The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics of the New Burlesque

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Bloomsbury Academic, 2008 - Performing Arts - 232 pages
If the burlesque stripper, with her bawdy spirit and unruly insubordination, has emerged for many as a new 'empowering' model for the sexually aware woman, then she also strikes horror in the heart of second wave feminism. Embodied by high profile artistes such as Dita von Teese and Catherine D'Lish, the explosive revival of striptease, burlesque and overt female sexual performance has proved no less alluring to a new generation of women artists familiar with the provocative work of 70's performance artists such as Hannah Wilke and Carolee Schneeman. Eloquent on 'prettiness' and power, desire and 'knowingness', money, sex and class, and with an extensive knowledge of burlesque's rich tradition, Willson raises long overdue questions about women's erotic expression within a 'postfeminist' condition. The 'new burlesque' demands above all a response - this fresh, brazen, provocative book at last provides it.

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Contents

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1
Burlesque
17
Body as Spectacle
49
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Jacki Willson is Visiting Lecturer at Nottingham University and Lecturer at South Nottingham College. She is also a practising artist.

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