Burlesque in crisis: Hanging on by a g-string

That is a very long article that I merely scanned. But I have been to a burlesque show recently in my country -- not the US or Europe.

I was in a very conservative region and city of my country and it was my first show. I was very scared because it was evident it was one of those shows where the audience is supposed to participate and all I wanted was to be left alone, and I was with people that knew the performers and I might be singled out because of that. It went fine.

What I did notice was a strong aspect of body positivity and female empowerment. One of the performers was a very big, very naked woman.

While there was clearly some "regular men" on the audience that were there for titillation and exoticness, they were entirely respectful to the performers. The show was largely targeted towards women and the LGBT community, and there was a wholesome atmosphere in interesting contrast to the nakedness of it all. In one act, my favorite, a beautiful woman with a horse mask danced provocatively while wearing a dildo panty. It was oddly liberating seeing a young woman possess and dominate the simile of a man's genitalia. Other acts where more traditional in nature, always with a progressive/comedic twist.

My take is that burlesque will make sense wherever nudity and eroticism still has the power to shock and reveal something about society. So maybe it doesn't make a lot of sense in very progressive environments, or places where the human body is generally more exposed (such as beach towns). But it still has transformative power wherever the human body is mostly hidden and the minds generally repressed.