Neon wasteland on love, motherhood, and sex work in a rust belt town

• Main Author: Dewey, Susan
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Berkeley, Calif University of California Press 2011
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Subjects: abuse; adultery; Anthropology; Case studies; cultural studies; Economic conditions; economic justice; exotic dancers; exotic dancing; Family relations; Family relationships; Femininity; Femininity > Case Studies; feminism; feminized labor; fidelity; gender; gender studies; gws; Love; Motherhood; needs; new york; nonfiction; Northeastern States; Northeastern States > Economic conditions; Northeastern States > Social conditions; poverty; Prostitution; resilience; rust belt; self esteem; Self-perception in women; Self-perception in women - Northeastern States; Self-perception in women > Northeastern States > Case Studies; Sex oriented businesses; Sex oriented businesses > Social aspects > Northeastern States > Case studies; sex work; Sex workers; sexual objectification; sexuality; Social aspects; social commentary; Social conditions; social science; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Marriage & Family; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social; social systems; strippers; topless dancers; Towns; vulnerability; Women; Women > Family relationships > Northeastern States > Case studies; Women > Northeastern States > Social conditions > Case studies; Women dancers; Women dancers > Northeastern States > Case studies; womens issues; womens studies; womens work; gws; exotic dancing; abuse; gender; sexuality; feminized labor; exotic dancers; fidelity; social systems; womens studies; motherhood; womens issues; strippers; femininity; social commentary; womens work; poverty; resilience; needs; adultery; anthropology; self esteem; gender studies; nonfiction; topless dancers; vulnerability; sex workers; social science; new york; performance; economic justice; rust belt; cultural studies; sex work; sexual objectification; feminism; women
• ISBN: 0520266900; 0520948319; 0520266919; 9780520266919; 9780520948310; 9780520266902
• DOI: 10.1525/9780520948310

This path-breaking book examines the lives of five topless dancers in the economically devastated “rust belt” of upstate New York. With insight and empathy, Susan Dewey shows how these women negotiate their lives as parents, employees, and family members while working in a profession widely regarded as incompatible with motherhood and fidelity. Neither disparaging nor romanticizing her subjects, Dewey investigates the complicated dynamic of performance, resilience, economic need, and emotional vulnerability that comprises the life of a stripper. An accessibly written text that uses academic theories and methods to make sense of feminized labor, Neon Wasteland shows that sex work is part of the learned process by which some women come to believe that their self-esteem, material worth, and possibilities for life improvement are invested in their bodies.