Money, Sex and Power Week 18

Money, Sex and PowerWeek 18 The Power Relations of the Strip Club (and Similar Venues)

Additional references: The Regulatory Dance Research Project, Leeds University • http://www.sociology.leeds.ac.uk/research/projects/regulatory-dance.php • http://www.lssi.leeds.ac.uk/special-reports/teela-sanders/ • Pentitiro, E. (2020) ‘Imagined and Embodied Spaces’ Gender, Work and Organization 17 (1): 28-44.

Outline • Definitions of ‘stripping’ • Definitions of power Power relations of stripping • Micropolitical interactions of the performer and the customer ----The relation between money and power • Power of the club owner/ manager • Licensing and the police • Clubs where men dance for women

Definitions • Using strip club as a shorthand for an arena in which involve various types of sexual performance, which include stripping or dancing naked on a stage, or at each table, pole dancing, lap dancing. Published research based mainly in US, less in UK, some re Canada. • Until fairly recently the idea of strip club in Britain was performance on stage, profits made from buying drinks. American tradition different, based around tipping the women for interaction with individual punters standing or sitting around the stage. This pattern of dancing for tips for individual men was extended first to table (originally called tableside) dancing, in main room of the club, then to private booths or rooms, then lap dancing in which body contact is extensive and is easily extended to other touching, by woman or man. The extent to which the work involves more than performance and extends to bodily contact therefore varies. • Terms sometimes used for the workers in strip clubs are ‘exotic dancers’ or ‘erotic dancers’. However, we can argue whether the word dancers (or performers) tends to marginalise the amount of physical contact which nowadays is often involved in the work.

Definitions of power • Patriarchy- structurally derived power of one gender over another across society, or across its linked structures. • Poststructural- Power is fragmented, dispersed and relational, an attribute of relations rather than individuals or parties (Foucault). Not a ‘zero-sum game;. But also ‘disciplines enhance the power of the subject while simultaneously subjugating her’ Sawicki, J. (1991) Disciplining Foucault, p 64 • Micropolitics- some empirical research on stripping is shaped by sociological traditions of interactionism/ symbolic interactionism. Meanings of social activity are constructed through interactions/ symbolic communications (not ‘knowledges’, as in Foucault) through presentation of self/ pragmatic adaption to situations so the outsome of interactions are more open-ended. (see K. Plummer, ‘Symbolic Interactionism in the Twentieth Century’ in B. Turner, ed. Blackwell Companion to Social Theory 1996; Stevi Jackson and Sue Scott (2010) Theorising Sexuality Open University Press.

Does the strip club mirror the wider relations of heterosexuality? Patriarchal power in club demonstrates the power of men over women : The strip club mirrors and reinforces patriarchal power in the wider society. Women are duped into it, deluded by fantasy, the lure of easy money, or trafficked, lack of alternatives. In the club men objectify women by turning them into objects-- (naked) bodies --or into the ‘other’ of the male subject (Patitinen 2010) • Incorporated in and reproduced through the male gaze

Jefreys, S. (2010) ‘The Sex Industry and Business Practice’ Women’s Studies International Forum 33: 274-282 highlights the links between the strip club and wider power relations: Strip clubs and similar are used as workplace perks and business entertainment, boost the masculine culture of business and workplace. Peter Stringfellow: ‘The guys who come to me work hard under great pressure, and when they’ve just done a £6 million pound deal ….they want to take their client somewhere they can enjoy an excellent meal in the restaurant, drink fine wine and look at the beautiful girls (quoted from Atilla, Susan 2005 (Jeffreys 2010: 275)

Power relation constructed through the negotiated interaction of the performer and customer • Relative power and agency • Dancers’ strategies • The role of money • Type of club

Relationship between erotic dancers and customers • Much research shows that many women erotic dancers feel like agents, not dupes of either the customers or the heterosexist scripts they adopt. They say they feel empowered because can manipulate heteroscripts in much the way Hollway said that women are not dupes of discourses of heterosexuality, but seek power within them. • Pasko argues that strippers consciously manipulate their customers, they have to manage them to get the highest tips. She uses Goffman’s concept of a ‘confidence game’, gaining the punter’s trust, developing a false relationship, adapting techniques and actions: ‘The confidence game… is an assumption of power; power over the victim is necessary in obtaining the desired item (2002: 52). In a certain sense she is empowered by her understanding of heterosexist scripts, as her success lies in ‘her ability to understand male sexual desires and to anticipate male behaviour’ (63) • She feels powerful because she can command men’s gaze. Frank (2002) ‘Strippers themselves report sometimes feeling sexually or erotically powerful, commanding the attention of the men in the club (Wood, 2000: 26)

Pasco (2002: 49) • Performers in the strip club fulfill customer fantasies by assuming the sex- object role (or other roles that they sus out the customer is looking for). The strippers do exercise power in their individual interactions with customers, and subjectively powerful. • Requires ‘emotional labour’ (Hochschild 1983) similar to other service sector jobs, providing pleasurable customer experiences as a crucial part of the purchase

Strategies/ tactics to empower selves in their relations • Have capacity to resist objectification by turning themselves into ‘interactive subjects’ (Wood)

Give themselves a sense of control over their own bodies • Frank describes her scrupulous attention to detail: • You can't miss a stray hair on an ankle or thigh. Public hair must be carefully tended --you cannot be completely clean- shaven and must, for legal purposes, have at least an inch of trimmed fuzz in the front, but most of the women remove the rest. Razor burn looks awful… Bruises and veins show up mercilessly, as do scars. Makeup can cover them inside, but out here, unless you are endlessly vigilant, the makeup will streak or be just a shade away from your natural skin color…Eye makeup also needs to be perfect. Chipped toe nail polish, gray hairs, and fine lines around the eyes -- every detail must be tended diligently (Frank 2002: 172).

