Culture: Lapping It Up in Name of Research; Former College Lecturer Cathy MacGregor Tells Alison Jones Why She Took Up Lap Dancing in the USA

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Byline: Alison Jones

Cathy MacGregor wasn't what I expected of a lap dancer. I'd imagined long legs, silicone implants and a don't mess with me attitude.

Instead the small figure that dashed past me heading for the ladies with a contact lens crisis, barely skimmed five foot and the only thing fake about her was the colour of her hair.

It is exactly this kind of misconception that Cathy confronted head on when she quit her job as a lecturer at Wolverhampton University in order to dance naked, save for a tiny g-string, in bars in America.

'Every body has its fans. It is not like there is one uniform body type,' she said. 'But you do have to be quite confident about yourself.'

As a performance artist Cathy, who is 29 and holds a PhD in drama, had already experimented with nudity in her shows.

And she originally took up lap dancing in the name of research for Scarlett's Story, which she will be …