![Baker Banana 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Baker_Banana_2.jpg)
A striptease is an
erotic or exotic
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a
seductive
Seduction has multiple meanings. Platonically, it can mean "to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty", or "to lead astray, usually by persuasion or false promises".
Strategies of seduction include conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual ...
and
sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "
stripper
A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event.
M ...
" or an "exotic dancer".
In Western countries, the venues where stripteases are performed on a regular basis are now usually called
strip club
A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other Erotic dancing, erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or Bar (establishment), bar style, and can also ...
s, though they may be performed in venues such as
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s (especially in the United Kingdom), theaters and
music hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...
s. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a
bachelor
A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". ().
Etymo ...
or
bachelorette party
A bachelorette party ( United States and Canada) or hen night ( UK, Ireland and Australia) is a party held for a woman (the bride or bride-to-be) who will soon be married. While Beth Montemurro concludes that the bachelorette party is modelled ...
. In addition to providing
adult entertainment, stripping can be a form of
sexual play between partners. This can be done as an impromptu event or – perhaps for a special occasion – with elaborate planning involving
fantasy wear
Fetish fashion is any style or human physical appearance, appearance in the form of a
type of clothing or fashion accessory, accessory, created to be extreme or provocative in a Sexual fetishism, fetishistic manner. These styles are by definit ...
, music, special lighting, practiced dance moves, or unrehearsed dance moves.
Striptease involves a slow, sensuous undressing. The stripper may prolong the undressing with delaying tactics such as the wearing of additional
clothes
Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials ...
or putting clothes or hands in front of just undressed body parts such as the
breast
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...
s or
genitalia
A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...
. The emphasis is on the act of undressing along with sexually suggestive movement, rather than the state of being undressed. In the past, the performance often finished as soon as the undressing was finished, though today's strippers usually continue dancing in the nude.
[Richard Wortley (1976) ''A Pictorial History of Striptease''.] The costume the stripper wears before disrobing can form part of the act. In some cases, audience interaction can form part of the act, with the audience urging the stripper to remove more clothing, or the stripper approaching the audience to interact with them.
Striptease and public nudity have been subject to legal and cultural prohibitions and other aesthetic considerations and
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
s. Restrictions on venues may be through venue licensing requirements and constraints and a wide variety of national and local laws. These laws vary considerably around the world, and even between different parts of the same country.
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...
is credited with coining the word ''ecdysiast'' – from "
ecdysis
Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticle in many invertebrates of the clade Ecdysozoa. Since the cuticle of these animals typically forms a largely inelastic exoskeleton, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed. The remna ...
", meaning "to molt" – in response to a request from striptease artist
Georgia Sothern
Georgia Sothern (1913–1981), born Hazel Anderson, was a burlesque dancer and vaudeville performer. She was known for her striptease performances. She gave an interview to the ''Harvard Crimson'' during a trip to the Old Howard Athenaeum in Bosto ...
, for a "more dignified" way to refer to her profession.
Gypsy Rose Lee, one of the most famous striptease artists of all time, approved of the term.
History
The origins of striptease as a performance art are disputed and various dates and occasions have been given from ancient Babylonia to 20th century America. The term "striptease" was first recorded in 1932.
There is a stripping aspect in the ancient Sumerian myth of the descent of the goddess
Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
into the Underworld (or Kur). At each of the seven gates, she removed an article of clothing or a piece of jewelry. As long as she remained in hell, the earth was barren. When she returned,
fecundity
Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the natural capability to pr ...
abounded. Some believe this myth was embodied in the
dance of the seven veils of
Salome, who danced for
King Herod, as mentioned in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
in Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:21-22. However, although the Bible records Salome's dance, the first mention of her removing seven veils occurs in
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
's play ''
Salome'', in 1893.
In ancient Greece, the lawgiver
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
established several classes of prostitutes in the late 6th century BC. Among these classes of prostitutes were the ''auletrides'': female dancers, acrobats, and musicians, noted for dancing naked in an alluring fashion in front of audiences of men.
In
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, dance featuring stripping was part of the entertainments ''(
ludi
''Ludi'' (Latin plural) were public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people (''populus Romanus''). ''Ludi'' were held in conjunction with, or sometimes as the major feature of, Roman religious festivals, and were also ...
)'' at the
Floralia, an April festival in honor of the
goddess Flora. Empress
Theodora
Theodora is a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift".
Theodora may also refer to:
Historical figures known as Theodora
Byzantine empresses
* Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church
* Theodora o ...
, wife of 6th-century Byzantine emperor
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
is reported by several ancient sources to have started in life as a courtesan and actress who performed in acts inspired from mythological themes and in which she disrobed "as far as the laws of the day allowed". She was famous for her striptease performance of
Leda and the Swan
Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces or rapes Leda. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the sa ...
