Table Of ContentGENDERED POWER DYNAMICS
AND EXOTIC DANCE
Gendered Power Dynamics and Exotic Dance examines the social phenomenon of
exotic dancing. Presenting a compelling multilevel analysis of dancer interactions,
organizational practices, and institutional forces, this book challenges our
understanding of sexuality and power.
Centering the voices and experiences of exotic dancers, this book explores the
relationship between exotic dancing and power at the micro-i nteractional, meso-
organizational, and macro- institutional levels, informing a feminist theory of power
that seeks out systems of domination in order to challenge and change them.
Through direct interviews and observations collected between 1993 and 2021
from 40 different clubs in the United States, Deshotels and Forsyth demystify the
seemingly contrary findings about exotic dancing and power. They show how and
why individual dancers can be simultaneously empowered and exploited beyond
individual traits, interactions, or settings in the nexus of gender and power in exotic
dancing.
The book will be useful for scholarly readers in the subject areas of sociology,
cultural studies, gender/ sexualities studies, sex work, and organizations theory.
Written in a clear, accessible manner, this book will also appeal to a general audience
interested in understanding the complex interactions of gender, power, feminism,
and exotic dance.
Tina H. Deshotels is a professor of sociology at the Jacksonville State University
in Alabama.
Craig J. Forsyth is a professor of sociology at the University of Louisiana in
Lafayette.
INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN
SEX FOR SALE
Interdisciplinary Studies in Sex for Sale is a new and exciting series
emphasising innovative work on the complexities of sex for sale, its practices, the
policies designed to regulate it and their effects. It covers both recent and his-
torical developments with an aim to explore multidisciplinary and international
perspectives, expand theoretical approaches, and analyse matters which are the sub-
ject of controversy and debate in this field.
We welcome submissions of single and co-a uthored books, as well as edited
collections that address sex for sale, its practices and regulation, including those
with a focus on: comparative analysis; multi- scalar approaches; methodological
perspectives; cultural and economic contexts; and the policies concerned with the
regulation of sex for sale.
This series emerges from, and intends to expand the work of the European
Concerted Research COST Action IS1209 ‘Comparing European Prostitution
Policies: Understanding Scales and Cultures of Governance (ProsPol)’, a European
network funded under Horizon 2020 (www.prospol.eu).
Isabel Crowhurst is Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University
of Essex, UK, and coordinator (Chair) of ProsPol. Her research lies at the intersec-
tion of sociology, criminology, and critical social policy and centres on the regu-
lation, social control, and lived experiences of commercial sex practices and of
intimacy. She has researched and published on the regulation of commercial sex
and of prostitution- related migrations of women in contemporary Europe. She has
good editorial experience having co-e dited four special issues of academic journals.
Rebecca Pates, Professor of Political Theory at Leipzig University, Germany, is
(co- )director of a number of grants for research projects on the micro- political
regulation of prostitution and trafficking funded by the EU and the German
Research Council. These research projects combined grounded theory with dis-
course analysis. She works on theories of the state, political anthropology and the-
ories of policing. Besides publications on the regulation of sex work in Germany,
she has edited a volume on the social construction of German ethnicities and is
currently working on a monograph on Policing in East Germany.
May- Len Skilbrei is Professor in Criminology at the University of Oslo, NO, and
Vice Chair of Prospol. She works within the fields of criminology, gender studies
and sociology of law, and does research on the formulation and implementation of
legislation and welfare policies on prostitution nationally and regionally (the Nordic
region) as well as on women’s narratives of human trafficking. She has published
broadly on prostitution and trafficking internationally. She is also an experienced
editor, with four edited special issues to her name.
Policing the Sex Industry
Protection, Paternalism and Politics
Edited by Teela Sanders and Mary Laing
Understanding Sex for Sale
Meanings and Moralities of Sexual Commerce
Edited by May- Len Skilbrei and Marlene Spanger
Women Who Buy Sex
Converging Sexualities?
Sarah Kingston, Natalie Hammond and Scarlett Redman
Sex Work and Human Dignity
Law, Politics and Discourse
Stewart Cunningham
Third Sector Organizations in Sex Work and Prostitution
Contested Engagements in Africa, the Americas and Europe
Isabel Crowhurst, Susan Dewey and Chimaraoke Izugbara
Reconfiguring Stigma in Studies of Sex for Sale
Edited by Jeanett Bjønness, Lorraine Nencel, and May- Len Skilbrei
Gendered Power Dynamics and Exotic Dance
A Multilevel Analysis
Tina H. Deshotels and Craig J. Forsyth
For more information, please visit: https:// www.routledge.com/ Interdisciplinary-
Studies- in- Sex- for- Sale/ book- series/ ISSS
GENDERED POWER
DYNAMICS AND
EXOTIC DANCE
A Multilevel Analysis
Tina H. Deshotels and Craig J. Forsyth
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Tina H. Deshotels and Craig J. Forsyth
The right of Tina H. Deshotels and Craig J. Forsyth to be identified as authors of this work
has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 46682- 4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 46683- 1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 03034- 8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003030348
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK
To all the dancers and employees of strip clubs who gave their time.
CONTENTS
Note on authors x
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction: exotic dancing and power 1
2 Dancing with power: setting the stage 17
3 You’re sitting on a gold mine: exotic dancing and power
at the micro- interactional level of analysis 33
4 Sex rules: the relationship between exotic dancing,
organizational rules, and workplace culture 63
5 McSexy: an examination of how market forces and cultural
images impact dancer power 89
6 The next stage: power and empowerment 113
Index 129
