Editing Striptease (section)

==History==
[[Image:1720 Der spanische teutsche und niederlaendische Krieg p238.png|thumb|upright|A 1720 depiction of a striptease<ref>Image from ''Der spanische, teutsche, und niederländische Krieg oder: des Marquis von ... curieuser Lebens-Lauff'', vol. 2 (Franckfurt/ Leipzig, 1720), p.238</ref>]]
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.<ref>{{cite news|title=First known use of striptease 1932|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/striptease|publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]}}</ref>

There is a stripping aspect in the ancient Sumerian myth of the descent of the goddess [[Inanna]] 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]] abounded. Some believe this myth was embodied in the [[dance of the seven veils]] of [[Salome]], who danced for [[Herod Antipas|King Herod]], as mentioned in the [[New Testament]] 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]]'s play ''[[Salome (play)|Salome]]'', in 1893.

In ancient Greece, the lawgiver [[Solon]] 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.<ref name="Zaplin 1998">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNM_xibHGIsC&q=Solon+greece+auletrides&pg=PA351|title=Female offenders: critical perspectives and effective interventions |year=1998 |publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning |isbn= 978-0-8342-0895-7 |last1=Zaplin |first1=Ruth |page=351 }}</ref><ref name="Jeffreys 2009">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9U7Eqp8NigC&q=uk+strip+club+revenues&pg=PA90|title=The industrial vagina: the political economy of the global sex trade |year=2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn= 978-0-415-41233-9 |last1=Jeffreys |first1=Sheila |pages=86–106 }}</ref><ref name="Bassermann 1968">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQiLAAAAIAAJ&q=auletrides|title=The oldest profession: a history of prostitution |year=1968 |publisher=Stein and Day |isbn= 978-0-450-00234-2 |last1=Baasermann |first1=Lugo |pages=7–9 }}</ref> In [[ancient Rome]], dance featuring stripping was part of the entertainments ''([[ludi]])'' at the [[Floralia]], an April festival in honor of the [[Flora (mythology)|goddess Flora]].<ref>As described by [[Ovid]], ''Fasti'' 4.133ff.; [[Juvenal]], ''Satire'' 6.250–251; [[Lactantius]], ''Divine Institutes'' 20.6; Phyllis Culham, "Women in the Roman Republic," in ''The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 144; Christopher H. Hallett, ''The Roman Nude: Heroic Portrait Statuary 200 B.C.–A.D. 300'' (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 84.</ref> Empress [[Theodora (6th century)|Theodora]], wife of 6th-century Byzantine emperor [[Justinian]] 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]].<ref name="Evans 2003">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8T9TJwcs_20C&q=striptease&pg=PA15|title=The Empress Theodora: Partner of Justinian |year=2003 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn= 978-0-292-70270-7 |last1=Evans |first1=James Allan|page=15 }}</ref> From these accounts, it appears that the practice was hardly exceptional nor new. It was, however, actively opposed by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Christian Church]], 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 drama|Restoration]]. A striptease was incorporated into the [[Restoration comedy]] ''[[The Rover (play)|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]]'s comedy ''[[The Soldier's Fortune]]'' (1681), where a character says: "Be sure they be lewd, drunken, ''stripping'' whores".<ref>Robert Hendrickson (1997) ''QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins''. New York, Facts on File, Inc: 227</ref>

Striptease became standard fare in the [[brothel]]s of 18th century [[London]], where the women, called "posture girls", would strip naked on tables for popular entertainment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.strip-magazine.com/shocking-history-striptease|title=The Shocking History of striptease|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816205447/http://strip-magazine.com/shocking-history-striptease|archive-date=2013-08-16}}</ref>

[[File:La Fontaine - Tales and Novels in verse - v2 p130.jpg|thumb|left|upright|La Fontaine plate, 1896]]
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:

<blockquote>The dancers, to please their lovers the more, dropped their clothes and danced totally naked the nicest [[Entree (ballet)|entrées]] and [[ballet]]s; one of the princes directed the delightful music, and only the lovers were allowed to watch the performances.<ref>The German text reads "Die Tänzerinnen, um ihren Amant desto besser zu gefallen, zohen ihre Kleider ab, und tantzten gantz nackend die schönsten Entrèen und Ballets; einer von den Printzen dirigirte dann diese entzückende Music, und stunde die Schaubühne niemand als diesen Verliebten offen.", ''Der spanische, teutsche, und niederländische Krieg oder: des Marquis von ... curieuser Lebens-Lauff'', Bd. 2 (Franckfurt/ Leipzig, 1720), S.238, recapitulated in Olaf Simons, ''Marteaus Europa oder der Roman, bevor er Literatur wurde'' (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001), pp.617–635.</ref></blockquote>

