This is such an important question to ask. The significance is really even in asking the question. I’m proud to work in a professional community of artists that engages in rigorous dialogue around this question often.
As I define it, objectification is the act of treating a person as a thing, disregarding their dignity. It is disregard a person’s intellectual, emotional, and spiritual abilities. It is an act that minimizes agency and the voice of a person. I’m certainly not speaking for every burlesque artist on this matter. I can only speak for the work of Sinner Saint, my troupe. We believe our work does the opposite of objectify women...it re-humanizes women.
Our performances are designed to give voice to the multifaceted qualities, personalities, stories and experiences of women. Through embodied story-telling we challenge internalized oppression, and explore the range of experiences being human what has to offer. The key defining part is that we create empathy between ourselves and an audience. We reconnect the intellectual, emotional and spiritual self to the physical body.
It’s a common belief that burlesque is for the consumption of men. People believe that if we as women are performing a piece that is sensual, sexual, or in any way erotic in any fashion, that it is for the attention, acceptance and consumption of men. Again while I can’t speak for every performer, I know that for my troupe, for Sinner Saint, that is not true.
It is a rare thing to see an example or an archetype, of an actualized, embodied, woman full of agency. It is unusual to see that kind of vulnerability, pleasure, creativity and power presented through the female lens.
I believe the world can be a place where women are looked up to as business, political, community and spiritual leaders…and I believe that those women are also sexual creatures. They have the human right to be sexual beings - to be powerful, and to be credible at the same time.
The work I do with my art is an attempt to create prototypes of what that kind of woman looks like. I don't have those role models.
For me burlesque isn't about replicating a distorted ideal of 'sexy' and commodifying the female body. I want to inspire women to restore their wholeness and celebrate their femininity on their terms. I want to uncover and examine the stories about how women are allowed to express and experience their bodies, their desires, their pleasure and their erotic energy. Who is creating those stories, and for what purpose? Then I want to ask the big question: What stories it is going to take to reclaim our bodies, and our power?
Our performances are designed to give voice to the multifaceted qualities, personalities, stories and experiences of women. Through embodied story-telling we challenge internalized oppression, and explore the range of experiences being human what has to offer. The key defining part is that we create empathy between ourselves and an audience. We reconnect the intellectual, emotional and spiritual self to the physical body.
It’s a common belief that burlesque is for the consumption of men. People believe that if we as women are performing a piece that is sensual, sexual, or in any way erotic in any fashion, that it is for the attention, acceptance and consumption of men. Again while I can’t speak for every performer, I know that for my troupe, for Sinner Saint, that is not true.
It is a rare thing to see an example or an archetype, of an actualized, embodied, woman full of agency. It is unusual to see that kind of vulnerability, pleasure, creativity and power presented through the female lens.
I believe the world can be a place where women are looked up to as business, political, community and spiritual leaders…and I believe that those women are also sexual creatures. They have the human right to be sexual beings - to be powerful, and to be credible at the same time.
The work I do with my art is an attempt to create prototypes of what that kind of woman looks like. I don't have those role models.
For me burlesque isn't about replicating a distorted ideal of 'sexy' and commodifying the female body. I want to inspire women to restore their wholeness and celebrate their femininity on their terms. I want to uncover and examine the stories about how women are allowed to express and experience their bodies, their desires, their pleasure and their erotic energy. Who is creating those stories, and for what purpose? Then I want to ask the big question: What stories it is going to take to reclaim our bodies, and our power?
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