The Birth of Burlesque
In the middle to late 19th century, feminists such as Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mary Church Terrell were fighting for women's’ equality. In Susan B Anthony’s “Social Purity” 1875, she called for a “single moral standard for both sexes” and for women to be held to a higher standard (Anthony 85). Mary Church Terrell, president of the National Association of Colored Women, was an avid activist for women as well as civil rights. Later, Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger brought to light the lack of education about contraception and women’s rights to their bodies and proper medical care. At that same time, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg identified a “New Woman” in and began the discussion about homosexuality and the sexual and scientific discourse regarding it (Smith-Rosenberg 285). Earlier feminists like Susan B Anthony set the stage and more current activists like Carroll Smith-Rosenberg continued the resistance over the years against the new controversial form of dance known as Burlesque that hit the American stage for the first time in 1868.
In 1868, Lydia Thompson made her way from a successful career in Europe and Russia to New York City where she appeared on stage with her British Blondes. She was described a petite woman with dark blonde hair, a round face, blue eyes, and a long pointed nose. She was 32 years old at the time and had been on stage for about 16 years doing work in pantomimes and extravaganzas. Her troupes most famous first work was Ixion; best known for its mythological allusions and satire against upper class society. Her initial audience were middle class men and women received the performance publicly with adoration and obsession. This year initiated a shift in the theatrical world and created a radical transformation of the American theater as well as a divide between emerging social classes in society (Allen).
Works Cited:
Anthony, Susan B. "Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) "Social Purity" United States, 1875." The Essential Feminist Reader. New York: Modern Library, 2007. 85. Print.
Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America. New York: Oxford UP, 1875. 285. Print.
Allen, Robert Clyde. "Chapter 1: A Chronicle of Lydia Thompson’s First Season In America." Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina, 1991. Print.
