A new study from the University of Colorado Denver finds that male exotic dancers, or strippers, remain committed to stripping because it enhances their self-concept.
The study by Maren Scull, an instructor of Sociology in the CU Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences , was published online this month in Deviant Behavior, the only scientific journal that specifically addresses behaviors that violate social norms.
Scull spent almost two years interviewing and observing male strippers who dance for women in an American strip club.
She found that unlike many female strippers who report that it is the money that keeps them committed to exotic dance, male strippers continue dancing because they experience higher self-esteem and self-confidence. Instead, Scull found that men continued to strip because it made them desirable and feel good about themselves. So much so, that men will continue to strip even when it is no longer financially lucrative.
Scull suggests these gendered differences are due to the fact that men and women ascribe different meanings to the objectification they experience while stripping. Female dancers may be more inclined to define sexual objectification as negative, because as women, they experience it more frequently than men. Males, on the other hand, enjoy being objectified by audience members, Scull found. They did not define objectification with disempowerment and instead noted that they felt positive about being desirable.