Can defend her self through the armour of packaging herself • Their strategies of body management include putting on a kind of body armour, not unlike the woman executive putting on a power suit. In a long and illuminating exposition, she explains that on stage, despite her nudity, she is not really revealing herself, but creating an appearance: 'Naked? No. I am a performer, as fully clothed as anyone here, even without my bikini, if only through my painstaking ministrations to the "costume" of my bare body. (Frank 2002:173). • But do these (self-)disciplinary practices through which she constructs her as a subject, not object, simultaneously subjugate her?

The limits to their power within the club • Although there is scope for workers to develop strategies for retaining a sense of self, strippers recognise its limits. This is neatly encapsulated by Wood when she notes that strippers can drop their smiles by turning away from the audience -- but only under the pretext of showing off their backsides. • ‘His interpretation does not cancel out my experience of agency but the power of men to appropriate and redefine my own performances sobers me. If I am consciously performing a role, yet it is taken as truth- the truth about “women”, the truth about “whores”, the truth about “me”-- Is anything really transformed or subverted when I dance? (Frank, 2002: 2001)

For men trips to a strip club can be understood as ‘masculinizing practices’ (Frank 2003, cited by Jeffreys 2009) partly because having money is associated women men. • Frank sees the club environment as one which ‘provide environment where men, singularly or in groups can engage in traditionally masculine activities’ and ‘feel like a man’ • The role of money is important here: Reinforces the relation between masculinity and having money to support/ ‘treat’ women/control his own expenditure. His money gets him the performers’ attention. She colludes in framing this not as a purchase but as a reward or gift that shows his good will or generosity. The power enacted in the club isn’t inflicted on women, but is produced by women’s and men’s interactions, but benefits primarily the power of masculinity,

Money is empowering for the performers too • Can pay debts, support dependants, obtain educational qualifications. • Sense of power because he pays for her attention (she doesn’t give it for free) • This feels economically powerful in a world where women often do not have control over their bodies-- to sell your body/ sexuality may be experienced as power. Comment one prostitute makes may also be relevant to exotic dancing. The first time I turned a trick was the first time I felt in control of my sexuality’ (quoted by Pheterson, 1993: 54)

Pasco (2002) agrees that club interactions, while individually empowering for women within the club • Does not translate into gender relations in mainstream society; • The emotionally and sexually manipulative act of stripping has outcomes of psychological and social estrangement, stigmatization and potential victimization for the dancers • Others say that can be attacked once leave the club, don’t tell friends what they do for a living so doesn’t carry status outside the club • This analyses based on the strip club rather than lap dancing or extensive sexual services within some US clubs described by E. Bernstein (2007) Temporarily Yours, University of Chicago Press

Opportunities for empowerment are not evenly distributed • Type of club and its ‘processional order’ (how things are done) Bradley-Engen 2010) shape relation between workers and owners/managers and among each other, as well as with customers • Social characteristics of the workers (Pentitiron 2010): not everyone has the same resources within which to empower themselves/ construct a positive identity.

The club is not simply a social world but also the performers’ workplace, so need to consider power relations of employment • Varied conditions of employment-usually self employed, pay to work • Employment practices of the club- role of fees and fines for self-employed workers (Sanders and Hardy, website, and Holsopple) • How far managers maintain the rules about touching, etc., require women to manage the men’s acquiescence • Absence of trades unions • So need to consider the power relations between performers and club owners and managers

Changes to type of club and legal regulation also relevant • In Britain the widening of activities exotic dance was pushed by entrepreneurs who own clubs, limited by various by-laws on ‘indecency’ in public. Puts dancers in a difficult position because even where they have a choice as to limit what they do -- they get more money from activities that involve contact - employers’ pressure, can lose job if club changes to a different type --also anger from punters if don’t go further, so don’t get tipped --private rooms are not ‘in public’ so local ordinances are hard to enforce, but this puts the women under more pressure to go further.(Lewis and Maticka-Tyndale) -- where contact is against the law, or some kinds of contact goes against local by-laws, it’s usually the dancers responsibility to police this, causing more stress • Changes to law in the UK (more power to local councils to limit locations of ‘sex entertainment venues’ So need to think about dyadic relation between dancer and punter within context of other powers.

What all this tells us is that masculine power is not inevitable, and that women are not puppets of patriarchy- but rather masculine power is reproduced through actions of men and women, as agents, acting pragmatically and in their perceived self-interest. • Power is never total or a zero-sum game, but more fluid, ‘up for grabs’

Clubs where men dance for women (Smith, Pilcher) • How should we see the power relations of these occasions? Perhaps some lessons? • Is visiting a club a masculinising practice for women (ie spending their money to get the attention of men)? What are the implications for empowerment? Do women have to imitate men (permissive discourse) to feel empowered? • Power relations of these clubs may be associated with differences in the type of club (e.g. a ‘show club’ rather than a ‘hustler club’, for instance), which may in turn reflect/ affect gender power and gender ideology. • These shows less profitable promoters, put on less often • Men (the MC ,the performers) keep control of the interactions, much less individual tipping

So studying the complex world of the strip club • Not just about WHETHER male power is reproduced • HOW masculine power (the power culturally attributed to masculinity) is reproduced • Forms of resistance and subjectivity available to performers • Women perceive gains in this work, but also recognise they are treated badly by many clubs. • Extent to which commodified sex now integrated into the wider economy, especially the night-time economy

Money, Sex and Power Week 18