.
From these accounts, it appears that the practice was hardly exceptional nor new. It was, however, actively opposed by the
Christian Church
In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...
, which succeeded in obtaining statutes banning it in the following century. The degree to which these statutes were subsequently enforced is, of course, opened to question. What is certain is that no practice of the sort is reported in texts of the European Middle Ages.
An early version of striptease became popular in England at the time of the
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
. A striptease was incorporated into the
Restoration comedy ''
The Rover'', written by
Aphra Behn in 1677. The stripper is a man; an English country gentleman who sensually undresses and goes to bed in a love scene. (However, the scene is played for laughs; the prostitute he thinks is going to bed with him robs him, and he ends up having to crawl out of the sewer.) The concept of striptease was also widely known, as can be seen in the reference to it in
Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway (3 March 165214 April 1685) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for '' Venice Preserv'd'', or ''A Plot Discover'd'' (1682).
Life
Otway was born at Trotton near Midhurst, the parish of which his fathe ...
's comedy ''
The Soldier's Fortune'' (1681), where a character says: "Be sure they be lewd, drunken, ''stripping'' whores".
Striptease became standard fare in the
brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
s of 18th century
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, where the women, called "posture girls", would strip naked on tables for popular entertainment.
![La Fontaine - Tales and Novels in verse - v2 p130](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/La_Fontaine_-_Tales_and_Novels_in_verse_-_v2_p130.jpg)
Striptease was also combined with music, as in the 1720 German translation of the French ''La Guerre D'Espagne'' (Cologne: Pierre Marteau, 1707), where a
galant party of high aristocrats and opera singers entertain themselves with hunting, play and music in a three-day turn at a small château:
The dancers, to please their lovers the more, dropped their clothes and danced totally naked the nicest entrées and ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
s; one of the princes directed the delightful music, and only the lovers were allowed to watch the performances.
An
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
custom, first noted by French colonialists and described by the French novelist
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
may have influenced the French striptease. The dances of the
Ghawazee
Ghawazi (also ''ghawazee'') ( arz, الغوازي) are female dancers who dance in return for money; the male equivalent is khawal. While the performative and traditional ''raqs sharqi'' in urban Egypt was more classical and influenced by more ...
in North Africa and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
consisted of the erotic
dance of the bee
The Dance of the bee or Dance of the wasp was a provocative Egyptian dance, part of the repertoire of the dancing girls of the Ghawazee. It was perhaps not unlike the famous Dance of the seven veils. In the dance of the bee, the dancer portray ...
performed by a woman known as
Kuchuk Hanem
Kuchuk Hanem (fl. 1850–1870) was a famed beauty and Ghawazee dancer of Esna, mentioned in two unrelated accounts of travel to Egypt, the French novelist Gustave Flaubert and the American adventurer George William Curtis.
Kuchuk Hanem became ...
. In this dance, the performer disrobes as she searches for an imaginary bee trapped within her garments. It is likely that the women performing these dances did not do so in an indigenous context, but rather, in response to the demand for this type of entertainment.
Middle Eastern belly dance
Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...
, also known as oriental dancing, was popularized in the United States after its introduction on the
Midway at the
1893 World's Fair
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
by a dancer known as
Little Egypt.
Some claim the origin of the modern striptease lies in
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
's play ''
Salome (play)'', in 1893. In the
Dance of the Seven Veils, the female protagonist dances for
King Herod and slowly removes her veils until she lies naked. After Wilde's play and
Richard Strauss's
operatic version of the same, first performed in 1905, the erotic "dance of the seven veils" became a standard routine for dancers in opera, vaudeville, film and
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. . A famous early practitioner was
Maud Allan
Maud Allan (born as either Beulah Maude Durrant or Ulah Maud Alma Durrant;Birthname given as Ulah Maud Alma DurrantMcConnell, Virginia A. ''Sympathy for the Devil: The Emmanuel Baptist Murders of Old San Francisco'', University of Nebraska Pr ...
, who in 1907 gave a private performance for King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
.
French tradition
![Mata Hari 15](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Mata_Hari_15.jpg)
In the 1880s and 1890s,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
ian shows such as the
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche.
In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Ol ...
and
Folies Bergère
The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...
were featuring attractive scantily clad women dancing and ''
tableaux vivants
A (; often shortened to ; plural: ), French for "living picture", is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrica ...
''. In this environment, an act in the 1890s featured a woman who slowly removed her clothes in a vain search for a
flea
Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...
crawling on her body. ''
The People's Almanac
''The People's Almanac'' is a series of three books compiled in 1975, 1978 and 1981 by David Wallechinsky and his father Irving Wallace.
