Burlesque can be feminist and not feminist at the same time.  It is not inherently feminist. It is also not inherently anti-feminist.  Some people find it feminist, some don’t.  Burlesque can both support and damage the feminist cause because the variable is the audience. Performance art can’t happen without someone experiencing it, and within those hundreds of people experiencing an act, there will be some who feel strengthened and empowered by it and some who take it as objectifying and demeaning. How they interpret the art will depend on their existing identity and mindset.  Burlesque is as feminist as the observer believes it to be, and that’s it. That is why two people can watch the same act but one finds it empowering and the other finds it demeaning.

Glorian Gray

Saying 'Hi, I'm Honey Velvet' tells people one thing, and 'Hi, I'm Veronica Von DeathMetal' tells them another.

Me, on the importance of stage names

From our Breakfast Club act!  With Sundarii Kapow as the criminal, Polly Pressure Gague as the jock, myself as the basket case, and Sonora Sway as the nerd.

I’m listening

let’s rename the sex positivity movement to the “male fantasies repackaged as empowering for women” movement

Misfits Peep-Toe Court Shoes, by Iron Fist (via spartoo.co.uk)

Sexy gothic ladies and other punksters should be charmed by the peep toe court shoes from Iron Fist. The model proudly sports skulls, feminised by a bow and a high heel. What more could you ask for?

She is good and she is bad. (No one understands.)

Burlesque Challenge- I is for Imogen Kelly

Australia's Queen of Burlesque is more than just a great dancer- she is partly responsible for getting burlesque legalized in her homeland outside of the red light districts.  Her own numbers are full of charm and wit, as seen in this flamingo number; of all the possible things to do during a fan dance, this is something few others would ever think of!

Your thoughts on "choice feminism"?

Complicated.  There are a lot of things women do—like sex work, or staying home with children, or presenting as conventionally feminine—that are sometimes choices, sometimes not, and often in a weird in-between place of “I chose this, but also my life would’ve been harder if I didn’t.”

I don’t think that in-between place is the same as not making a choice, and it can be insulting to the agency of women to claim that.  Someone who does sex work because it’s the best-paid job they can get is not in the same situation as someone who does it because they love it—but also not in the same situation as someone who’s being forced to do sex work.  I think a lot of critiques of “choice feminism” conflate “I was influenced toward this choice” with “I had no choice, please rescue me, feminists!”

Or worse, with “I made an evil choice, please set me straight, feminists!”  Which can get really ugly and confusing—women are being told that their life choices aren’t really choices and that those are wrong choices!  This would be the “sex workers are victims, so let’s put them in jail” argument.

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If your feminism consists of “everything a woman chooses to do is totally freely chosen and totally okay, and every choice is feminist” well, yeah, I disagree with that.  That’s blatantly wrong.  If a woman chooses to pay female employees low wages, or chooses to support abortion bans, or chooses to abuse other women—obviously these aren’t feminist choices just because a woman made them.

But I’ve seen so many people use mocking language about “choosey-choice!” to engage in old-fashioned shaming of women who make “wrong” choices about their sexuality and family lives, that it tends to get my hackles up.

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I think a lot of this comes down, in the end, to: what are your action items?  Like, if you think staying home with kids isn’t a freely made choice, are you supporting ways to give women more options… or are you smugly wagging your finger at women who stay home?

I think your answer to that matters more in the long run than how you feel about the word “choice.”

First time teasing my hair!

Burlesque Challenge- H is for Spun Honey

Every time I see one of Spun Honey's acts- especially her ghost act with Pearl E. Meadows- I get terribly jealous.  How can someone be so pretty, so inventive, have such good taste in music and be such a good dancer?  It's unfair, but Spun Honey achieves it, and my jealousy comes from the highest regard.

Every guy wants to fuck a girl in thigh highs and garters: fact

Jo Wheldon's great Godzilla act (and costume.)

Burlesque Challenge- G is for Gypsy Rose Lee

We wouldn't be where we are today without Miss Lee- I doubt there would be any Dita or Jo, or any "classic" reputation to trade off of if not for this godmother of striptease.  She wasn't the first or the greatest, but she made one hell of an impression on America.  As seen in this (modified for the censors) act, her "gimmick" was that she was casual and funny, telling jokes or singing even as she shed her gowns like a snake's skin.  Gypsy Rose Lee is impressive for other reasons as well, overcoming a toxic home environment to be her own woman (and if you've seen the musical and wondered if her mother could possibly be that bad, just read her autobiography or wikipedia page- the woman was worse.  Or watch this dramatic reading of their letters to each other.)  Whether you admire her historical importance or just wish to emulate her style, Gypsy Rose Lee is still a presence in modern burlesque, dead or alive.

Burlesque Challenge- F is for Lola Frost.

The self-described rock and roll flapper is a mistress of acrobatic and atmospheric burlesque, here showcased in her "Strangers on a Train" number.  She can command a stage with a look, but it's her theatrical talents that really steal the show.  Just try to watch and not be entranced, as this femme fatale casts her spell.

Burlesque Challenge- E is for Ellion Ness

A burlesque legend, Miss Ness is especially infamous for her stocking peel- an art she taught at a class I was lucky enough to comprehend!  Unspeakably glamorous, she is an inspiration to burlesque dancers for all we can achieve- not to mention just how long and sexy we can make a drawn-out bit of clothing removal.

Burlesque Challenge- D is for Dottie Lux

Dottie is a producer, writer, dancer, teacher and clown, a wonderful woman who runs Red Hots Burlesque in San Francisco.  Her shows (including a few with me in them) are twice a week- almost unheard of for a burlesque company- and encompass everything from puppets to torch singers, along with a healthy portion of nudity!  I've learned so much from her, and she does so much to promote the living legends of burlesque as well as up and comers- Dottie Lux is just an altogether amazing woman, and her acts keep me spellbound every time!

Angry, raven-haired princess!  I got to do my stocking peel for this act, which was harder than I'd imagined.