Hi StripperWeb,
I'm AnthroGirl, I've been visiting StripperWeb occasionally for about 6 years, just basically coming here when I need info but never posting anything. I'm 29 and I've been dancing since I was 18-- mostly in clubs, but right now I'm a camgirl.
I'm currently working towards a Bachelors' in Anthropology (I graduate in June) and right now I'm doing a 'Senior Honors Thesis', where I have to do a mini-ethnography (only a couple months, instead of the customary year). I would like to my ethnography here.
I'm interested in StripperWeb because I always found dressing room talk super fascinating. Since it would be untenable for strippers to have the exact same sexual norms as mainstream society and still be able to function, it seems to me that dressing room talk was often about, explicitly or subtextually, discussing and redefining the limits of respectable sexuality amongst ourselves. And of course it's never once and for all settled--it's constantly being contested and negotiated. And while there are myriad individual experiences and motivations, I feel like 've noticed several discernable factions and philosophies when it comes to strippers on stripping. Of course, i'm open to being totally wrong about that.
But for instance, I've met ladies who are like, into tantra, who felt like "priestessing sexual energy" was their calling and that they do their job from the heart, and then I've met women who see themselves as professional hustlers, who are "getting over" on a weak and pathetic clientele. I've met people who used feminist academic language to articulate their position, and people who use hip hop terminology, (and people who use both) and people who've made it clear that they're actually pretty traditional but the only reason they're in this job is because they have mouths to feed. Clearly there's no generalizing why someone strips and how they feel about it, but at the same time I do believe that in those dressing room talks, subcultural norms do get created and enforced (but never wholesale adopted by everyone at all times) Like for instance, amongst the group who I'll call "hustlers," they'd suck their teeth at any girl who mentioned finding a customer attractive, and say "ew" and look at each other disdainfully-- that's norm-enforcement right there.
For me, as a stripper, I haven't settled on how I feel about "being a stripper". I guess that's why I'm writing this paper. And I'm sure there are plenty of others like me, too--who aren't sure, who see it several ways.
And then to complicate things, StripperWeb is obviously different from dressing room conversation in strip clubs, even though they are both "strippers talking to each other about the job." I'd like to get a feel for how the online format makes that conversation different, and then also how having an online community to share with and vent to changes the experience of the job, and dealing with stigma, and etc. So I've got lots of interesting questions, and they'll be answered by asking you guys what you think and what your ideas and impressions are.
The thesis statement of my paper is not going to be a generalizing conclusion, but a statement about how diverse the conversation is.
So I hope you all will like it, and hopefully let me interview you. Of course, if you do not want to participate, here are the nuts and bolts:
I won't be using any information that is not already publicly available without your express permission. If I do interview you, I will ask your permission to use your quotes, and nothing you tell me during the interview will be attributed to your username in my paper or anywhere else. In fact, I won't be putting any usernames in my paper at all, even the ones associated with quotes taken from the public board (I'm just trying to be extra safe with confidentiality.)
And if you're worried about SW getting 'publicity' from this-- don't be. This is an undergraduate thesis, and not a proper ethnography, being only 2 months of 'participant observation'--it's basically just practice. It'll get published in an under-the-radar undergrad honors thesis magazine and promptly forgotten and ignored, and i'll give a presentation to other undergrads who have done similar projects. I don't have enough time or academic clout for this to call attention to SW.
Anyway-- I'm excited. Please PM me if I can interview you, or if you have any ideas to share. And please let me know in this thread or PM if you have any concerns or advice for me when doing this work so that I can be maximally respectful to this community.
Let me know what you think.
Sincerely,
AnthroGirl
(PS. if you want to know a bit more about me personally, here's my intro thread: http://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sho...-honors-thesis )



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