In 1973, Wallechinsky became fed up with almanacs that regurgitated bare facts. He had the idea for a refe ...
'' credits the act as the origin of modern striptease.
In 1905, the notorious Dutch dancer
Mata Hari
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed ...
, later shot as a spy by the French authorities during World War I, was an overnight success from the debut of her act at the
Musée Guimet
The Guimet Museum (full name in french: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; ) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the XVIe arrondissement, 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its ful ...
. The most celebrated segment of her act was her progressive shedding of clothing until she wore just a jeweled
bra
A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover breasts. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appea ...
and some ornaments over her arms and head. Another landmark performance was the appearance at the Moulin Rouge in 1907 of an actress called Germaine Aymos, who entered dressed only in three very small shells. In the 1920s and 1930s,
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
danced topless in the ''danse sauvage'' at the Folies, and other such performances were provided at the
Tabarin
Tabarin was the street name assumed by the most famous of the Parisian street charlatans, Anthoine Girard (c. 1584 – August 16, 1633), who amused his audiences in the Place Dauphine by farcical dialogue with his brother Philippe (as Mondo ...
. These shows were notable for their sophisticated choreography and often featuring the women in glitzy sequins and feathers. In his 1957 book ''
Mythologies
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
'',
semiotician
Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something, ...
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular ...
interpreted this Parisian striptease as a "mystifying spectacle", a "reassuring ritual" where "evil is advertised the better to impede and exorcise it". By the 1960s "fully nude" shows were provided at such places as
Le Crazy Horse Saloon.
American tradition
In the United States, striptease started in
traveling carnival
A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...
s and
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. theatres, and featured famous strippers such as
Gypsy Rose Lee and
Sally Rand
Sally Rand (born Helen Gould Beck; April 3, 1904 – August 31, 1979) was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. ...
. The
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
trapeze artist Charmion
Laverie Vallee ''née'' Cooper (July 18, 1875 – February 6, 1949), best known by her stage name Charmion, was an American vaudeville trapeze artist and strongwoman whose well-publicized suggestive performance was captured on film in 190 ...
performed a "disrobing" act onstage as early as 1896, which was captured in the 1901
Edison film ''Trapeze Disrobing Act''. Another milestone for modern American striptease is the possibly legendary show at
Minsky's Burlesque
Minsky's Burlesque refers to the brand of American burlesque presented by four sons of Louis and Ethel Minsky: Abraham 'Abe' Bennett Minsky (1880–1949), Michael William 'Billy' Minsky (1887–1932), Herbert Kay Minsky (1891–1959), and Morton ...
in April 1925 that inspired the novel and film ''
The Night They Raided Minsky's
''The Night They Raided Minsky's'' is a 1968 American musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. Based on the 1960 novel by Rowland Barber, it is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Mins ...
''. Another performer,
Hinda Wassau, claimed to have inadvertently invented the striptease in 1928 when her costume was shaken loose during a
shimmy
A shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are quickly alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back, the left one comes forward.
History
In 1917, a dance-song titled "Shim-Me-Sha ...
dance. Burlesque theatres in New York were prohibited from staging striptease performances in a legal ruling of 1937, leading to the decline of these "
grindhouse
A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a fil ...
s" (named after the bump 'n grind entertainment on offer). However many striptease stars were able to work in other cities and, eventually, nightclubs.
The 1960s saw a revival of striptease in the form of topless
go-go dancing
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo located in Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was taken ...
. This eventually merged with the older tradition of burlesque dancing.
Carol Doda
Carol Ann Doda (August 29, 1937November 9, 2015) was an American topless dancer based in San Francisco, California, who was active from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was the first public topless dancer in the United States.
In 1964, Doda made ...
of the
Condor Night Club in the
North Beach section of San Francisco is given the credit of being the first
topless
Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness.
Expose ...
go-go dancer.
[''Nudity, Noise Pay Off in Bay Area Night Clubs'', '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', February 14, 1965, p. G5. The club opened in 1964 and Doda's première topless dance occurred on the evening of June 19 of that year.
[''California Solons May Bring End To Go-Go-Girl Shows In State'', '']Panama City News
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cost ...
'', September 15, 1969, p. 12A. The large lit sign in front of the club featured a picture of her with red lights on her breasts. The club went "bottomless" on September 3, 1969 and began the trend of explicit "full nudity" in American striptease dancing. which was picked up by other establishments such as Apartment A Go Go. San Francisco is also the location of the notorious Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre. Originally an X-rated movie theater this striptease club pioneered lap dancing in 1980, and was a major force in popularizing it in strip clubs on a nationwide and eventually worldwide basis.
