Aerobic striptease -- faux fitness or erogenous exercise?

It seems to me, that looking sexy and working out are mutually exclusive endeavors. When I get home after a jog, my sweaty hair looks like a steroid-induced Q-tip, and I'm more likely to spit than seduce.

Not the case if you're Carmen Electra, apparently. "Aerobic Striptease," Electra's booty-shaking, pole-dancing workout DVD, has been #1 on the Billboard charts for 24 weeks, and "Lap Dance," another similarly-themed fitness program, is just a few spots behind.

On the one hand, it sounds like these DVDs don't do a great job of raising your heart rate or your boyfriend's, but on the other, maybe it's just the incentive some women (or men) need to start exercising. As Mary Elizabeth Williams notes in the linked article, you won't have anyone encouraging you to "touch yourself" at Pilates class.

At least not like that.