Are we being naive? But we always thought that male strippers only performed for male/queer audiences.  According to the new movie, NAME OF THE GAME, that is about to be released, we have it all wrong. 

The Chippendales and Magic Mike have a lot to answer for in the wake of their major successes;  as after them, suddenly male exotic dancing was the big new rage. Especially in South Central Los Angeles, with clubs like The Right Track, Tigers, and The Boom Boom Room open seven nights a week, and the dancers becoming local legends.  William Forbes & Douglas Skinner‘s documentary ‘reveals all’ in telling the untold story of the underground world of male exotic dancing.

We follow the lives of several past and current male dancers and the women that support them, both as fans and managers, to learn the untold story of Black male exotic dancing in Southern California, and how it intersects with the origins of hip hop, gang culture, and kung fu assassins. In interviews and performances with icons of the scene like Mike Strong, Hena C, and XTC, we learn the behind-the-scenes reality of the male exotic industry as it’s never been told before: unfiltered, uncensored, and uncut.

Now that male strippers are evidently a thing of the past (who knew?) so the documentary also covers what they’ve been doing since leaving the exotic dancing industry.  One of them, named Brewer, talked about how he has since become a preacher!!!!

“I was raised very religious. So making that decision to be a stripper, I was a black sheep by family, and was ostracized for making bad decisions. But I put my daughter through college stripping. So I don’t have any regrets.”