[Lap Victory. How a DA's decision to drop prostitution](_blank)
charges against lap dancers will change the sexual culture of S.F. -- and, perhaps, the country.] ''SF Weekly'', 8 September 2004
British tradition
In Britain in the 1930s, when Laura Henderson began presenting nude shows at the Windmill Theatre, London, censorship regulations prohibited naked girls from moving while appearing on-stage. To get around the prohibition, the models appeared in stationary ''tableaux vivants''. The Windmill girls also toured other London and provincial theatres, sometimes using ingenious devices such as rotating ropes to move their bodies round, though strictly speaking, staying within the letter of the law by not moving of their own volition. Another example of the way the shows stayed within the law was the fan dance, in which a naked dancer's body was concealed by her fans and those of her attendants, until the end of her act in when she posed nude for a brief interval whilst standing still.
In 1942, Phyllis Dixey formed her own company of girls and rented the Whitehall Theatre in London to put on a review called The Whitehall Follies.
By the 1950s, touring striptease acts were used to attract audiences to the dying music halls. Arthur Fox started his touring shows in 1948 and Paul Raymond started his in 1951. Paul Raymond later leased the Doric Ballroom in Soho and opened his private members club, the Raymond Revuebar, in 1958. This was one of the first of the private striptease members clubs in Britain.
![Pole dancer 04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Pole_dancer_04.jpg)
In the 1960s, changes in the law brought about a boom of strip clubs in Soho with "fully nude" dancing and audience participation.
Pubs were also used as a venue, most particularly in the East End with a concentration of such venues in the district of Shoreditch. This pub striptease seems in the main to have evolved from topless go-go dancing.
Though often a target of local authority harassment, some of these pubs survive to the present day. An interesting custom in these pubs is that the strippers walk round and collect money from the customers in a beer jug before each individual performance. This custom appears to have originated in the late 1970s when topless go-go dancers first started collecting money from the audience as the fee for going "fully nude".
Private dances of a more raunchy nature are sometimes available in a separate area of the pub.
[
]
Japan
Striptease became popular in Japan after the end of World War II. When entrepreneur Shigeo Ozaki saw Gypsy Rose Lee perform, he started his own striptease revue in Tokyo's Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku neighborhood. During the 1950s, Japanese "strip shows" became more sexually explicit and less dance-oriented, until they were eventually simply live sex shows.
Today
Recently Pole dance, pole dancing has come to dominate the world of striptease. In the late 20th century, pole dancing was practised in exotic dance clubs in Canada. These clubs grew up to become a thriving sector of the economy. Canadian style pole dancing, Table dance, table dancing and Lap dance, lap dancing, organized by multi-national corporations such as Spearmint Rhino, was exported from North America to (among other countries) the United Kingdom, the nations of central Europe, Russia and Australia. In London, England a raft of such so-called "lap dancing clubs" grew up in the 1990s, featuring pole dancing on stage and private table dancing, though, despite media misrepresentation, Lap dance, lap-dancing in the sense of bodily contact was forbidden by law.
"Feature shows" are used to generate interest from potential customers who otherwise would not visit the establishment but know the performer from other outlets. A headlining star of a striptease show is referred to as a ''feature dancer'', and is often a performer with credits such as contest titles or appearances in adult films or magazines. The decades-old practice continued through the late 2000s (decade) to the present day with high-profile adult film performers such as Jenna Haze and Teagan Presley scheduling feature shows through the USA.
In December 2006, a Norway, Norwegian court ruled that striptease is an art form and made strip clubs exempt from value added tax.
New Burlesque
In the latter 1990s, a number of solo performers and dance groups emerged to create Neo-burlesque, a revival of the classic American burlesque striptease of the early half of the 20th century. New Burlesque focuses on dancing, costumes and entertainment (which may include comedy and singing) and generally eschews full nudity or toplessness. Some burlesquers of the past have become instructors and mentors to New Burlesque performers such as :fr:The Velvet Hammer Burlesque, The Velvet Hammer Burlesque and The World Famous Pontani Sisters. The pop group Pussycat Dolls began as a New Burlesque troupe.
Male strippers
Until the 1970s, strippers in Western cultures were almost invariably female, performing to male audiences. Since then, male strippers have also become common. Before the 1970s, dancers of both sexes appeared largely in underground clubs or as part of a theatre experience, but the practice eventually became common enough on its own. Well-known troupes of male strippers include Dreamboys in the UK and Chippendales in the US. Male strippers have become a popular option to have at a bachelorette party
A bachelorette party ( United States and Canada) or hen night ( UK, Ireland and Australia) is a party held for a woman (the bride or bride-to-be) who will soon be married. While Beth Montemurro concludes that the bachelorette party is modelled ...
.
