Skip to Main Content

Neon Wasteland: On Love, Motherhood, and Sex Work in a Rust Belt Town

Online ISBN:
9780520948310
Print ISBN:
9780520266902
Publisher:
University of California Press
Book

Neon Wasteland: On Love, Motherhood, and Sex Work in a Rust Belt Town

Published online:
24 May 2012
Published in print:
7 February 2011
Online ISBN:
9780520948310
Print ISBN:
9780520266902
Publisher:
University of California Press

Abstract

This book examines the lives of five topless dancers in the economically devastated “rust belt” of upstate New York. With insight and empathy, the book 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 the book's subjects, this text 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, this book 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.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close