochism here is an index of contemporary power and how it is expressed, where what is important is not how much power one can demonstrate, but rather how much one can hold in check, and thus the logic of sadism and masochism, it is argued, is a key to the dynamic relations that inhere in the strip scene. An attempt is made to bring radical feminism in alignment with this analysis of sexualized power and pleasure.

With a recent burst of feature films, documentaries, and books on strippers, the business of exotic dancing is hotter than ever. Over the last decade there has been a steadily expanding interest in exotic dance, from its role as an" art form" to its benefits as a means of exercise. While the breadth of discussion generated on this topic has expanded, the fundamental debate remains the same: are female strippers empowering themselves or allowing themselves to be exploited? With her follow-up to Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of ...