The science of lap dance giving and tipping

One of the most erm…titillating avenues for ethnographic inquiry is strip club research. Sure, field access is hard to come by, but the findings are pure gold. I mean, you’re not up to speed until you’ve read up on the lap dance sales talk, the uses of music in strip clubs and Wood’s – who else? – theory of power enactment.

In a similar vein, a team of University of New Mexico psychologists report that female strippers’ tips correlate with their menstrual cycle. In their peak period of fertility, the 18 exotic dancers who participated in the study made roughly $70 an hour, compared to $35 while menstruating and $50 in between. In other words, when women ovulate, they “‘signal’…cues of their fertility status”, making men reach for money and feminists for hand grenades. Has falsification ever sounded this sweet?

Disclaimer: check The Primate Diaries for a more critical take on the study.