An [[Arabs|Arabic]] custom, first noted by French colonialists and described by the French novelist [[Gustave Flaubert]] may have influenced the French striptease. The dances of the [[Ghawazee]] in North Africa and [[Egypt]] consisted of the erotic [[dance of the bee]] performed by a woman known as [[Kuchuk Hanem]]. 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.<ref name="Parramore 2008">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsMgC7uXLXIC&q=dance+of+the+bee+performed+by+a+woman+known+as+Kuchuk+Hanem&pg=PA132|title=Reading the Sphinx: Ancient Egypt in Nineteenth-Century Literary Culture |year=2008 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn= 978-0-230-60328-8 |last1=Parramore |first1=Lynn |page=132 }}</ref> [[Middle Eastern]] [[belly dance]], also known as oriental dancing, was popularized in the United States after its introduction on the [[Midway (fair)|Midway]] at the [[World's Columbian Exposition|1893 World's Fair]] in [[Chicago]] by a dancer known as [[Little Egypt (dancer)|Little Egypt]].<ref name="Carlton 1994">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FkgUAQAAIAAJ&q=midway|title=Looking for Little Egypt |year=1994 |publisher=IDD Books |isbn= 978-0-9623998-1-7 |last1=Carlton |first1=Donna |page=14 }}</ref>

Some claim the origin of the modern striptease lies in [[Oscar Wilde]]'s play ''[[Salome (play)]]'', in 1893. In the [[Dance of the Seven Veils]], the female protagonist dances for [[Herod the Great|King Herod]] and slowly removes her veils until she lies naked.<ref>Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome'': 31</ref> After Wilde's play and [[Richard Strauss]]'s [[Salome (opera)|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 [[American burlesque|burlesque]]. A famous early practitioner was [[Maud Allan]], who in 1907 gave a private performance for King [[Edward VII]].

===French tradition===
[[File:Mata Hari 15.jpg|thumb|[[Mata Hari]]. The most celebrated segment of her stage act was the progressive shedding of her clothing until she wore just a jeweled [[bra]] and some ornaments over her arms and head.]]
In the 1880s and 1890s, [[Paris]]ian shows such as the [[Moulin Rouge]] and [[Folies Bergère]] were featuring attractive scantily clad women dancing and ''[[Tableau vivant|tableaux vivants]]''. In this environment, an act in the 1890s featured a woman who slowly removed her clothes in a vain search for a [[flea]] crawling on her body. ''[[The People's Almanac]]'' credits the act as the origin of modern striptease.

In 1905, the notorious Dutch dancer [[Mata Hari]], 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hari/5.html|website=www.crimelibrary.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210044610/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hari/5.html|archive-date=10 February 2015|title=Mata Hari is Born|author=Denise Noe|access-date=2 August 2017}}</ref> The most celebrated segment of her act was her progressive shedding of clothing until she wore just a jeweled [[bra]] and some ornaments over her arms and head but exposing her pubic region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldofbiography.com/9241-Mata%20Hari/life6.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129025342/http://www.worldofbiography.com/9241-Mata%20Hari/life6.htm|archive-date=29 November 2010|title=Mata Hari: The Solitary Life & The Enchantress|website=World of Biography}}</ref> 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]] danced topless in the ''danse sauvage'' at the Folies, and other such performances were provided at the [[Bal Tabarin (Paris)|Tabarin]]. These shows were notable for their sophisticated choreography and often featuring the women in glitzy sequins and feathers. In his 1957 book ''[[Mythologies (book)|Mythologies]]'', [[semiotics|semiotician]] [[Roland Barthes]] interpreted this Parisian striptease as a "mystifying spectacle", a "reassuring ritual" where "evil is advertised the better to impede and exorcise it".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19970728155604/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/strip.html Striptease], in ''Mythologies'' by Roland Barthes, translated by Annette Lavers. Hill and Wang, bar New York, 1984</ref> By the 1960s "fully nude" shows were provided at such places as [[Crazy Horse (cabaret)|Le Crazy Horse Saloon]].<ref>Richard Wortley (1976) ''A Pictorial History of Striptease'': 29-53</ref>
[[File:BrunetteStagFilm.ogv|thumb|A video of a woman gradually undressing herself]]

