Articles and postings about the feminist implications of burlesque

Wow, I just randomly came across this posting on the blog called CJAM-FM's Women's Radio Collective, "The Women's Radio Collective is a new initiative at CJAM 91.5 FM (Windsor-Detroit) that focuses on a wide range of female perspectives regarding news and music." which is about the contestation of gendered norms in neo-burlesque.
Their posting is called "Burlesque: Stripping away gendered norms", I have to say first that we did use some of the same 2nd-degree sources, such as the books The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics (Jacki Willson), as well as Burlesque and the New Bump n' Grind (Michelle Baldwin)(there are not very many books available about neo-burlesque)... Hence why I canno't really consider it like a new input for my research... But I did find the fact
that, as femininist organisation (or, if not, at least one that seeks and values female perspectives), they endorse the performance of some neo-burlesque artists as subversive and challenging of the current feminine norms. They also did the link with Butler and the gender performance, which I consider comforting of my prior intuitions...

It was interesting to note that even back in its original days, burlesque was subversive and intimidating because of the frequent gender bending acts, as well as the upfront and non-timid sexuality of the female performers.

While we noted that the burlesque revival or neo-burlesque is probably most well known due to the popularity of Dita Von Teese, pin-up model, burlesque performer, and ex-wife of Marilyn Manson, there are a lot more subversive examples of the empowering nature of new burlesque.

We also talked about how new burlesque, with its primarily female audience, inverts the male gaze and celebrates the female body and women's own sexuality.

They mentionned about the troupe Skin Tight Outta Sight, as well as the performer Roxi Dlite which, interestingly, I had the opportunity to see last year at the Toronto Burlesque Festival... Which I will for sure attend again this year! As well, they links to articles discussing the feminist implications of burlesque, which, despite the fact that they are not academic ressources, are interesting for me to compile (and investigate from which source the discourse emerged)...

Can burlesque be feminist?

Burlesque Comeback Tries to Dance With Feminism

Now, what is my purpose in keeping on researching neo-burlesque and its challenging of the gendered norms? Well, someone needs to explain it to the marketers now, which only see in burlesque it's aesthetic aspect - just think about the video Circus by Britney Spears.

A special request for a very dirty martini

This is a burlesquer called " World Famous *BOB*", she is known to be one of the first on the burlesque revival scene. Although this act doesn't seem very subversive, it can be considered as consciously exposing the objectifying patterns or gendered norms (in reference to rsrcher comment) " but with a lively sense of play rather than dry analytic critique".

I was intrigued by a small interaction between *BOB* (as ponypinup) and a fan (asy4) in the comment section following the video:

ponypinup (il y a 1 an) - Hi Ponies!!!! It is me The World Famous *BOB* and I LOVE this video!!!! Yes, I lost 43 lbs. and yes- I was in a corner but the party was planned to be fabulous everywhere you turned so I wasn't offended at all. This was in Miami at a party organized by the fabulous Susanne Bartsch. I want to thank ALL of you for your concern (and flattering camera angles)- it feels good to know that people have my back!!! Love, World Famous *BOB* NYC

asy4 (il y a 1 an) - Don't lose too much weight, *BOB*! We need more sexy, curvy female role models! Mary Kate Olsen doing this number would just be TOO pathetic!

Is the fact of being a curvy girl acting with the sexy confidence and sense of entitlement of a norm-corresponding girl, subversive at all? At least, it seems very "empowering" and refreshing for those who don't feel like they fit (and would like to) in the model of sexiness perpetuated by the media.

Further than consciously exposing,I believe World Famous *BOB* is amplifying and (and thus a bit mocking) the gender norms. This is being exemplifyed by the following quote by Michelle Baldwin (quoting *BOB*)from the book Burlesque and the New Bump-n-Grind (p.99), where the work of *BOB* is being paralleled or "perpendiculared" with that of drag artists.

*BOB* is a larger-than-life, female-female impersonator, "so basically I'm a drag queen, but I'm a girl, I impersonate myself and different aspects of blonde bombshells that I love." When she was fifteen, *BOB* decided she wanted to be a drag queen and left home when she was sixteen. Raised by the gay community in Hollywood, she finally announced that her dream was to be a drag queen. They all kind of looked at me confused and said, 'Well you can't really do that because you're a girl.' Not that I think they were trying to limit me, but they had never seen it done, and it kind of challenged the identity of a drag queen, or the definition of it." At the end, especially as she started incorporating joking sexuality into her performance such as mixing a martini with her F-cup bra, what she was doing was better defined by the new term, burlesque. In a way, most neo-burlesque is female-female impersonation. Burlesque performers, like drag queens, are more woman than the average woman. Both wrap themselves in corsets and stockings, jewels and fabrics, wigs or coiffed hair, and stage makeup - he trappings of stereotypical feminity.