Private dancing
A variation on striptease is private dancing, which often involves lap dance, lap dancing or contact dancing. Here the performers, in addition to stripping for tips, also offer "private dances" which involve more attention for individual audience members. Variations include private dances like table dance, table dancing where the performer dances on or by customer's table rather than the customer being seated in a couch.
Striptease and the law
From ancient times to the present day, striptease was considered a form of public nudity and subject to legal and cultural prohibitions on morality, moral and indecent exposure, decency grounds. Such restrictions have been embodied in venue licensing regulations, and national and local laws, including liquor licensing restrictions.
United States
Numerous U.S. jurisdictions have enacted laws regulating the striptease. One of the more notorious local ordinances is San Diego Municipal Code 33.3610, specific and strict in response to allegations of corruption among local officials which included contacts in the nude entertainment industry. Among its provisions is the "six-foot rule", copied by other municipalities, that requires that dancers maintain a distance while performing.
Other rules forbid "full nudity". In some parts of the U.S., laws forbid the exposure of female (though not male) nipples, which must be covered by pasties. In early 2010, the city of Detroit banned fully exposed breasts in its strip clubs, following the example of Houston, where a similar ordinance was implemented in 2008. The city council has since softened the rules, eliminating the requirement for pasties but keeping other restrictions. Both cities were reputed to have rampant occurrences of illicit activity linked to striptease establishments. For some jurisdictions, even certain postures can be considered "indecent" (such as spreading the legs).
United Kingdom
In Britain in the 1930s, when the Windmill Theatre, London, began to present nude shows, British law prohibited performers moving whilst in a state of nudity. To get around that rule, models appeared naked in stationary tableaux vivants. To keep within the law, sometimes devices were used which rotated the models without them moving themselves. Fan dances were another device used to keep performances within the law. These allowed a naked dancer's body to be concealed by her fans or those of her attendants, until the end of an act, when she posed naked for a brief interval whilst standing stock still, and the lights went out or the curtain dropped to allow her to leave the stage. Changes in the law in the 1960s brought about a boom of strip clubs in Soho, with "fully nude" dancing and audience participation. Following the introduction of the Policing and Crime Act 2009, a local authority licence is required for venues in England and Wales (and later Scotland) where live nude entertainment takes place more than 11 times a year.
Iceland
The legal status of striptease#National issues, legal status of striptease in Iceland was changed in 2010, when Iceland outlawed striptease. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Iceland's prime minister said: "The Nordic countries are leading the way on women's equality, recognizing women as equal citizens rather than commodities for sale." The politician behind the bill, Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, said: "It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold."
In popular culture
Film
1940s–1950s
Mary Martin reprised her famous fur coat striptease of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in the 1940 movie ''Love Thy Neighbor (1940 film), Love Thy Neighbor'' and the 1946 Cole Porter biopic ''Night and Day (1946 film), Night and Day''.
''Lady of Burlesque'' (known in the UK as ''Striptease Lady'') (1943) based on the novel ''The G-String Murders'' (1941), by famous striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, stars Barbara Stanwyck as a stripper who gets involved in the investigation of murders at a burlesque house. A play by Gypsy Rose Lee entitled ''The Naked Genius'' (1943) was the inspiration for ''Doll Face'' (1945), a musical about a burlesque star (Vivian Blaine) who wants to become a legitimate actress.
''Gilda'' (1946), showcases one of the most famous stripteases in cinematic history, performed by Rita Hayworth to "Put the Blame on Mame", though in the event she removes just her gloves, before the act is terminated by a jealous admirer. ''Murder at the Windmill'' (1949) (US title: ''Mystery at the Burlesque''), directed by Val Guest is set at the Windmill Theatre, London and features Diana Decker, Jon Pertwee and Jimmy Edwards. ''Salome (1953 film), Salome'' (1953) once again features Rita Hayworth doing a striptease act; this time as the famous biblical stripper Salome, performing the Dance of the Seven Veils. According to Hayworth's biographers this erotic dance routine was "the most demanding of her entire career", necessitating "endless takes and retakes". ''Expresso Bongo'' (1959) is a British film which features striptease at a club in Soho, London.
1960s–1970s
In 1960, the film ''Beat Girl'' cast Christopher Lee as a sleazy Soho strip club owner who gets stabbed to death by a stripper. ''Gypsy (1962 film), Gypsy'' (1962), features Natalie Wood as the famous burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee in her memorable rendition of "Let Me Entertain You (Gypsy), Let Me Entertain You". It was re-made for TV in 1993 Starring Bette Midler as Rose Thompson Hovick, Mama Rose and Cynthia Gibb as Gypsy Rose Lee. ''The Stripper'' (1963) featured Gypsy Rose Lee, herself, giving a trademark performance in the title role. A documentary film, ''Dawn in Piccadilly'', was produced in 1962 at the Windmill Theatre. In 1964, ''We Never Closed'' (British Movietone) depicted the last night of the Windmill Theatre. In 1965, the feature film ''Viva Maria!'' starred Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau as two girls who perform a striptease act and get involved in revolutionary politics in South America.
