Barton, anAssistantProfessorofSociologyand Women’sStudies, takes the reader into the sometimes disturbing, sometimes empowering, world of strip clubs for men. From her research, based on extensive oral interviews of women strippers and other primary as well as secondary sources, Barton deduces two key points: dancers work for money but have other incentives as well and they are consummate actors. Every time strippers perform, theyworkhard for themoneybysimulatingsexualarousal.Strippers, Barton explains, ‘‘are intelligent risk takers surviving in a world where women have limited economic options’’ (p. x). Rather than dichotomizing the work experience of the exotic dancer between empowering and exploitive, Barton effectively uses the analogy of the Mobius Strip, a geometric shape consistingofarectangularstripcontainingahalf twistconnectedend-toend to make a continuous loop to ‘‘reveal that the surface and underside are actually the same’’in sex work (p. 70). The positive factors, such as the financial compensation, the attention, the feeling of being desired, are the same aspects that demean exotic dancers. In one night, a club patron may be respectful and attentive to a dancer while another man may make insulting remarks about the size of the woman’s breasts and reject her as a companion. ‘‘Good, bad, and just plain weird incidents follow each other with dizzying swiftness’’(p. 42). By referring to the image ofaone-sidedexperience,Bartonavoids the trapofotherfeminist scholarswhoeither romanticize strippersorviewthemasvictims with no control over their lives. In her balanced account, Barton stresses that sex work is the only employment in which women are paid more than men and that the number of women involved in sex work is increasing. Often, exotic dancers control significant aspects of their job. As private contractors in most clubs, they can show up at will, decide how much money they want to make in an evening or when to perform. With the exception of San Francisco clubs, the demand for strippers outweighs supply. The prestige of dancers is higher than waitresses or bartenders. New dancers make larger tips, so the beginning income is very alluring. Strippers also contend with a societal double standard. While men who frequent strip clubs are considered respectable, exotic dancers are considered morally loose. The cost of sex work includes being harassed at strip clubs as well as people outside of clubs (e.g., medical providers sometimes stigmatizing dancers as promiscuous). Barton argues that, the longer exotic dancers perform, the negative aspects far outweigh the positive factors. She sees three years as the career limit for exotic dancers. Over time, dancing stresses the body and creates a cynical view of all men as users. The work place grows toxic with strippers getting flu-like symptomsoffatigueandnauseabefore theygoto theclub.Someexotic dancers decide that being single is easier than contending with boyfriends growing jealous of the club customers. Increasingly, strippers tie their self-worth to financial compensation and the money develops into an addiction, a necessity that keeps women from other economic options. All dancers set boundaries; for example, they refuse to be touched but generally they break their own rules the longer they remain exotic dancers so that they can increase their income. For some strippers, dancing apart from the patrons allows them the most creativity. Dancing can even become a spiritual experience, turning into ‘‘a journey into their bodies and souls and a release from numb corporate culture’’ (p. 50). Crafting their own routines, dancers display incredible skill and dexterity in their six-inch platform heels; however, stage dancing with a pole is not as sexually arousing and therefore not as lucrative as lap or couch dancing. Couch dancing pays the most. Although mostclubs require thatwomenkeep their feeton the floorduring a couch dance, the couch dance most directly simulates sexual N. Frankel (&) 7007 Brocton Ct., Springfield, VA 22150, USA e-mail: nfrankel2@yahoo.com