Customer Reviews

G-Strings and Sympathy: Strip Club Regulars and Male Desire

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While this is obviously adapted from academic material, Frank uses her experience as an exotic dancer to dig into the question of why men frequent strip clubs.

I'll grant that, superficially, this is a darned easy question to answer.

Still, one of the real strengths of the book is that Frank was able to see past her academic preconceptions and discover an emotional terrain that was not what she anticipated. The standard feminist analysis (male power and domination of women) didn't shed much light on male motivation. She considers a range of possible agendas, from the obvious to the esoteric, and never settles on a trite or doctrinaire analysis.

The book keeps feeling like its on the verge of a profound insight but it never seems to find it. Frankly, even though the author wasn't trying to focus on the women who work as exotic dancers, it was fascinating to learn the tricks and scripts used to create the illusion of intimacy and authenticity.

An interesting ethnography.....A good counter to all of the focus on strippers - why not study the customers for a change? I appreciated the fact that the author was not trying to be overly positive or negative about strip clubs or the men who go to them, but trying to understand why the customers were drawn to them in the first place. This isn't another "tell all" book about someone's experiences as a dancer, but still gives an insider's observations.

I've read a number of books dealing with this genre, but this was (by far) the most dry. It is extremely clinical, and reads more like a doctoral dissertation than a book. That's not to say that there weren't some interesting points made in the book, but you REALLY had to dig through the anthro jargon.

Franks cites other source a lot -- more than any other book I've read. Nearly every paragrah refers to an exterior source. I found this a little distracting.

Overall, I'm not sorry I read the book, but be prepared -- it does not wisk you along -- you really have to fight to glean Frank's points.

Until now there have been many many tales written by erotic dancers and few to none about the guys who frequent the thousands of establishments on a regular basis. Why indeed do we keep showing up? Frank peels away some of the layers, giving us thoughtful insite.

Please consider reading yet another book, written by a guy with assistance from the dancers in his life. ENVELOPED BY VENUS, also featured here on Amazon, may add depth to your understanding and enjoyment of the state of mind best described as, enraptured and ENVELOPED.

A perfect triad:

Dancing for Dollars, Enveloped by Venus, G-Strings and Sympathy

Hey, I'm smart, educated, beautiful, enjoy my work, for the most part, and love the rewards. Love pink, shopping and am unabashedly a `girly girl'. Any problem with that?

Yes, I dance. Love to dance especially when dancing to entertain YOU in my most sensual manner, building your desire& fantasy. I offer: interaction, variety, spice, authenticity...well, there it is, I said it. Those are some of the core motivators shared by consumers of erotic dance as illuminated in the compelling book by Katherine Frank. I urge you to read: G-Strings and Sympathy.

Curiosity has brought you to this erotic dance topic. The questions and incites are nuanced and layered, if you want a `kiss and tell' book, look elsewhere, but if you are willing to triangulate the topic then please read what two smart, educated, beautiful women have to say about their work and research. Both Egan and Frank speak in depth through their academic disciplines while never forgetting their personal voice which speaks candidly and disarmingly about the experiential and nuanced side of erotic dance. They both realize that much has been revealed to them by their `regulars' and it was for them, at times as surprising as it was profound.

A triad? Yes, the last piece. Happily, a regular named George Albright, Esq., who happens to be classy, handsome, complex, smart, curious, thoughtful and even cute, is one of MY regulars. George has written an evocative, touching, soulful, and analytical account of his experiences in the mysterious world of envelopment. [Well what? He put my name on the front cover and my photo on the back cover.!]

Here then is the triad: A. Dancing for Dollars, Paying for Love, by Danielle Egan
B. Enveloped by Venus by George Albright, Esq. C. G-Strings and Sympathy by Katherine Frank. All are available on www.amazon.com

[...] Oh, and stop in sometime babe, I'll knock your socks off with Love and Sympathy. I'll be your Venus! Just bring some Dollars. Xoxoxox Genevieve Allure

K.F. did write her dissertation on the topic of this book. This book is more for anthropology/sociology students than for the general public. I had to read it for a class and had no escape from it. I would have gladly stopped after the first chapter since the rest of the book recycled the same topics and ideas anyway.
After reading several ethnographies, with all their technical terms and dissections, well, this one was way too tedious to enjoy compared to the rest. Seems like Frank really wanted to prove she was a stripper just for the research and overcompensated with complicated language and anthropological theories instead of applying common sense.
Good for anthropology students who want to make an interesting topic boring as hell.

With the popularity of the exotic dancer/sex worker as Ph.D. candidate in anthropology and sociology, many dissertations have been published the past few years. Frank's is among the best -- while academic, it is also accessible to the lay reader, taking into its lens discussions of emotional labor, post-tourism, the male gaze, the psychology of the male customer and the inner motivations of dancers.

Highly recommended for enjoyable ethnographic reading.