Science says lap dancers send ‘signals,’ rake in cash

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

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 menstrual cycle.

Exotic dancers make more money during the week or so before they begin menstruating than 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 menstruating.

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.

In Las Vegas, where dancers make decidedly more money than Miller's New Mexico subjects, that ovulatory upswing could translate to thousands of dollars in tips.

Although if Miller's study is correct, it does strip away the last vestiges of romance, both for lap dance client and lap dance provider. He is a slave to his subconscious and she, merely a vessel to broadcast her fitness, as Darwin might have it.

In his study, published this month in Evolution and Human Behavior, Miller describes the dancer-client transaction as one of "subtle behavioral signals that fly below the radar of conscious intention or perception, adaptively hugging the cost-benefit contours of opportunistic infidelity."

In layman's terms, whatever is going on here seems to be working for everyone.

Only what Miller doesn't consider are the external factors that might drive a dancer to make more tips. Sabrina Markey spent 10 years stripping in Las Vegas and says there's no better predictor of income than how badly you need the money.

"It doesn't matter what day of the month they are working," Markey said. "It matters what they're working for."

When rent's due, a car payment nears or some other financial obligation nags, it's not uncommon for dancers to work harder, said Markey, who is now a mortgage broker.

And what makes for good evolutionary strategy makes for bad business in a strip club. Men in Miller's study were more eager to tip dancers signaling peak fertility. If biological rules prevail, dancers should likewise subconsciously seek out clients who appear most suitable for reproduction. Yet if dancers were to do so, they'd likely make fewer tips.

Miller acknowledges this when he writes, "Indeed, it seems that the optimal strategy for obtaining tips is to focus on men who are profligate, drunk and gullible rather than those who are intelligent, handsome and discerning."

Thus all subtle ovulatory signals aside, a dancer's greatest asset may be her ability to wiggle herself into the right person's wallet, no matter what day of the month.

The advantages of ovulation indicated in Miller's study, however, aren't lost on Markey.

"These poor men," she said. "They have no idea."