Full Monty Commodity

Today, I will return to the question posed in class:

Why is stripping empowering for men (like those in Full Monty), but not so for women?

To derive a basis for comparison, I first want to isolate exactly what are the specific causes and consequences of stripping that lead to empowerment. From here, I will apply my theories to the initial question, expectantly coming to a definitive conclusion for why stripping creates a gender specific power shift:

Concerning causes, choice is the most empowering feature. Those who do the deed, and do so through their sole decision, are essentially in control by having power over the situation. Those who have to do it because of outside pressure or outstanding circumstances lose much of the power that accompanies having a choice. Ultimately, the power of choice is all about control, with having it (or lacking it) becoming the main indication of how much empowerment one gains from a situation.

Now comes the problem with choice. Regardless of free will debates and for the sake of argument here, I proposition that “to strip or not to strip” is always the individual’s choice. In light of that, the dominating factor becomes outside circumstances which often force people into desperate situations. Full Monty perfectly illustrates this point as Gaz and the guys’ unemployment creates the monetary problems which spiral into other pressures that eventually lead them to their stripping solution. Ultimately, if it were not for these extenuating circumstances, they would never even have considered its viability. However, this still leaves a huge problem in answering the initial question. I suspect most (if not nearly all) of the women who strip do so for the same reasons as Gaz, namely, outside pressures they want to alleviate by making the quick money which comes from stripping. Therefore, with the choice issue being identical for both men and women, it leaves me to conclude that empowerment through choice works only for those who strip solely because they want to. As a result, choice clearly is not the mitigating factor of gender specific stripping empowerment, and for an answer to the initial question, I need to look elsewhere.

Turning to a new cause/consequence, money also plays a large part in the stripping scenario. At the general level of commodity analysis, the supply and demand dynamic causes a constant shifting in the power between consumer and producer. Consumer “wants” drive market production, with what they set their desires on becoming the commodity of value. Yet, what happens when those “wants” are not for a material object but an action? Do those who provide the action become the object? Does objectifying people have anything to do with empowerment? Do you really need to ask yourself the answer to the last question?

Obviously, the results complicate exponentially as the human element becomes part of the stripping equation. The difficulty in this analysis is that the commodity has moved out of the realm of material goods, and into a gray area of human action. To understand this better, consider the specific roles in the different stripping scenarios. When women are on stage, men come because that is what they want to see. This scenario places the woman stripper solely in the category of human object whose actions/body are the item(s) for sale. Now, in the reverse situation, a peculiarity arises. Going back to the point Professor McIntire-Strasburg made in class, I would agree that for most women, it is more about being a part of the group then it is about seeing the show. What this does is make the product (men stripping) no longer the sole reason for attendance, considerably diminishing the commodity factor in the male action. In the end, herein lies the answer. A strip performance devoid of objectivity empowers the stripper since they both maintain their personal status as well as reap the benefits (money) of their action. Conversely, a stripper who is only an object of another’s gratification becomes the “means” in the situation, and when people become solely a means to another’s end, they lose the power.

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This post is long enough, but really, I could go on forever about this topic. For an odd reason, the power dynamic that plays in professions society marginalizes always interests me, and I find myself endlessly considering the questions on both sides of the argument. So, do you agree? Is commodity what causes the power shift, or is there something else? Is it fair to claim that men are the only ones who see strippers as objects? What about those women who do not care about the group? Really, anything you have to say about this I would love to hear.