Reading the Body: Latina Desirability and Profit in Erotic Labor

Through the analysis of an eighteen-month ethnography at a strip club in the New York tristate area, this thesis foregrounds body and embodiment as a theoretical intervention in the racialization of Latinas. This thesis unveils how Latinas manage their participation in erotic labor utilizing constructions of Latinidad - particularly embodiment cues that reflect their experiences with racialization. My findings illustrate Latinas' management of a U.S. racial binary and how Latinas are perceived by non-Latina dancers. Among the markers of negotiation in Latinas' racialization are the way music is used, clothing choices, their presentation of dancing, the management of their bodies, and their relationship with clients as forms of differentiation from other dancers; no less important is how they constantly define Latinidad for themselves - against that Black/White binary, and amongst other Latinas. This study's implications include the linking of disparate areas of research and theorizing around racialization, sexuality, embodiment, and Latinidad.