Sexuality and Desire on the dance floor: A Queer Post-structuralist approach on Reclaiming Erotic Dances

Abstract

In this article I intend to examine the rising popularity of erotic dances as a leisure activity in Western societies and question what exactly it is these dancers are reclaiming when using a discourse about sexual liberation and empowerment. In order to address the complexity of gender, sexuality and performance this study uses a queer post-structuralist analysis and an ethnographic methodology when studying erotic dances. On the basis of observations and in-depth interviews with male and female students and instructors, this study argues that writing off erotic dance solely as a hype within the trend to commercialise sexuality, is ignoring the useful and subversive ways in which these erotic dancers are investigating the production of their sexed bodies to disrupt and deconstruct normative ideas about sexuality and gender.