Dancing on the Möbius Strip

Abstract

The feminist sex wars have been characterized by debates between radical feminists and sex radical feminists about women's experiences of empowerment versus oppression in the sex industry. Based on a qualitative study of the experiences of exotic dancers, this article introduces a new theoretical paradigm to the feminist sex wars that values the contributions of both sex radicals and radical feminists. It articulates a twofold temporal dimension of sex workers' experiences: (1) how women's feelings of pleasure and empowerment gradually decline over time and (2) how good and bad experiences rapidly transform into their opposites over the course of a single evening, making the strip bar a volatile and unsettling space for performers.