Good morning/afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed my titillating entrance just there (excuse the

pun). The song I just entered to is called “The Stripper” and I trust sets an opening precedent for the
themes of my topic this morning.

As most of you will know I am very outspoken on a number of topics dear to my heart – oops sorry
wrong slide- and today I want to discuss two of those which some may perceive as existing in
contradiction- Burlesque and Feminism.

Thankfully in 2018 (finally) Women’s rights movements and a great deal of public discussions around the
world have lead us into a time where we are not afraid to discuss the implications and consequences of
decisions forced upon us by a continually patriarchal society. Earlier this year, Ai-Jen Poo, executive
director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, published an article for Time magazine in which she
stated;

“This International Women’s Day is about every single woman. It’s about every LGBTQ woman and every
woman of color, every Hollywood actress and every domestic worker, every woman who loses a job to
an under-qualified man, every woman who has been assaulted because of her gender whether she
works in the spotlight or in the shadows. Every last one of us.”

(Poo, 2018)

Yet despite an insurmountable amount of progress, we still have a long way to go. For many Feminism is
a dirty word, or one filled with too many negative connotations for young women (and men) to want to
adopt. And people are divided on what feminism encompasses for them; take for example the rise of
TERFS (trans exclusionary radical feminists) in our own Aotearoa.

https://genderminorities.com/2018/09/07/stand-up-for-equality-no-anti-trans-hate-groups-in-nz/

Whilst these views are extremist and held by a minority, they still highlight the fact that Feminism as a
social movement is not black or white. In fact the ideals held by many second wave feminists directly
contrast those held by the third (or even fourth) wave feminists of today. Feminism, it would appear,
can be highly subjective to the individual.

Which brings me to my research topic: The correlation between Third Wave Feminism and Burlesque as
we know it today. Is Burlesque Feminist? Does it depend on the performer, the producer, the act? And
after all, who decides whether or not something is empowering for women and minorities, whether
something is or isn’t feminist?

To start with we have to define terms. Because of the scope of my research, I have chosen to narrow
down and focus on Third Wave Feminism and Neo or Modern Burlesque as we know it, but looking back
at history helps present us with context for where we are today.

The themes of Burlesque date back to the early 17th century, but modern Burlesque striptease owes its
emergence to a visiting troupe in America called the “British Blondes” who graced New York stages in
1868 with their “chaotic and nebulous combination of dancing, singing, minstrelsy, witty repartee,
political commentary, parodies of plays and scant clothing – described as the ‘leg business’”. (Willson,
2008). These women changed Burlesque from a genre that had more to do with political satire into an
eyebrow-raising theatrical event of its own. Whilst the “British Blondes” performances began in the
bourgeois theatre space, Burlesque soon developed into a more working class form of entertainment,
and the element of striptease was added into the mix. The popularity of Burlesque grew, and with it
came the rise of Burlesque “Queens” such as Gypsy Rose Lee, Lili St.Cyr and Blaze Starr. However with
the Prohibition, Burlesque came to a grinding halt by the early 1940’s. Due to the increase of nudity in
film and the birth of strip clubs, Burlesque lay neglected as an art form for more than 50 years until a
sudden resurgence in the 1990’s. This is what we have come to know as “Modern” “New” or “Neo”
Burlesque today.

“In the early 1990’s ironic burlesque re-emerged for reasons that are both understudied and
debated… There are burlesque conventions across the United States including Tease-O-Rama,
The Great Boston Burlesque Exposition, and the New York Burlesque Festival. There is a
Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada and an annual Miss Exotic World Pageant that the
Hall of Fame puts on. There are Burlesquercise videos and burlesque dance classes offered from
San Francisco to Chicago to New York. It has become a cultural phenomenon gaining cult
notoriety.” (King, 2008)

And this popularity does not just extend to the US. Burlesque has become a global phenomenon, which
continues to grow at a rapid pace. There are festivals all over Europe, Australia, and here in New Zealand
our community is thriving and expanding, with festivals, shows and competitions regularly held all over
the country.

My own journey with Burlesque began when I was 16 in Timaru, when Ruby Ruin, a former Christchurch
based international Burlesque Artist began teaching Burlesquercise (burlesque exercise) classes. I was
hooked, as for me this was the first time I had found a genre of dance/art form that was all
encompassing, no matter age, fitness level, dance ability or confidence level. Ruby taught me so much
about the body positivity and confidence that Burlesque can bring, and I began practicing as a solo artist
in 2016. So it of course came as a surprise to me to learn that so many people view Burlesque in such a
negative way.

In a society that polices women and their bodies in so many different ways, public nudity, stripping and
sex work are judged very highly. Part of the reason why I believe people’s initial reactions to Burlesque
are negative is because we assume stripping is sleazy, degrading, and that it couldn’t possible be
progressing positive, even feminist ideas. However everything I have experienced first hand through the
Burlesque community has been positive, uplifting, empowering and, in my view, feminist as fuck.

So, back to my question, how do these two topics correlate? And when feminism can be so subjective to
the individual, how can I seek to discover whether Burlesque may or may not be feminist?

