Male strippers experience boost in self-esteem

Unlike many female strippers who report that it is the money that motivates them to remain involved in exotic dance, male strippers continue dancing because stripping boosts their self-confidence, says a study.

"Initially women who dance for men may experience a boost in self-esteem, but after time they suffer from a diminished self-confidence," said researcher Maren Scull from the University of Colorado Denver in the US.

"Men who dance for women generally experience positive feelings of self-worth. So much so, that men will continue to strip even when it is no longer financially lucrative," Scull said.

The study published in the journal Deviant Behaviour, focused on how exotic dancing influences the way male strippers view themselves.

Scull spent almost two years interviewing and observing male strippers who dance for women in an American strip club.

While the majority of the men interviewed said they became strippers for money, few earned more than $100 per shift; substantially less than female dancers in the same club.

Instead, Scull found that men continued to strip because it made them desirable and feel good about themselves.

The gendered differences are due to the fact that men and women ascribe different meanings to the objectification they experience while stripping, the study said.

Female dancers may be more inclined to define sexual objectification as negative, because as women, they experience it more frequently than men.

Males, on the other hand, enjoy being objectified by audience members, Scull found.

They did not define objectification with disempowerment and instead said they felt positive about being desirable.