Bitten and Spanked: The Male Revue as a Liminal Setting

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Alicia Hemingway Hurley (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Steve Kroll-Smith

Abstract: The traditional view that male revues are liberating to women is challenged. This study suggests that the show is created to feel liberating while working to reinforce current gender norms. Turner's theory of liminality is paired with Goffman's theory of action and Simmel's ideas about flirtation as social form to investigate the simultaneity of the customary and its opposite in adult play. Observations were made at six male revues, four of which were in the Triad region of North Carolina. The remaining observations were located in a well-known tourist destination in Nevada. The results indicate that the male revue is a liminal setting in which gender norms are rigidly upheld and abandoned to create the feeling of liberation among the women. There is no evidence to substantiate that this liberation is more than a feeling.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2007
Keywords
Male striptease Sociological aspects , Male striptease Psychological aspects, Sex role United States Sociological aspects, Sex role United States Psychological aspects , Liminality Sociological aspects, Liminality Psychological aspects

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