Michelle Baldwin - the writer - is, as well, a burlesque performer. She highlights the over performing of gender in neo-burlesque, as well as its link with the drag queen universe. Back in the days, Mae West was also a female-female impersonator, mimicking the manners of female impersonators such as Julian Eltinge. You can find some of her very interesting quotes here, such as "I believe that it's better to be looked over than it is to be overlooked."

I'll come back to the link between burlesque and drag after reading Gender Trouble (Butler) (are drag performances challenging or consolidating the feminine gendered norms???).

In the meantime, I found a very interesting conference in line with my research topic, and this, by investigating further the link between burlesque, drag performance and queer theories...

Monday, April 6
Tease n’ Tell: The Body Politics of Burlesque

Seminars in the City

3rd Seminar

From the seedy Blue Angel Cabaret to the CWTV’s Gossip Girl, in the past decade burlesque has infiltrated the mainstream yet manages to remain a transgressive art form. While it flirts with popularity burlesque at its best does not compromise its subversive origins, erotic themes, and defiant ideals. It naturally lends itself to promoting queer philosophy and values without necessarily calling attention to its inherent queerness.

Contemporary burlesque, often known as neo burlesque, borrows from various genres including dance, drag, performance art, theatre, and, of course, traditional burlesque. It is a hybrid art form that mixes traditions, flaunts rules and standardizations in order to remain provocatively entertaining.

The seminars will invite some of the leading neo burlesque performers in New York to perform as well as provide the theoretical and historical context for their work. The seminar participants will have the opportunity to read about, observe, and engage with this unique form of performance art that advances the artistic expression by constantly challenging the political and cultural authorities.

Seminar Facilitator: Jasmina Sinanovic

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 West 13th Street
Room 101
New York. NY 10011

Additional Tease n' Tell Seminars
Monday 5/4

That's it, I'm going! :)

Following the article "Ni pitounes, ni soumises" on International Women Day

I mentioned lately coming across this article in La Presse which could hardly be more in line with my research.

In her writings for the International Women’s Day, Rima Elkouri speaks about her vision of feminism today and deplores the fact that pole dancing, and the “tendance pitoune” are being revendicated as a form of liberation for certain women.

In short (and I tried my best to translate this accurately), she asks “how we came to - 40 years after our elders burnt their bras - celebrate breasts implants and porno stars with rabbit ears as symbols of emancipation”, she indicates that “we shouldn’t fool ourselves by thinking that the injustices towards women (being treated as objects) are unrelated to the dominant porno aesthetic which compels some to revendicate their “object status” and she finally mentions that “under the cover of bravery, we often find conformism. Under “girl power” and second degree humor, we often find servitude, vulgarity and poor self-esteem.”


I do agree with the idea that positioning yourself as a sexualized object (as approved by the third wave feminist or girl power movement) does not lead to emancipation and does not help women condition… However, investigating the post-structuralist feminist concept of “écriture féminine” has made me explore the idea that women oppression is linked to the unacknowledged women subjective perspective (as a subject rather than an object). The current women representation in pornography (in terms of look and attitude) – as well as in the market – is that of a commodity, and is mostly defined by the realm of male fantasies and ideologies. That’s why these authors prompt women to write from their embodied perspective (body being considered as an oppressed feminine construct) and use the vehicles such as pornography (strip-tease ???) “that privilege and propagate male desire” (Dallery, 1989 ; Joy & Venkatesh, 1994) in order to subvert that logic. Rather than their “object status”, women should see this as an opportunity to revendicate their “subject status”.

This being said, it might seem like I am getting opposed to mankind, but NOT AT ALL!!! – I am trying to investigate how women came to be portrayed like that (according to post-structuralist feminist writers).

Now, I believe the intent and perspective adopted by the strip-teaser makes a world of difference: Do they keep on perpetuating the masculine ideologies, or are they really manifesting their own (uncorrupted) sexual subjectivity?

With regards to that comment from Mrs. Elkouri : “Under (…) second degree humor, we often find servitude, vulgarity and poor self-esteem.”, I am wondering the following: Is the tradition of slapstick humor, mockery and absurdity in burlesque not a good mean to go beyond the inhibitions of poor self-esteem resulting precisely from the objectified status? I don’t think the vulgarity is meant to be camouflaged by humor in burlesque… I think it is meant to be self-evident and that, taken together, humor and vulgarity can be tools of subversion.

