Money Men and Fantasy Girls

Abstract

My initial interest in exotic dance was propelled by my preoccupation with desire. Fascinated by men who sought out fulfillment in exotic dance clubs from women paid to be fantasy objects, I wanted to unravel the ways in which desire shaped their interactions. Such a simple act but one that embodied a complex amalgamation of feelings, exotic dance was a Gordian knot of desire that always hybridized into something never easy to put your finger on. Compelled by curiosity and moved by the lure that kept men spending and returning to the club and the tangled pleasure and pain of being an object of desire, I looked to psychoanalytic theories for an explanation.