Also produced in 1965 was ''Carousella'', a documentary about Soho striptease artistes, directed by John Irvin. Another documentary film, which looked at the unglamorous side of striptease, is the 1966 film called,"Strip", filmed at the Phoenix Club in Soho.
''Secrets of a Windmill Girl'' (1966) featured Pauline Collins and April Wilding and was directed by Arnold L. Miller. The film has some fan dancing scenes danced by an ex-Windmill Theatre artiste. ''The Night They Raided Minsky's
''The Night They Raided Minsky's'' is a 1968 American musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. Based on the 1960 novel by Rowland Barber, it is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Mins ...
'' (1968) gives a possibly legendary account of the birth of striptease at Minsky's Burlesque theatre in New York. In 1968, the sci-fi film ''Barbarella (film), Barbarella'' depicted Jane Fonda stripping in zero-gravity conditions whilst wearing her spacesuit. ''Marlowe (1969 film), Marlowe'' (1969) stars Rita Moreno playing a stripper, in the finale of the movie simultaneously delivering dialogue with the title character and performing a vigorous dance on stage. The Beatles movie ''Magical Mystery Tour (film), Magical Mystery Tour'' has a scene where all the men on the tour bus go to a gentleman's club and watch a woman strip on stage.
''Ichijo's Wet Lust'' (1972), Japanese director Tatsumi Kumashiro's award-winning Roman Porno, ''Roman porno'' film featured the country's most famous stripper, Sayuri Ichijō, starring as herself. A British film production of 1976 is the film ''Get 'Em Off'', produced by Harold Baim. Alain Bernardin the owner of the Crazy Horse in Paris directed the film,"Crazy Horse de Paris" [1977]. ''Paul Raymond's Erotica'' (1981) stars Brigitte Lahaie and Diana Cochran and was directed by Brian Smedley-Aston. The Dance routines were filmed at the Raymond Revuebar Theatre.
1980s–1990s
In addition to lesser-known videos such as ''A Night at the Revuebar'' (1983), the 1980s also featured mainstream films involving stripping. These included ''Flashdance'' (1983), which told the story of blue-collar worker Alexandra (Alex) Owens (Jennifer Beals), who works as an exotic dancer in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bar at night and at a steel mill as a welder during the day. Stripping also was part of "genre" films, such as horror thriller ''Fear City'' (1984), by Abel Ferrara, about a mass-murderer who terrorizes dancers working at a seedy strip club in Times Square, New York City. The erotic drama ''9½ Weeks'' (1986) depicted Kim Basinger stripping to the tune of "You Can Leave Your Hat On" by Joe Cocker. ''Stripped to Kill'' (1987) was an exploitation film from Roger Corman about a lady cop who poses as a stripper to catch a murderer; which was followed by a sequel of the same name. ''Ladykillers (TV movie), Ladykillers'' (1988), was a 'whodunnit' murder mystery involving the murders of male strippers by an unknown female assailant. ''Blaze (1989 film), Blaze'' (1989) features Lolita Davidovitch as notorious stripper Blaze Starr. Starr herself appears in the film in a cameo role.
''Massive Attack : Eleven Promos. "Be Thankful For What You've Got"'' (1992), directed by Baillie Walsh, includes one dance routine by Ritzy Sparkle at the Raymond Revuebar Theatre. ''Exotica (film), Exotica'' (1994), directed by Atom Egoyan, is set in a Canadian lap-dance club, and portrays a man's (Bruce Greenwood) obsession with a student, schoolgirl stripper named Christina (Mia Kirshner). ''Showgirls'' (1995) was directed by Paul Verhoeven and starred Elizabeth Berkley and Gina Gershon. ''Striptease (film), Striptease'' (1996), was an adaptation of the novel starring Demi Moore.'' Barb Wire (1996 film), Barb Wire'' (1996), starred Pamela Anderson (of ''Baywatch'' fame), who performs a wet striptease. ''The Full Monty'' (1997) is a story of British ex-steel workers who form a Chippendales-style dance revue and decide to strip naked to make an extra buck. It featured songs including an updated version of David Rose (musician), David Rose's big hit The Stripper and Tom Jones (singer), Tom Jones's version of "You Can Leave Your Hat On". ''The Players Club'' (1998) starred LisaRaye as a girl who becomes a stripper to earn enough money to enter college and study journalism.