With that regard, here are some interesting thoughts from Lindalee Tracey, film-maker of Anatomy of Burlesque(a film I have seen at the beginning of my research last year):
“My adventure began by refusing the arched presumption that burlesque is simply striptease and bare bazooms, hubba, hubba! - turning instead to its deeper subversions and un-pretensions. I aimed myself at the grammar of burlesque, the meaning behind its vulgarity - the mocking send up; the naughty, winking knowingness; double entendre, comic eroticism; even the origins of the French cancan. I discovered everything I love about life - the twitching divide between body and mind, high and low, sacred and profane.”

I should mention that her stressing of the notion of embodiement in burlesque enabled me to make a link with the post-structuralist feminist thoughts that I am currently exploring as an analysis of my fieldwork. I should take this opportunity to acknowledge this regretted lady - who recently passed away and missed by the entire burlesque community - for her very inspiring work.

The eroticism in neo-burlesque

Owen, here is my answer to your questions:

It is indeed hard to investigate whether the ideals and motivations coming from the performers match up with those of the audience, for the simple reason that I have problems finding spectators or fans online other than the ones that become performers. I do plan on exploring that aspect in my “live”, “physical” upcoming field.

For the needs of this research, I have decided to put aside the interconnections between the performers, and focus on the online gender performance by analyzing elements of websites such as still pictures (narrative, discursive and aesthetic aspects), videos, web design elements (symbolic), texts (tonality, direction of the communication, intent), and so on… I’d like to see if it challenges or consolidate the gendered norms commonly mediated by the market. I do want to come back to the relationship between the performers, more specifically in between the subversive and naïve ones, in order to see if I can identify some underlying meaning to their cohabitation on the same stage or scene, as well as what is the purpose of their community.

As per your last question: “Is the erotic side of it meant to be genuine? Or is it critical of those who do see it that way?” Before being associated with adult entertainment and eroticism, burlesque was mostly about slapstick humor and spoofing the pretention of the elite, divinity, power and so on… The “female shows” appeared with time and became a main demanded feature in burlesque shows. The strip-tease part of burlesque is now one of the main (but not exclusive) focuses in the revival movement. I see the erotic aspect of burlesque having different meanings for different performers. For instance, some people want to reappropriate themselves the medium of strip-tease (as a form of democratization), explore this facet of their personality, exhibit themselves, joke around and have fun, and sometimes, meanwhile, spoof the current object status of the women. While considering the erotic aspect as a performance, it can also be an expression of the erotic imagery of the performer. With that regard, I believe the erotic aspect is an acknowledgement of the human nature, and, more importantly it is a medium to subvert the sexualized object status of the women towards sexual subjectification.
Neo-burlesque appeals to a wide audience of girls of any sexual orientation, which is interesting also. Like previously mentioned, I still need to investigate the motivations of the spectators, but it seems clear in so far that at least not everyone go there to get turned on. In addition, one of the troupes I have been following in terms of performances, for instance, qualifies their shows as erotico-retro-chic, which definitely stages eroticism in sympathetic terms. I would consider the erotic aspect as a type of conversation with the audience, just like humor and so on. The relationship with humor is also interesting with regards to the fact that sexuality is often considered so fatally or emptily.
I hope this answers your questions! Please feel free to ask others, it is actually very helpful in my research process!

The "locus" of my research

Greatings to all of you!


To answer your long awaiting question Buttons, I have decided to conduct my cyber ethnographic research in several locations where can be found the neo-burlesque community online, mostly: artist’s websites, myspace pages, yahoo groups, blogs, as well as the burlesque-oriented facebook groups and promotional messaging. I did refrain from studying the profiles of my facebook burlesquer friends, for ethical concerns, since I find the line is too thin between the burlesque personas and their daily life identities. Furthermore, I don’t see how enlightening could be their family reunion pictures with regards to my research interests.

As per suicide girls and god girls, which are essentially alternate porn websites with girls adopting the punk, goth, rockabilly, and even burlesque esthetic codes, I believe it is a bit different than neo-burlesque itself, which is more subtle in it’s displaying of sexuality. Usually, burlesque shows will not feature women stripping beyond a pair of pasties – which is part of the code and the tradition. Now I didn’t explore them exhaustively, but I would not be surprised, and I would even expect to find some burlesquers on these sites. I will not be positioning myself here because I don’t know enough about the type of representation of women (is it objectifying or subjectifying? I have yet to answer this question for burlesque) but I believe the same type of “ecriture feminine” analysis could be conducted – even considering the porno nature of the sites – as long as it implies the subjective experience of women:

“Writing the feminine body is, to be sure, a difficult undertaking, but it remains a mechanism by which women can continue to subvert the signifying practices of a male-dominated culture. In particular, this includes television, advertising, films and pornography – all the institutions that privilege and propagate male desire. Women’s otherness, as posited in “ecriture feminine” is an attempt to dislodge such culture-specific mediation of the female body (Dallery, 1989, p.6)” (Excerpt taken from Postmodernism, feminism and the body: The visible and the invisible in consumer research, Joy & Venkatesh, 1994).

