Spectacles of Agency and Desire: Dance Histories and the Burlesque Stage Main Menu

Policed Pleasure

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Pleasure is celebrated, but also policed.  In 20th-century burlesque films and the strip teases, we see embodied and performed pleasure, but only to a certain extent.  We must question how much pleasure we are faced with versus what we are withheld from. In mainstream 20th century burlesque, the acts and scenes end, and thus the pleasure ends without necessarily reaching a climax.  We cannot neglect this “scene cut” as coincidental; female pleasure is censored in the mainstream.
 
Less censorship exists surrounding pleasure when pleasure means enjoyment and fun.  In burlesque acts, we see women laughing, dancing wildly, and engaging in what appears to be pure fun.  But when pleasure means eroticism, the censorship heightens.  In 20th century burlesque films and stripteases, we never see the burlesque dancer orgasm, even though she may appear to be sexually pleasuring herself for quite some time.  In fact, we do not hear her vocalize her pleasure in anyway, especially in the stripping films, as these films were most often filmed without sound, (applause and music were added in post-production) (Schaefer 49).  This lack of sound is reminiscent of the voicelessness that Robert Allen, one of the leading scholars of Burlesque, articulates as the epitome of the lack of power that the burlesque dancer beholds (Allen).
 
In contemporary media, we see censorship of female pleasure manifest in many ways.  Take Kimberly Peirce’s (a renowned director) film, Boys Don’t Cry: the length of Lara’s orgasm caused the film to initially be rated NC17, and thus the studio would not release the film.  When Peirce inquired about why her film received such a rating, she learned that Lana’s orgasm was “too long.”  Pierce explains that in a world where most films are shot, cut, and directed by men, and thus portray the male experience, people are afraid of female pleasure.  Peirce explains: “I think female pleasure is unnatural, I think female pleasure is scary in the, kind of, narrative setting” (This Film Is Not Yet Rated). The policing of female pleasure further exemplifies how with pleasure comes power.  In patriarchy, where the hegemonic norm (white, straight, cisgender, upper-class men) attempts to maintain their position in the power hierarchy, we can see how policing female pleasure would work towards their advantage.
 
Works Cited:

This Film Is Not Yet Rated. Dir: Kirby Dick. BBC Films, 2006. Film.

Schaefer, Eric. “The Obscene Seen: Spectacle and Transgression in Postwar Burlesque Films.” Cinema Journal 36.2 (1997): 41–66. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

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  1. Pleasure in Burlesque: Power in the Erotic and Presence Harmony Bench

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  1. Lilianna Kane Lilianna Kane
  2. Empowering or Demeaning? Rachel Sigrid Freeburg
  3. The Policing of Burlesque Rachel Sigrid Freeburg