How Male Revues Are Empowering Women

Behind every successful male revue is... a great women’s empowerment movement?

This man is wearing a magnificent pair of argyle socks, which you, too, can admire at a performance of Thunder From Down Under.

It’s been 15 years since a group of Australian imports stripped down to their skivvies at the Frontier and gave Las Vegas ladies something to scream about. Today, Thunder From Down Under still goes boom at the Excalibur some 13 times a week, but the toned and tanned lads are hardly the only guys showing off their goods on the Strip. In fact, they’re not even the only Australians.

The lineup of male revues in Las Vegas currently includes Aussie Heat, Men of Sapphire, and the bow-tied beefcakes of Chippendales—enough pumped up pecs and tearaway pants to rival the city’s famous female topless shows. But is the male revue evolving from simply a way to give drunk bachelorettes a naughty outlet of their own to more of, say, a statement on gender roles and diversity?

Recently, Vivica A. Fox announced plans to bring some Black Magic to Las Vegas, while actor/dancer/stripper/entrepreneur Channing Tatum is set to debut Magic Mike Live Las Vegas at the Hard Rock in March. With a cast of dancers who’ve performed with folks like Justin Timberlake, choreographer Alison Faulk says the raw talent alone is sexy, but she’s focused on making Club Domina (the real incarnation of the movie’s fictional Savannah, Georgia, strip club, run by a woman) a place where women feel confident and free.

“We want to create a space where women feel comfortable, where they can let it all hang out and feel empowered and feel like it’s okay to ask for more,” says Faulk. “Some of them might be like, ‘Don’t touch me,’ and some of them might be like, ‘Touch me more!’”