2000s–present
''Dancing at the Blue Iguana'' (2000) is a feature film starring Daryl Hannah. The female cast of the film researched the film by dancing at strip clubs and created their parts and their storylines to be as realistic as possible. ''The Raymond Revuebar the Art of Striptease'' (2002) is a documentary, directed by Simon Weitzman. ''Los Debutantes'' (2003) is a Chilean film set in a strip-club in Santiago, Chile, Santiago. In the ''Cradle 2 the Grave (2003 film), Cradle 2 the Grave'' a 2003 action film a woman named Daria, played by Gabrielle Union performs a striptease to distract a man named Odion, played by Michael Jace from the infiltration of a night club owned by a crime lord named Jump Chambers, played by Chi McBride. ''Portraits of a Naked Lady Dancer'' (2004) is a documentary, directed by Deborah Rowe. In ''Closer (2004 film), Closer'' (2004), Natalie Portman plays Alice, a young stripper just arrived in London from America. ''Crazy Horse Le Show'' (2004) features dance routines from the Crazy Horse, Paris. ''Mrs Henderson Presents'' (2005) portrays the erotic dance routines and nude tableau-vivants which featured at the Windmill Theatre before and during World War II. The film ''Factotum (film), Factotum'' (2005) (by Norwegian director Bent Hamer) concludes with Matt Dillon (in the role of Henry Chinaski - an alter ego of Charles Bukowski, who wrote the novel on which the film is based) having an artistic epiphany (feeling), epiphany whilst watching a stripper in a strip club. ''I Know Who Killed Me'' (2007) stars Lindsay Lohan as Dakota Moss, an alluring stripper involved in the machinations of a serial killer, and features a long striptease sequence at a strip club. ''Planet Terror'' (2007) stars Rose McGowan as Cherry Darling, a beautiful go-go dancer who aspires to quit her job. In 2009 a DVD called, "Crazy Horse Paris" featuring Dita Von Teese was released. ''Magic Mike'' (2012) features a male stripper Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) guiding a younger male stripper in his first steps into stripping in clubs.
Television
*BBC Panorama (1964) episode produced for the last night of the Windmill Theatre in 1964. Richard Dimbleby interviews Sheila van Damm.
*''Get Smart'' (1967) CONTROL scientist Dr. Steele also works as a stripper, with her lab located at the striptease theatre.
*"If it Moves it's Rude-The Story of the Windmill Theatre" (1969). A BBC television documentary on the Windmill Theatre.
*''For the Record: Paul Raymond'' (1969), the British stripclub owner Paul Raymond (publisher), Paul Raymond told his own story, on London Weekend Television, LWT.
*''Peek a Boo'' (1978), alternative name ''The One and Only Phyllis Dixey'', stars Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Murney, Michael Elphick, Elaine Paige and Patricia Hodge. Drama documentary on Phyllis Dixey.
*'''Allo 'Allo'' Helga frequently does a striptease in front of General Von Klinkerhoffen.
*''Neighbours'' (1985) The character of Daphne Clarke, Daphne is originally a stripper at Des's bucks party, and eventually goes on to marry him.
*''Married... with Children'' (1987–1997) often featured Al Bundy, Jefferson D'Arcy, and the NO MA'AM crew spending a night at the Nudie Bar.
*''Soho Stories'' (1996) BBC2. A series of 12 documentary programmes screened from October 28, 1996 to November 20, 1996. Some programmes featured the Raymond Revuebar Theatre.
*''Humor es...los comediantes'' (1999) Televisa. In her first appearance on this series, Aida Pierce portrayed her elderly alter ego, Virginola, who drinks a bottle of youth serum, and then performs a striptease, taking off her sweater, skirt, scarf, and even her wig, revealing a black sheer bodysuit and pants...and Pierce herself. Pierce began cohosting the series the next year.
*''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007). Business was often conducted at the Bada Bing strip club.
*''Normal, Ohio, Normal, Ohio (2000)''
*''Strip Search (TV series), Stripsearch'' (2001–), an ongoing Australian reality television show which centers around the training of male strippers.
*''Sex in the 70s-The King of Soho'' (2005), ITN. A television documentary on Paul Raymond.A longer version of the documentary was produced in 2008 after the death of Paul Raymond under the title,"Soho Sex King-The Paul Raymond Story".
* in ''Sos mi vida'' (2006), there were two striptease scenes which performed by Natalia Oreiro and Facundo Arana.
*''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (2007), In the two part season 6 finale titled ''Don't You Want Me'', Alex Nunez resorts to stripping after her mother and herself do not have enough money to pay the rent on their apartment.
*Various episodes of the ''Law & Order franchise, Law & Order'' series have the cast conducting interviews in strip clubs.
