Apart from an awkward encounter with a butler in the buff during a stag do in Brighton (let’s just say someone made a bit of a cock-up with the online booking form) I have never watched a male stripper in action.

As such, my understanding of the industry has been restricted to fictional accounts, most notably the film Magic Mike, the sequel to which, Magic Mike XXL, hit cinemas last week.

But is it all girls, ‘gun shows’ and glory? Are they happy to be objectified and do they ever feel degraded or silly?

Here we profile four male strippers on the UK scene.

Rowan, 26, from Dreamboys

How long have you been stripping?

Five years.

Do you earn as much as Magic Mike?

I’ve been a dancer my whole life but dancers don’t always get paid much money, whereas strippers tend to earn a lot more. Most strippers in the industry get paid about £100 per show, whereas we get a minimum of £250 per show, so the money is very good. We do about 300 shows per year so we are away nearly every day.

Do you ever feel objectified?

No, never, there is nothing wrong with making a living from your body or looks as long as you are not hurting anyone. A builder or plumber uses tools for his/her trade; our tools are our bodies and it’s important to look after your body and stay healthy. I don’t get completely naked on stage, what I do is called ‘strip tease’. We do have guys in our show that do go completely naked, but it’s very tastefully done.

Rowan: 'Most of the guys are extremely intelligent'

What’s an interesting fact that most people don’t know about male strippers?

I think most people know by now that male strippers have to wax here, there and everywhere, they have to go to the gym nearly every day and eat high protein diets to stay in shape, but what might come as a surprise to some people is that 99 per cent of the guys I work with are extremely intelligent. We have guys in the group with university degrees, PhDs and even some qualified chefs.

Marshall, 28, from Adonis

How long have you been stripping?

Three years.

Are strippers competitive?

If you’re there to have your ego stroked and you want to see loads of woman screaming your name – that’s your thing. For me I love the performance, the exhibitionism, the humour. At Adonis, we’re a tongue-in-cheek male comedy cabaret show with humour and drag queens. I don’t care if the audience is guys, girls, trans; if they’re laughing and enjoying the show that’s all that matters.

What last-minute prep do you do before you go onstage?

If you do Full Monty you’ll hear about the many different methods and mystical arts of 'tying off' – getting blood into your genitals and keeping it there to make a stripper look better endowed than he would be chilling in the background. Some people use elastic bands, cock pumps, condoms, it really depends on the person and the kind of show they’re doing. Because I do shadow puppetry and play the piano with my penis for my act I have to be able to let it hang so I can’t have it pumped. That would be detrimental to my show.

Can tying off be dangerous?

I’ve heard horror stories of people with blood blisters, burst capillaries, and bleeding. If people do that it’s their own choice and they put themselves at risk. It all depends what you’re stripping for. If you’re stripping for a cabaret show and you’re doing it for fun you don’t need to put yourself in danger. Not everyone does it. One stripper’s party piece at the end of a show is to wrap his penis around a girl’s wrist. Tying off isn’t a necessity but it helps to create an illusion and when girls go to a strip show there is an element of suspended disbelief.

Lotan, 26, from Dreamboys

How long have you been stripping?

Six years.

When did you first consider stripping as a profession?

Working in the strip industry was never a plan of mine. I was working as a scaffolder at the time that the opportunity came up. I had appeared on the show ‘Pineapple Dance Studios’ with my uncle, Louie Spence, where I was training as a professional dancer. The Dreamboys management spotted me and invited me to audition the next day. I got the job and it went from there.

Lotan: 'There's a stigma attached to the industry'

Were you nervous the first time you got naked on stage?

I wasn’t nervous about taking my clothes off or dancing on stage, but more apprehensive about just being on stage itself. The first time this happened was in Amsterdam. I hadn’t actually planned to get up and dance, I was just there to host, but they pulled me on and introduced me as the newbie… I got thrown in at the deep end and I loved it. Being from a family of performers, I think this was always going to be the case.

What’s the worst thing about being a stripper?

I guess a negative with stripping is the stereotyping we often face. There is a stigma attached to the industry and people make assumptions that we are only 'for show'. Relationships often take longer to progress too, as you can feel the need to ‘prove yourself’, having not started on the same level as say a normal guy with a ‘normal’ job.

Leigh, 28, from Forbidden Nights

How long have you been stripping?

Eight years.

How did you get into stripping?

I started stripping when I was 20. I was doing the Mr England competition and wanted more text votes. I went to a 'ladies nights' and the more texts I got the more kit I took off. I caught the bug.

At Forbidden Nights you don’t do Full Monty. Why not?

Full Monty is a thing of the past. Forbidden Nights is a male variety show. We’re all about the production and showcasing the boys' talents, and not about getting naked. We don’t get our willies out, we just do a bum flash. If you think Cirque Du Soleil meets Magic Mike, that's where we are.

So it’s not all about nudity?

A lot of women don’t want to see full nudity, they don’t want to be pulled up on stage – we cater for that demographic. When we started out people would say “But you didn’t get your cocks out?!”. Now people don’t even seem to notice. We offer a night that girls can go to and tell their boyfriend that they went.