Editing G-string (section)

== History ==
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| alt2              = Man wearing a black G-string, seen from the rear
| caption2          = Man wearing a black G-string
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The G-string first appeared in costumes worn by showgirls in the United States in [[Earl Carroll]]'s productions during the 1920s,<ref>B. Foley, ''Undressed for Success: Beauty Contestants and Exotic Dancers as Merchants of Morality'', page 143, Springer, 2016, {{ISBN|9781137040893}}</ref> a period known as the [[Jazz Age]] or the [[Roaring Twenties]].<ref name="Shteir2004">{{cite book|first=Rachel |last=Shteir|title=Striptease:The Untold History of the Girlie Show|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mn48DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202|access-date=10 March 2013|date=1 November 2004|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-512750-8|page=202}}</ref> Before the [[Great Depression]] most performers made their own G-strings or bought them from traveling salesmen, but from the 1930s they were usually purchased from commercial manufacturers of [[burlesque]] costumes.{{sfnp|Shteir|2004|page=201}} During the 1930s, the "Chicago G-string" gained prominence when worn by performers like [[Margaret Hart Ferraro|Margie Hart]]. The Chicago area was the home of some of the largest manufacturers of G-strings and it also became the center of the burlesque shows in the United States.<ref name="Shteir2004"/> Early performers of color to wear a G-string on stage included the Latina [[stripper]] Chiquita Garcia in 1934, and "Princess Whitewing", a Native American stripper near the end of the decade.{{sfnp|Shteir|2004|page=205}}

The term ''G-string'' started to appear in [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'' magazine]] during the 1930s. In [[New York City]], G-strings were worn by female dancers at risqué [[Broadway theatre]] shows during the Jazz Age. During the 1930s and 1940s, the New York striptease shows in which G-strings were worn were described as "strong". In shows referred to as "weak" or "sweet" the stripper wore "net panties" instead. "Strong" shows usually took place only when the police were not present, and they became rarer after 1936 when [[Fiorello H. La Guardia]], the [[Mayor of New York City]], organized a series of police raids on burlesque shows<ref>{{cite book|first=Gypsy Rose|last=Lee|contributor-first=Rachel|contributor-last=Shteir|contribution=Afterword – Gypsy Rose Lee: "Striptease Intellectual"|title=The G-String Murders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeqMAgAAQBAJ|publisher=The Feminist Press at CUNY|year=2012|isbn=9781558617612}}</ref> and closed [[strip club]]s in the city for the first time in its history. The Mayor also banned [[showgirl]]s from performing fully nude at the [[1939 New York World's Fair]].<ref name=Guarnieri>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Who Gets to Wear G-Strings Now?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/style/g-string-thong-trend.html|first=Mya|last=Guarnieri|date=16 July 2023}}</ref> Showgirls sometimes wore flesh-coloured G-strings to give the illusion that they were completely naked.<ref>{{cite book|title=Showgirls of Las Vegas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDUoFbrnPxEC&pg=PA84|first=Lisa|last=Gioia-Acres|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|date=2013|isbn=9780738596532|page=84}}</ref>

The [[American burlesque]] entertainer [[Gypsy Rose Lee]] is popularly associated with the G-string.<ref name=Quinn>{{cite book|title=Mama Rose's Turn: The True Story of America's Most Notorious Stage Mother|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRacAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA239|author=Carolyn Quinn|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|year=2013|isbn=9781617038532|page=239}}</ref> Her [[striptease]] performances often included the wearing of a G-string; in a memoir written by her son Erik Lee Preminger she is described as gluing on a black lace G-string with [[spirit gum]] in preparation for a performance.<ref name=Preminger/>

By the late 1980s G-strings had become widely available in the [[Western world]], and they became increasingly popular during the 1990s.<ref name=Opiyo>{{cite book|title=Research on Gender and Sexualities in Africa|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9egvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA80|first=Valerie|last=Opiyo|chapter=The 'G-String' as a Space for Sexual and Political Imagination|editor1-first=Jane|editor1-last=Bennett|editor2-first=Tamale|editor2-last=Sylvia|publisher=Codesria|date=2017|isbn=9782869787124|pages=80–81}}</ref> Men's G-strings had developed from garments worn by [[physical culture]] and [[bodybuilding]] models,{{sfnp|Cole|2018|page=115}} and in 1994 a men's G-string was the best selling design of HOM, a luxury men's underwear brand owned by [[Triumph International]].<ref name=Cole/> Other underwear brands, such as [[Sloggi]] and [[Jockey International]], also introduced men's G-strings.{{sfnp|Cole|2018|page=109}} In Africa the G-string has become a fashionable item of clothing for young women, and they are often visible above the back of [[low-rise jeans]] as a [[whale tail]].<ref name=Opiyo/> As [[lingerie]] they are sometimes worn with a [[babydoll]].{{sfnp|Martin|Lehu|2009|page=360}}

In modern [[strip club]]s the strippers often wear G-strings and the customers often give them [[Gratuity|tip]]s by placing [[banknote]]s in their G-strings.<ref>{{cite book|title=Behind the G-String: An Exploration of the Stripper's Image, Her Person and Her Meaning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GH2FAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA9|first=David A.|last=Scott|publisher=McFarland Incorporated|date=2003|isbn=9780786418497|page=9}}</ref> The wearing of G-strings in strip clubs is required in some [[Jurisdiction (area)|jurisdiction]]s under laws that prohibit public nudity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Raw Judicial Power?: The Supreme Court and American Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-nBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA234|first=Robert J.|last=McKeever|publisher=Manchester University Press|date=1995|isbn=9780719048739|page=234}}</ref> Some regulations cover the design of G-string allowed. These regulations have in many cases been determined by liquor boards and can differ significantly over a short distance.<ref name=IH/> The constitutional legality of such regulations has been upheld in two cases by the [[US Supreme Court]], when it had to rule on whether [[First Amendment]] rights were being infringed.<ref name=Guarnieri/>

Disposable G-strings are sometimes worn for modesty when [[spray tan]] is being applied at a beauty salon.<ref>{{cite book|title=Professional Beauty Therapy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xENMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA657|page=657|first1=Lorraine|last1=Nordmann|first2=Andrea|last2=Day|publisher=Cengage AU|date=2017|isbn=9780170386272|version=Australia and New Zealand Edition}}</ref>