Negotiating racialized organizational spaces and intimacies: An ethnography of playpen strip club

Cristina Silva, Michelle Newton‐Francis and Salvador Vidal‐Ortiz

Gender, Work and Organization, 2022, vol. 29, issue 6, 1831-1848

Abstract: Based on 18 months of ethnographic research in a Northeast corridor strip club we call Playpen, we engage sex negotiations, erotic service exchanges, and the circulation of desire within an informal, weekly “Latina Night” event. We treat Playpen as a gendered and racialized organization in which patrons, dancers, and employees manage established, yet unspoken rules. Labor interactions and dynamics between dancers and clients are racialized when gesturing toward bodily currency ‐ which materializes in tips, drinks, paid lap dances, and more exclusive attention; dancers compete for such currency, using their selection of music and dance, movements, adornments, body modifications and emotional labor. Selected pairings negotiate open spaces by turning pockets of the club into semi‐private, intimate ones. Dancers' and clients' gendered and racialized notions of currency (in this case, racialized Latinidad) clash, ultimately serving the club in keeping “Latina Night” in place.

Date: 2022
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