Some details are given here:
http://www.thecoastalpassage.com/papers/TCP39.pdf
As noted in the articles, many (most?) of the boats in 1984 had topless "figureheads" on the bowsprit. Even the anchored boats had topless figureheads. I visited some of the boats and asked the figureheads to pose for photographs, which they all did.
When I returned to Los Alamos, I brought my photos to the nearby honky-tonk so that my honky-tonk friends could see my Australian trip photos. Before the band started at "The Line Camp," I started showing my photos. Some of the guys were marveling appreciatively (The place was so loved that even 30 years later, it was celebrated. There is a 126 page downloadable "scrap book" here
http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/Manuscripts/id/10571 )
The gals did not seem as appreciative.
Several of the regular honky-tonk gals in the group asked me why there were no naked photos of myself. I looked at them in astonished amusement and said that "I don't think anybody was interested." Now, in 1984 suggesting that women and men were not interested in the same things often brought up an immediate negative reaction. Well, these women swore that they were interested in seeing me naked. They pointed out that women went to strip shows to watch men just like men went to strip shows to watch women. I could see that it was pointless to verbally challenge their beliefs. Instead, I said that "Okay, you arrange a party with a group of women and I will strip for them." One woman went so far as to bring a Frederick's of Hollywood catalog and help me select some appropriate attire for my performance. She told me that the appropriate attire was part of the deal. So, I bought the attire and waited for the women to inform as to the time and place of the performance.
I had a membership in a book club and the club offered a free "rubber stamp" for the sender's postal mail. So, embarking on my new career as a male stripper, I ordered a rubber stamp that said
Thomas E. Booth
Scientist / Male Stripper
Monte Carlo / Female Parties
address and phone number
I then used this rubber stamp to print this information on the back of junk business cards from other people. I didn't want to order my own business cards as I did not believe there would be much need, despite the honky-tonk gals' emphatic assertions.
It is a good thing that I did not quit my day job because even with a free performance that these women emphatically said they wanted, the women never actually scheduled a time and a place. So much for the assertions that men and women were the same about these things.
I kept one of the business cards in my wallet for 5 or 6 years so that whenever I heard some woman claim nonsense about men and women being the same about this type of thing, I could hand out the card as a way of saying BS (bovine scatology). Over those years I must have handed out perhaps 30-50 cards and never had a single taker.
After the first couple of times, I would say to a woman that brought up women and male strippers that "sure, women go to strip shows with 22 year old muscular hunks, but women would not be interested in ordinary guys, like myself, stripping." (I was 32 at the start of my "stripping career".) Of course, those were almost fighting words in those days and the women would immediately say that they were interested in watching ordinary guys, like myself, strip at a party. At that point I would pull out my business card and hand it to them for a free show at a party they organized. The women typically eyed the card with astonishment and were speechless. No takers.
In my view, this "put up or shut up" approach was very clear evidence that the reality was quite different from the assertions. Fortunately, I did not quit my day job.
