Violet Blue visits a strip club
2003-11-02 20:31:27.967174+00 by
Dan Lyke
3 comments
Yet another place we need permalinks: In the October 28th entry, Violet Blue and discovers the same things I've observed, things like:
After watching more dancers come out, naked and disconnected, sans
any kind of actual stripteasing, I began to really understand the
resurgence of burlesque.
And sums up the experience with:
But that's just it -- there was no irony, no humor, and certainly
no mystery or (even sexier) any hint of erotic danger. No bad music
to make you feel cheesy in a good and raunchy way, no words spoken
below a shout, and no sense of depth or eroticism from anyone.
[ related topics:
Sexual Culture Bay Area
]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: Violet Blue visits a strip club made: 2003-11-03 06:22:22.224684+00 by:
bunni
These comments remind me of a segment that the Daily Show did years ago on men and woman in strip joints. They took their cameras into a strip club for men and a neighboring strip club from women (I can't remember how they justified this little field trip). The women watching male strippers were animated and laughing, waving bills and elbowing each other. The men watching female strippers were sullen, silent, almost comatose. In fact, they looked about as stimulated as my two o'clock lecture course, which is to say not at all.
#Comment Re: Violet Blue visits a strip club made: 2003-11-03 17:14:47.422893+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Yeah, I think that's part of what I enjoy about the burlesque revival so much, the audiences are fairly mixed, and there's much hootin' and hollerin' going on. I can get quietly observing through a really long lens by watching a video, if I'm going to go out and endure the crowds I want an audience that gets into things.
A few years ago Charlene and I took a few hundred bucks in small bills up to Columbus Avenue and wandered down the strip club strip, trying to experience what it was all about. The only place that we found vaguely erotic was the Lusty Lady![[Wiki]](/adbanners/lookingglass.png)
, and there it was that the dancers were smiling; the audience there is in little booths and completely separate.
On the counter-hand, a friend of mine who was a bartender of some reknown in Chattanooga used to hate working the male review shows when they came to town because the women got too into it, and thought he was part of the furniture. Maybe the guys in the strip clubs have been shot down enough times that they're no longer able to make the distinction between appreciation and presumption, or maybe its that these things are places you go with coworkers when you're out of town at lunch because it's a little naughty, and nobody wants to be seen getting rowdy with the coworkers?
#Comment Re: Violet Blue visits a strip club made: 2003-11-04 19:50:11.224587+00 by:
Shawn
Maybe the guys in the strip clubs have been shot down enough times that they're no longer able to make the distinction between appreciation and presumption
I think you may have something here. I used to do the strip club thing (as a patron) - a lot. A friend clued me in to blowing on the dancers, since we're not allowed to touch. I've found that when I do so, most dancers perk up, get a sparkle in their eye and become much more friendly - less distant. I've also heard from several dancers about how women are much more active and engaged at the male reviews, and complaints about the unresponsiveness of the male patrons.
I think it's all just another side of the sex-negative indocrination of our culture: We're expected to be attracted to sexuality, but not show it too much.
I was really kind of put out when, during my bachelor party, the biggest talkers suddenly got all evasive when it came time to head to the strip club. That auto racing arcade was just too compelling, I guess.