* ''True Stories: Best Undressed'' (2010) A documentary about the Miss Nude Australia Contest which is for dancers. Partly filmed from the Crazy Horse Revue, Adelaide, Australia. Screened 22-6-2010 on Channel 4.
*''Confessions of a Male Stripper'' (2013), The Dreamboys were featured in an hour-long documentary special on Channel 4 exploring the life of male strippers.
Theatre
*Mary Martin became a star with her fur coat striptease performances of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in Cole Porter's Broadway musical ''Leave It to Me!''[
*''The Full Monty (musical), The Full Monty'' (2000) is an Americanized stage adaptation of the 1997 British The Full Monty, film of the same name, in which a group of unemployed male steelworkers put together a strip act at a local club.
*''Jekyll & Hyde (musical), Jekyll and Hyde'' (1997). The character of Lucy Harris (originally portrayed by Linda Eder) works as a prostitute and stripper in a small London club called The Red Rat, where she meets a multi-dimension man named Doctor Henry Jekyll, who turns into his evil persona Mr. Edward Hyde. Lucy performs the song ‘Bring on the Men’ during a show at the Red Rat (which was later replaced with ‘Good ‘n’ Evil’ in the Broadway production, some claiming ‘Bring on the Men’ was too ‘risqué’.).
*''Ladies Night (play), Ladies Night'' is a New Zealand stage comedy about unemployed male workers who put on a strip show at a club as a way to raise some money. A version was also written for the United Kingdom. There are many parallels with ''The Full Monty'', although ''Ladies Night'' predates that film.
*''Barely Phyllis'' is a play about Phyllis Dixey which was first staged at the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield in 2009.
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See also
*Bubble dance
*American burlesque, Burlesque
*Cabaret
*Exhibitionism
*Erotic dance
*Fan dance
*Funeral strippers
*Go-Go dancing
*Gown-and-glove striptease
*Lap dance
* List of strip clubs
*List of strippers
*Pole dance
*Strip club
*Table dance
References
Further reading
* Toni Bentley, 2002. ''Sisters of Salome''.
*
* Arthur Fox, 1962. ''Striptease with the Lid Off''. Empso Ltd., Manchester.
* Arthur Fox, 1962. "Striptease Business". Empso Ltd., Manchester.
* Murray Goldstein, 2005. ''Naked Jungle - Soho Stripped Bare''. Silverback Press.
* Lucinda Jarrett, 1997. ''Stripping in Time: a history of erotic dancing''. Pandora (HarperCollins), London.
* Holly Knox, 1988. ''Sally Rand, From Films to Fans''. Maverick Publications, Bend, U.S.A. .
* Michelle Lamour, 2006. ''The Most Naked Woman''. Utopian Novelty Company, Chicago, Ill.
* Philip Purser and Jenny Wilkes, 1978. ''The One and Only Phyllis Dixey''. Futura Publications, London. .
* Roye, ''The Phyllis Dixey Album'' (The Spotlight on Beauty Series No. 3.) The Camera Studies Club, Elstree.
* Roye, 1942. ''Phyllis in Censorland''. The Camera Studies Club, London.
* Andy Saunders, 2004. ''Jane: a Pin Up at War''. Leo Cooper (publisher), Leo Cooper, Barnsley. . (Jane (Chrystabel Leighton-Porter) was a well known cartoon and photographic model. Jane was also a tableau model and appeared in theatres in Britain.)
* Rachel Shteir, 2004. ''Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show''. Oxford University Press.
* A. W. Stencell, 1999. ''Girl Show: Into the Canvas World of Bump and Grind''. ECW Press, Toronto, Canada. .
* Tempest Storm & Bill Boyd, 1987. ''Tempest Storm; The Lady is a Vamp''. Peacetree, U.S.A.
* Sheila van Damm, 1957. '' No Excuses''. Putnam, London
* Sheila van Damm, 1967. ''We Never Closed''. Robert Hale, London. .
* Vivian van Damm, 1952. ''Tonight and Every Night''. Stanley Paul, London.
* Antonio Vianovi, 2002. ''Lili St Cyr: Her Intimate Secrets: Profili Album''. Glamour Associated, Italy.
* Dita Von Teese, 2006. ''Burlesque and the Art of Striptease''. Regan Books, New York, NY.
* Paul Willetts, 2010 (August). ''Members Only: the Life and Times of Paul Raymond''. Serpent's Tail Ltd., London. .
* Richard Wortley, 1969. ''Skin Deep in Soho''. Jarrolds Publishers, London.
* Richard Wortley, 1976. ''The Pictorial History of Striptease''. Octopus Books, London. (Later edition by the Treasury Press, London. .)
External links
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{{Authority control
Burlesque
Erotic dance
Performing arts
Articles containing video clips