Sanders, TLM and Hardy, K orcid.org/0000-0003-0429-2701 (2015) The political economy of ‘lap dancing’: contested careers and women’s work in the stripping industry. Work, Employment and Society, 29 (1). pp. 119-136. ISSN 0950-0170
Abstract
The visibility of striptease (‘lap dancing’) as a workplace and site of consumption has grown significantly over the past fifteen years in the United Kingdom. This article draws on the first large scale study of stripping work in the UK, exploring original empirical data to examine why women continue to seek work in an industry that is profoundly precarious and often highly exploitative. It suggests that rather than either a ‘career’ or a ‘dead end’ job, many women use lap dancing strategically to create alternative futures of work, employment and education. It is argued that precarious forms of employment such as lap dancing can be instrumentalised through agentic strategies by some workers, in order to achieve longer term security and to develop opportunities outside the sex industry. As such, it is averred that engagement in the industry should instead be understood in a wider political economy of work and employment and the social wage.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2014. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Work, Employment and Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Agency; career; flexible work; gender; lap dancing; sexual labour; sex work; stripping; women |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Work and Employment Relation Division (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Sociology and Social Policy (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) ES/J000035/1 ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) RES-000-22-3163 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 02 Jul 2015 15:02 |
Last Modified: | 14 Apr 2021 13:12 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0950017014554969 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0950017014554969 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:85044 |