LAS VEGAS — The lap dance is a unique financial transaction, one influenced by so many factors: the dancer, the drinks, the grind and the give.
And now, of all things, the fertility cycle.
Exotic dancers make more money during the week or so before they begin their period than at any other time of the month. This according to New Mexico psychology professor Geoffrey Miller, who studied the ovulatory cycle of several dancers and found that during estrus, when women are considered most fertile, dancers made roughly $354 per shift — almost twice what they took home in tips during menstruation and roughly a quarter more than they made during the luteal phase, directly after their period.
So it appears that exotic dancers, and perhaps all women, can best win the hearts and wallets of men in the days just before their periods.
Naturally, industry insiders are interested.
“If you could emulate that subconscious sense, that scent, and put it in a cologne, maybe we could wear it all the time and get more tips,” said Angelina Spencer, a former dancer now serving as executive director of the Association of Club Executives, a national trade association for adult nightclubs. “I think it warrants more research.”
Miller calls his study the first real-world economic evidence that men are subconsciously sensitive to the female cycle. Dancers appear more attractive to club patrons just before ovulation because they “signal” or “leak” signs of their peak fertility, Miller writes. The more attractive a woman is perceived to be, the better chance she has of enticing her client into a lap dance, and then another, and then another.
Proving the same point in reverse, dancers taking birth control pills showed no considerable increase in tips during estrus. This presumably is because contraceptive pills mimic the effects of pregnancy and minimize the hormonal fluctuations that seem to woo men looking for an able mate, or at least a lap dance.
Dancers using oral contraceptives made about $193 in tips per shift, Miller reports. Women who weren’t on the pill made about $80 more.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.