===American tradition===
[[File:Trapeze Disrobing Act (1901).webm|thumb|upright=1.25|thumbtime=1|left|[[Charmion]] in her disrobing act, 1901]]
In the United States, striptease started in [[traveling carnival]]s and [[American burlesque|burlesque]] theatres, and featured famous strippers such as [[Gypsy Rose Lee]] and [[Sally Rand]]. The 1893 "[[World's Columbian Exposition]]" in Chicago, Illinois would result in Sal Bloom making large sums of money off of "hoochie-coochie" exotic dance shows which bore resemblance to striptease acts.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKzbHAAACAAJ | title=Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show | isbn=978-0-19-530076-5 | last1=Shteir | first1=Rachel | date=2004 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://chicagoreader.com/blogs/the-origins-of-the-striptease-and-burlesque/ | title=The origins of the striptease and burlesque | date=10 May 2012 }}</ref> The [[vaudeville]] [[trapeze artist]] [[Charmion]] performed a "disrobing" act onstage as early as 1896, which was captured in the 1901 [[Thomas Edison|Edison]] film ''Trapeze Disrobing Act''.  Another milestone for modern American striptease is the possibly legendary show at [[Minsky's Burlesque]] in April 1925 that inspired the novel and film ''[[The Night They Raided Minsky's]]''. Another performer, [[Hinda Wassau]], claimed to have inadvertently invented the striptease in 1928 when her costume was shaken loose during a [[shimmy]] 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]]s" (named after the bump 'n grind entertainment on offer).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newvictory.org/newvicMain.m |title=The New Victory Cinema |publisher=Newvictory.org |date=1995-12-11 |access-date=2012-08-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722001058/http://www.newvictory.org/newvicMain.m |archive-date=2012-07-22 }}</ref> 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]]. This eventually merged with the older tradition of burlesque dancing. [[Carol Doda]] of the [[Condor Club|Condor Night Club]] in the [[North Beach, San Francisco, California|North Beach]] section of San Francisco is given the credit of being the first [[Toplessness|topless]] go-go dancer.<ref name=club>"Nudity, Noise Pay Off in Bay Area Night Clubs", ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', February 14, 1965, p. G5.</ref> The club opened in 1964 and Doda's première topless dance occurred on the evening of June 19 of that year.<ref name="hole">''California Solons May Bring End To Go-Go-Girl Shows In State'', ''[[Panama City News]]'', September 15, 1969, p. 12A.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url= http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-22039191_ITM|title=Naked Profits.|access-date=2007-07-30|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]| date=July 12, 2004}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/1964?cat=technology |title=1964 |website=[[Answers.com]] |access-date=2007-07-30 }}</ref> which was picked up by other establishments such as [[Apartment A Go Go]].<ref>''Arguments Heard On Nude Dancing'', [[Los Angeles Times]], April 16, 1969, p. C1.</ref> 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.<ref name="sfweekly">[http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2004-09-08/news/feature.html Lap Victory. How a DA's decision to drop prostitution charges against lap dancers will change the sexual culture of S.F. -- and, perhaps, the country.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406021322/http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2004-09-08/news/feature.html |date=2009-04-06 }} ''[[SF Weekly]]'', 8 September 2004</ref>

===British tradition===
[[Image:Windmill-Theatre.jpg|thumb|The [[Windmill Theatre]] in 2009]]

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''.<ref>Vivien Goldsmith, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3648187/Windmill-always-nude-but-never-rude.html "Windmill: always nude but never rude"], ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', 24 November 2005</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://islingtontribune.com/article/windmill-girls-meet-for-reunion-and-remember-dancing-days-in-old-soho|title=Windmill Girls meet for reunion and remember dancing days in old Soho|website=Islington Tribune}}</ref>  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.

{{multiple image
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| image1            = Pole dancer 04.jpg
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| footer            = A stripper before taking off all her clothing (left) and afterwards dancing fully naked except for shoes (right)
}}

In the 1960s, changes in the law brought about a boom of strip clubs in Soho with "fully nude" dancing and audience participation.<ref name="Murray Goldstein 2005">{{cite book|first=Murray|last=Goldstein|year=2005|title=Naked Jungle: Soho Stripped Bare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ToqAAAACAAJ|publisher=Silverback Press|isbn=9780954944407}}</ref> 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.<ref name="It Started With Theresa">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jivMPoquDfAC&q=Bill+Martland |title=It Started With Theresa |date= March 2006|access-date=2012-08-01|isbn=9781411651784 |last1=Martland |first1=Bill |publisher=Lulu Enterprises Incorporated }}</ref> 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".<ref name="It Started With Theresa"/> Private dances of a more raunchy nature are sometimes available in a separate area of the pub.<ref name=Clifton/>

===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 show]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shteir|first=Rachel|title=Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show|url=https://archive.org/details/stripteaseuntold0000shte|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/stripteaseuntold0000shte/page/264 264]|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-512750-8}}</ref>