From "Ceremonial disrobement and moral choice: Consumption rituals at Mardi Gras" by Wesley Shrum:
"Beads are the primary currency of Mardi Gras, thrown from parade floats and balconies. The exchange of beads for nudity is a new kind of ritual, a ceremonial interaction involving negotiation and reciprocity among strangers. Its popularity derives from the modeling of the ritual on the free exchange of goods and services for a generalized medium that is characteristic of capitalism. The linkage of deviance and market behavior is a subject of both public interest and striking theoretical importance...."This and more in Contemporary consumption rituals: A research anthology (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004).
And wouldn't you just love to see his field research funding proposals? I don't really mean to poke fun, and of course all manner of "deviant" activity deserve scholarly attention. But I do have to wonder if scholarly interest followed prurient interest, or vice versa.
Meanwhile, in my own, er, research this evening, I've also come across Dahlia Gordon's doctoral dissertation, titled Strippers and nudists: A comparative study using the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). Yeah, it's funny to read that "participants were recruited on a voluntary basis at nude dancing establishments and at a public nude beach," but a comparison of the two groups does really interest me, in that the idea of even being in a strip club makes me queasy, yet I'm entirely comfortable and happy on a nude beach. (Just to be clear, nothing against strippers: I'm friends with a few current and former strippers, and they're wonderful.)
The abstract is a tease (no pun intended), so if I really want to learn how these two groups differ from each other, and from the general population, I might have to actually read it.