THE COMMODIFICATION OF DESIRE: SEX, STEREOTYPES AND STRIPPING ____________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Chico ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Anthropology ____________ by Allison M. Casanova Spring 2017 THE COMMODIFICATION OF DESIRE: SEX, STEREOTYPES AND STRIPPING A Thesis by Allison M. Casanova Spring 2017 APPROVED BY THE INTERIM DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDIES: _________________________________ Sharon Barrios, Ph.D. APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: ______________________________ _________________________________ Guy Q. King, Ph.D. Jesse Dizard, Ph.D., Chair Graduate Coordinator _________________________________ William Nitzky, Ph.D. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the California State University of Chico’s graduate school for accepting me as a student in order to enrich my education and base of knowledge. I would also like to thank California State University of Chico’s Anthropology Department for kindly welcoming me into their prestigious program. I owe a debt of appreciation to all of the faculty and staff of the Anthropology Department. To Dr. Georgia Fox and Dr. Colleen Milligan, I thank you for standing as the Anthropology Graduate Coordinators and for providing me direction as I navigated through my graduate experience. To Dr. William Nitzky, I am ever so grateful for your willingness and openness to accept the responsibility of becoming one of my committee members for this research. The final individual I would like to acknowledge from this department is Dr. Jesse Dizard, towards whom I cannot express the level of gratitude that I have. Thank you for acting as my committee chair member, but more so, thank you for your constant kindness, for your compassion towards women and worldly issues, and for helping me each step of the way through the development of my thesis. I also thank my interviewees, mentors, friends, family, and loved ones. To the women who participated in this study, I would like to say thank you and that this research could not be possible without you. I am fortunate to have met each-and-every one of you and I thank you for sharing your most personal stories in order to shed light on the experiences that you regularly endure. To my former teacher Cindy Peters and former professor Dr. Anita Jain, I thank you for believing in me and encouraging me to apply for college and later graduate school. For my parents Dr. Robert Wolgat and Maureen Shea I hold nothing but love and gratefulness to the both of you. You have always believed in me and have nurtured me into the individual and iii scholar that I am today. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Anthony Casanova, for being my strongest foundation of love and support throughout my college career. Thank you for always being by my side. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................. iii Abstract.................................................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER I. Introduction.......................................................................................................... 1 II. Historical Accounts: Objectification of Women.................................................. 7 III. Contemporary History: The Commodification of Desire .................................... 32 IV. Method and Theory: Symbolic Communication and the Hypersexualization of the Feminine Body .......................................................... 41 V. Findings & Discussion: Stripping for a Living.................................................... 72 Dancer Demographic ............................................................................... 72 The Strip Clubs ........................................................................................ 75 Club Promotion and Advertising ............................................................. 78 A Dancer’s Typical Day at Work ............................................................ 80 Why Do Women Become Strippers?....................................................... 96 New Girls................................................................................................. 101 Veteran Dancers....................................................................................... 103 Career Dancers......................................................................................... 108 Power-Relationships Between Exotic Dancers and Customers............... 112 Establishing Personal Rules and Boundaries at Work............................. 117 Precautions Made to Protect Dancers Outside of Work .......................... 121 Verbal Abuse Within the Strip Club........................................................ 127 Sexual Assault and Rape.......................................................................... 129 Sexual Assault and Rape Within the Strip Club ...................................... 132 Responses to Sexual Assault and Rape.................................................... 141 Consensual Sexual Acts Between Dancers and Customers..................... 143 The Emotional Toll of Stripping.............................................................. 151 Positive Emotional Responses to Dancing .............................................. 160 VI. Conclusion: Where Empowerment meets Exploitation....................................... 167 v CHAPTER PAGE References Cited .................................................................................................................... 186 Appendix Informed Consent Form................................................................................................. 193 vi ABSTRACT THE COMMODIFICATION OF DESIRE: SEX, STEREOTYPES AND STRIPPING by Allison M. Casanova Master of Arts in Anthropology California State University, Chico Spring 2017 This is an anthropological study of the motivations and experiences of exotic dancers residing- and working in- the southwestern United States. Data and findings are based on previously published material, original ethnographic research conducted over a three-month period among twenty current strippers working at three different venues in California, and my own personal experience while working as an exotic dancer for three years. The goals of this paper are to describe the organizational culture of strip clubs and to better understand why women choose to become exotic dancers and continue to work in what is commonly considered a stigmatized occupation. The variety of dancers’ life histories, attitudes, and experiences illustrate the wide-range of emotional responses and perspectives that exotic dancers have about their work. This research shows that when it comes to sex work, stigma is in the eye of the beholder. Exotic dancing can be quite lucrative and is often a plausible option for women who may be uneducated and/or unskilled. There is no clear cut binary of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ in sex work, but rather there is a fluid spectrum of good-through-bad feelings that depend on- set and setting. Exotic dancers are sexually objectified, yet also have power and control over significant vii aspects of their working conditions such as who they dance for or with, when they dance- and precisely how they perform. And finally, exotic dancers are highly susceptible and vulnerable to emotional and physical abuse because of the work that they perform. Open discussion and better understanding of human sexuality in general and exotic dancers in particular is necessary in order for American society to move beyond gratuitously cruel and damaging stereotypes that limit freedom of expression and restrict opportunity for safer, healthier forms of fulfilling social interaction without threats of violence and approbation which contribute to warped values and undermine the well being of individuals and society. viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this research is to investigate the occupational culture of exotic dancers. In exchange for money, they perform and sell hyper-sexualized fantasies to a predominantly male audience. Over a three-month period, I visited three different strip clubs and was able to gain the confidence and trust of twenty different women working in the southern California area. These women candidly shared their thoughts and feelings with me, and their stories provide direct insight into the world of exotic dancing. I was first introduced to the nontraditional setting of exotic dancing when I turned eighteen and attended my first strip club as a legal adult. I went to the club as a celebratory “coming-of-age” moment and was immediately fascinated as I watched beautiful women strip down to nothing. There was a palpable sense of discomfort being in such a unique environment, but there was also a high level of energy and excitement that overwhelmed me. While I was sitting alongside the stage a dancer pulled me up from my chair onto the stage and, in a fun sexual manner, she removed my top, exposing my breasts to the audience. I remember in that moment a whirl of thoughts and feelings overtook me. On the one-hand I thought “oh my god, what would my mother think?” but on the other-hand, I had an adrenaline rush that affirmed every inch of my body and person was alive. As an undergraduate, my fascination with stripping continued to grow. I took a friend to a strip club in Ontario, California where I was offered a job which