A few thoughts and observations on striptease not only as a "well-known rite" (R. Barthes, Striptease, in 'Mythologies', Cape 1972) but also a foundation of the work which this very blog documents. Why has the element of tease all but disappeared from the bulk of adult material - or, am I simply looking in the wrong place?
Modern hard porn tends to skip what I always call the most
interesting part of any scene or sequence – whereby the female actor engages
the viewer (whether alone or with others in the scene) from a passive to an
active state, of expectation and growing arousal, that something will soon
happen: the most obvious illustration being the classic (and now almost
extinct) artform of striptease*. Building tension by gradual revelation and
seduction, a process of unveiling whose potency was known to the ancients but
which has recently been discarded for today’s jumpy generations to simply ‘get
stuck in’ without any build-up, tease or visual ‘foreplay’. It’s adult visual
fast-food now, as compared to a five-course meal, which might be balanced out
with specific ingredients, each satisfying in itself but building to an overall
(and of course thoroughly expected) conclusion. The return of the burlesque
form in recent years has gone some way towards restoring some of this classical
tradition, but interestingly it is often women (in my experience), as much as
men, who buy into this as viewers/voyeurs of the performers – who have
found a means to empower themselves, to present their bodies in ways they find
positive and meaningful, and to enjoy sharing the experience of doing so. I
have the sneaking feeling that modern burlesque audiences may be more
gender-diverse than traditional adult live entertainment for this reason, that
burlesque’s gradual repackaging as an empowering, feminist action where the
performer is in total control has enticed viewers who enjoy seeing this kind of
naked emancipation. The queer aspect of early cabaret has perhaps managed to
come full circle here, and I’ve seen the same kind of performances presented
very well at drag shows and in LGBTQIA+ venues, by all genders, but most
tellingly perhaps, quite often by males, too: therein, queer men or ‘pretty
boys’ appropriate the biological woman’s potential for their audiences (again,
of mixed gender) and are more than capable of holding viewers’ attention with
tried-and-tested techniques of traditional (perhaps even clichéd) seduction.
On a practical and personal performance level, my last (to date) public stage appearance was in November 2019, as part of a variety bill of final year undergrad performance artists, staged at a venue well-known for its drag shows and support of the LGBTQIA+ community. I opened the night with a lip-sync ofthe ‘Cabaret’ standard ‘Mein Herr’, which was “sexed-up” to the limits of the original Liza Minelli movie performance – two other acts later in the night, both relevant to this discussion, included the organizer herself, who did an ‘aerobic dancing’ routine, and another classmate who pulled off (literally) a traditional burlesque striptease – as part of her project celebrating female pubic hair and promoting its positive profile, an act which brought the house down. And as very well-received as my turn was, I was also glad I didn’t have to follow either of my colleagues – that might have inspired me to inject some additional, unwanted and unrequired, level of eroticism into the performance. I had already planned part of the routine to take me off the stage and into the audience, for an up-close-and-personal moment of teasing. This was directly influenced by the performances of British pub strippers who would mingle with the drinking crowd, chatting to the audience and even inviting them to get ‘hands-on’ to help with garment removal (habits well-documented in a couple of the 1980s ‘Stripper of the Year’ VHS tapes I used to own), my way of referencing the early influences upon my own meandering and still rather retro path through adult entertainment.
*I’ve noted this tendency both in hardcore scenes and short films (and even in longer movies), as well as the latter-day bastardization of striptease in what’s termed ‘pole-dancing’: the heroine spends almost no time disrobing, seducing or deliberately enticing the (anticipated, if not obligatory) male gaze, or otherwise demonstrating her erotic power and control of the scene; but, in film, the scenes often cut from her fully or mostly-clothed, to already stripped and in the act of being fucked (subjugated), thereby lowering her status and diminishing her power and control, often through persistent and lingering close-ups, being ultimately reduced to a predictable series of orifices to be penetrated (vagina, anus, mouth – often in that general order). Pole-dancing performers often choose to get rid of their costumes well before the half-way mark, spending most of the time exhibiting athletic prowess in gynaecological detail rather than delivering the rewards of patient appreciation. The gaze is not manipulated, toyed with, in these examples, but delivers everything on a plate, thereby actually weakening the performer’s potential for sexual arousal: that which is gained too easily is often not very much appreciated (or not as much as it would be if some effort was required). Men of a certain vintage may recall how more interesting the softcore women within the pages of a bravely-won or illicitly-smuggled magazine turned out to be, back in the old ‘top shelf/under the counter’ days, when compared with the almost infinite quantity of freely-available examples on the contemporary Internet. They may have had staples through their bellies, but I think their power was far more potent, their representations far less disposable.
There now follows my own tribute to the traditional artform...