Happy International Women's Day

First, happy belated International Women's Day to all women, their lovers and aficionados... I am overwhelmed (in a good way) about all the refreshing conversations that were engaged about contemporary feminism in the newspapers, online on blogs, among my peers...

I have to congratulate the initiatives of bloggers such as Alex, who initiated the cyber manifestation “Le 8 mars 2009, bloguons pour les femmes!” which invited people, women and men, to share their vision of feminism in 2009.

I took the opportunity to invite readers to let me know about their thoughts on my research project, by referring them to this blog (which you are too, class colleagues, invited to comment). I am still hoping for feedback as it is very important for the finality of my research project (humanizing the female representation in advertising). Let’s see what happens...

Furthermore, I came across this chronicle in La Presse, yesterday which could hardly be more in line with my research. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/opinions/chroniqueurs/rima-elkouri/200903/08/01-834310-ni-pitounes-ni-soumises.php

It was also sent to me by a research colleague with whom I’ve previously debated on the subject of emancipation in burlesque striptease and pole-dancing classes. I am currently working on a blog post about it (as well as my answer to your questions, Button’s and Owen)…

My interests in the neo-burlesque subculture...

First, I need to apologize for the delay in updating my blog… I had to take my mind off of the glittery neo-burlesque world for a while, in order to prepare and participate in an « ethnographic raid » about the alien and UFO « culture » in Roswell… Intriguingly, I couldn’t help but denote resemblance with burlesque but just don’t get me started on that…

I’d like to thank you all for your comments and questions, since they are really helping me define how to best tackle this cyber ethnographic research project… In the following blog postings, I will try to answer your questions as best as I can…

First, what is my interest with the topic?

I came in contact with the neo-burlesque subculture a few years ago and somehow, what interested me at first was the fact that women from different sizes and body shapes could appropriate themselves the performance of striptease, regardless of the social prescription vis-à-vis their appearance… You know: « you shouldn’t wear that », « this is too revealing for a person your size », « you should wear black, it’s more flattering »… Yet, these girls on stage seem to take irreverent pleasure in doing exactly the opposite, in front of an enthusiastic crown of men and women. I have to admit I really got impressed…

Being a student in interpretative consumer research, as well as sensitive about the consequences of normative images on girl’s self-esteem, I have long been interested in alternative ways of representing women in advertising… Somehow, I thought neo-burlesque could prove the appeal of portraying different types of women, while still being highly inspirational in a marketing perspective.

Over a year ago, I started my research project and participated in 2 levels of neo-burlesque classes for over 4 months. I conducted interviews with students, as well as artists, attended several shows in Montreal (and still doing so), and followed a troupe in a mini road-trip to an out of province festival. I am now immersing myself in the online aspect of the community, as well as preparing my fieldwork as a helping volunteer in the organization of a burlesque festival out of province.
At first, my project (which is in the strand of consumer culture theory or CCT (Arnould and Thompson, 2005)) was mostly focussing on how, through burlesque, women were challenging feminine physical norms perpetuated by the market, as well as negotiating their rightful place within the definition of beauty, sensuality, glamorousness and sexual allure.

As time went-by, I got more familiar with the scene… In certain instances, I was deceived (and even discomforted) by performances that I would have then judged as rather naïve uses of the burlesque aesthetic, and as gratuitous displays of bodies that could otherwise fit within the contemporary strip club standards It’s only while discussing with performers and familiarizing with the work of post-structuralist feminist writers and researchers that I realized burlesque was going beyond solely challenging the physical norms perpetuated by the market.

Not to say that all performances are subversive in any way, but I realized lots of them are an opportunity for artists to reclaim their oppressed sexuality and body (not just in term of its physical appearance but mostly in term of its experience) : a form of « écriture féminine » (Cixous) that entitle women to become sexual subjects by displaying their own, different, « erotic universe » rather than the sexualized objects they are often portrayed as in advertising (for instance), based on the realm of masculine fantasies. Like mentioned by Jacki Willson in her book « The Happy Stripper », it is worrying to see that young women define their sexuality through the sexual attraction they suscitate, rather than the desire they are likely to experience (and should acknowledge) as human beings. The irreverent attitude and immodesty of certain neo-burlesque artists towards sexuality is one of the aspects that now interest me the most in this whole subculture. With their wit and humour - and whether they are conscious about it or not - they are often contributing to the redefinition of sexuality in a feminine perspective (but, as well as sometimes, consolidating the statue quo in terms of female representation).

In a sense, this perspective is loaded with implications about the way we envision women representation in advertising.