5.45

Most of my research thus far has been qualitative, with small elements of quantitative exercises. I was
able to find several theses that have attempted to answer similar questions to mine with mixed results
and conclusions.

In one 2009 Journal titled “Grrrly hurly burly: neo-burlesque and the performance of gender”, Nally
states ‘The whole movement of burlesque positively encourages individuality; in size, shape, height and
general appearance, which is a far cry from the uniform look of thin, tanned young girls which is foisted
on the public on a daily basis. Burlesque offers something different than the standard massproduced
culture. In burlesque, girls can have curves, often big curves. They can be loud and funny and still be sex
symbols. The basic elements of burlesque are things that are missing from contemporary life. (Nally,
2009)

However in her conclusion she says “On the one hand, it is a highly sexualised performative strategy
which provokes a strong critique from some feminist circles, and on the other, it maintains a bid to
prove itself an intelligent, if provocative, shocking and complex, art form.”

So, inconclusive.

In a 2008 graduate’s thesis titled ““THE FANTASY OF REAL WOMEN”:NEW BURLESQUE & THE FEMALE
SPECTATOR” Fargo states,

“There are two schools of thought currently dominating the discourse surrounding burlesque and
striptease performance. The first, more conservative view is that sexual, physical display of this kind is
demeaning and antithetical to feminist goals. The second view, now growing in popularity, is that
burlesque performance, because it allows women to publicly express their sexuality, is actually a
positive, empowering, and even feminist act.

I myself do not subscribe entirely to either of these views; it strikes me as reductive to categorize
burlesque as inherently demeaning or inherently empowering.” (Fargo, 2008)

And in her conclusion:

“The new burlesque movement offers women a fun, positive way to explore and express their sexual
power, as a performer, a spectator, or both. While this does constitute a sassy step forward for modern
women, it is far from enough.” (Fargo, 2008)

Again, the jury is still out in these women’s opinions.

And finally, in a research article for the 2015 Journal of Gender Studies titled “What’s so feminist about
garters and bustiers? Neo-burlesque as postfeminist sexual liberation”, Siebler attests

" Feminist neo-burlesque is the hope of subverting, or at least thinking about, patriarchal definitions of
female sexuality. Female sexuality as portrayed in neoburlesque and a feminist analysis of burlesque
performances are complicated and they need to continue. There are far too few articles and scholarly
works that approach the complexities of this topic. There can be many different critiques and
perspectives of any given context or performance. The point, however, is that feminist critique and
analysis – both on behalf of the performer and by the audience facilitated by the performer – is essential
to making neo-burlesque a transgressive political act.” (Siebler, 2015)

In short, Burlesque is beginning to make some great grounds, and the positive influence is there, but
there’s some way to go, and no one is entirely sure whether it can be considered feminist or not.

3min

So because the views are so varied, and no one has yet really coming to a solid conclusion, I decided my
next step would be to get the opinion’s of some practitioners and/or audience members. I created a
short Google docs survey and posted in a number of worldwide Burlesque groups to try and get some
feedback. In addition to one phone interview and one email interview, I collected 19 responses.
The first basic questions I asked were whether they were a Burlesque practitioner, how long they had
been a practitioner for, their country of origin and their gender. Next, whether they self-identified as
feminist. Then onto the more nitty-gritty, do they believe Burlesque is a feminist art form. More than
70% said yes, one said no, one said it depends on conscious decisions made by the creatives, one said
yes but it has been made that way through the conscious efforts of producers, one said that it was a
form of self expression and not inherently feminist, and one said “It either is or it isn’t” which to me
pretty much sums up my entire research project!

The rest of the survey included other questions such as “Why/Why don’t you believe Burlesque is a
Feminist art form?” “What do you believe are the most positive aspects of Burlesque?” “Can stripping
be feminist? Why/Why not?” and a quote which they had to respond to and decide which side of the
fence they sat on. I got a really in-depth, breadth of answers so I won’t explain them all individually, but
to summarise, most either believed that Burlesque showed strong examples of positive, feminist
themes, or that no art can be inherently feminist or un-feminist without the creative making critical
choices.

So, where to now? For starters, from the research I have done thus far I can conclude what I thought I
would conclude at the beginning of my topic; it’s difficult whether to judge whether something does or
doesn’t prescribe to a social movement which in itself is ever changing and evolving. As a plan for my
next steps I want to collate the findings of my surveys and interviews further. I am also performing
tonight at the inaugural event of “Herformance – A feminist performance event” where I will be
showcasing a routine I have created called “Little Red” which has some direct feminist themes.

Link.

So I will be performing this routine and then there is a Q&A session after every performance to discuss
feminist ideas within the performance, and I will be trying to ask audience members what they thought
of the performance in terms of it progressing feminist ideas, whether or not they thought the feminist
themes were clear, etc.

So in conclusion, I hope that by the time I have finished this research topic I will be able to answer with
more specificity How modern Burlesque correlates with Feminism, and perhaps even answer whether or
not the majority believe Burlesque to be a feminist art form. Thank you.