Gaze for Gays: Queer Burlesque and Why it’s Important to Split Hairs

Photo: Ms. Bea as Art Deco Goddess, Shot by David Silverman.

Lately, there’s been a lot of chatter on this national burlesque list I’m on about the identification of oneself as a “queer burlesque” performer. Mostly the debate has been about whether-or-not moments of identity politics–e.g. casting only queers in your queer burlesque productions –is”fair” to straight performers. Also, a lot of the talk on the part of (I would venture a guess) mostly straight performers has been about how burlesque is a “safe place” to be a queer.

I debate these things not. Although I do disagree with a lot of it–from personal experience with being asked to de-queer my acts, requests to have acts be less “political”, and being asked to perform for crowds of largely straight men–I’m not going to get into that here. A lot of what has remained unsaid on said list, about heterosexual privilege will stay unsaid. My homo readers who are on said list who read this blog know what I mean.

I am pretty angry about all of it, but most of that has to do with a fundamental lack of civil rights and the idea of the part of most straight people that that’s acceptable or that it’s already been resolved. “Wait? You don’t have the right to marry yet?” It doesn’t have to do with performing or burlesque at all. Just about rights.

OK, so what is queer burlesque? I will take an excerpt from my own self from three years ago. This was published in the A Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago in 2006…And I wrote it–nothing like quoting your own self from a few years prior:

“Queer burlesque is an offshoot of the neo-burlesque explosion that’s been happening all around the world for the last decade. In essence, it is a revival of vintage stripping. It’s an homage to the original peelers of days-gone-by and a reclaiming of women’s bodies of all types. It’s one part Bettie Page, one part go-go girl and one part queer theorist. Now, before you go all Andrea Dworkin on me, queer burlesque, by its very nature, frequently feature acts that both celebrate sexuality and impart a political message, like feminist body art of the 1970’s. (Anyone remember Carolee Schneemann? Anyone?)”

What I want to talk about today is the idea of queer burlesque: what it is and why it’s vitally important to me to have a space that’s identified as queer.

I firmly believe that women of all sizes, shapes, colors and ages have a right to perform onstage and be recognized as their sexy selves. On the face of that statement, I’m sure many people would agree with me “Oh, yes! Everyone has the right to be onstage. Of course!”. But when it comes right down to it, many producers will only cast one woman of color, only have one “heavier” performer in the cast, and won’t cast anyone who doesn’t look a certain way.

Now, I’m not saying that queer burlesque is a Shangri-La of acceptance, that my shows are always incredibly diverse or that there are not straight producers who are the exception. But I am saying that it is more likely in a queer context that one will have a producer who is 1) a woman and 2) an actual feminist who practices what she preaches. The lesbian community, in general, is less likely to be tied to youth worship and the beauty myth. Have a question about that? Attend the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and look around at who is naked (hint, it’s not just who society would deem “young and beautiful”).

There is also something extremely important to me about the audience at a queer show. What I think is revolutionary about a queer audience is the idea that the visual spectacle and the entertainment presented is for their consumption. (Consumption is the wrong word…But hang with me here).

In the “real world”, it is not usual for lesbians to have the ability to engage in the privilege of being able to be the initiator of the gaze. We are not allowed to look at whatever woman we please and appreciate their beauty. In the best cases, we are made to think that we are making other women “uncomfortable”; in the worst, we are looked upon as lesbian predators. And if my personal experience is any example of what most lesbians practice on a daily basis, I would say that we subdue and bury our desire, so we’re not perceived as a threat to other women.

Either way, being the activators of the gaze has been the sole domain of straight men. In a queer burlesque show, the script is flipped on the gaze. Women are allowed to look at women, express their pleasure, and are encouraged to cheer, clap and engage in the pleasure of the spectacle and the sensuality of the show before them. At a queer burlesque show, all of the women onstage are there for their visual pleasure. I would venture to say that there is something that is revolutionary about that for the average lesbian viewer.

When I was in grad school, it was interesting to me that when I mentioned the “gaze”, some older feminist professors poo-poo’d me. They seemed to think that we were “beyond it”–or at least they wished we would be. The traditional notion of the gaze is the idea that women have been (in art history) the subjects of art and not its creators. Hell, the Guerilla Girls were pushing this point in the 1980’s NYC art world when I was a teenager dreaming of the day when I could be a revolutionary artist. It’s been around for a while. But what I haven’t heard too much about (and perhaps it’s because I haven’t read a scholarly paper since I got my MFA) is the notion of privilege of gaze for gays. (Gaze for Gays! I love it.)

The last point about queer-burlesque-and-why-it’s-important-to me–and then I will step down from my soapbox–is that as a femme, I reserve the right to be as feminine and over-the-top as I wanna be. I find something extremely political and empowering about being a sparkly diva and being so gorgeous and sexy onstage that even the straight men drool–and then being in-your-face about denying straight men the fantasy of “having” me. I love the power dynamics of being able to deny privilege that is expected. And flipping the script on what lesbians are supposed to be. About being all that I am and saying, “Plus, I’m a big old queer.” It does something for femme visibility, it makes the usual into unusual and–to borrow from my feminism 101 professor–it breaks down the blocks in the wall of hegemony.

And I love that.

Burly Updates

(Photo: Ms. Bea Salutes the Future, Photo by Mystic Images Photography)

Wow. The burlesque and feminism post really struck a chord. (I just got a comment from the UK!) I wish I could think up heady topics to write about all the time, like writing something about burlesque and queerness or some gossip about the cattiness and unprofessionalism that exists here in my hometown, but I’m not sure I have it in me to do the former this morning and the latter, well, I’m trying to rise above. So I’m just gonna update.

Before I get into it, two things. One, I work up with the STRANGEST dream happening this AM. SWMNBN was having me and Special Lady T stay at her flat as her guests, we were friends and I was rushing to get my stuff together while her whole company was loading in furniture and costumes from a U-haul out front. Interesting.

Second, I finally identified the song lyrics that have been floating through my brain forever without knowledge of what they were from. I knew that the line wasn’t, “Hey, maybe I’ll buy some hair. Hey, maybe I’ll go somewhere.” (The buy some hair part was because I’ve been pricing wigs & extensions) but I could NOT remember what that was from. What was it from? Are you on the edge of your SEAT?

It’s from Hard Candy Christmas, from the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Why is this in my head? I know not.

Right now, I am working on (with my director and a really talented cast of performers) a revival of my show, The Girlie-Q Variety Hour. I’m pretty excited about this, because it was the first show I ever produced and we’re giving it new life in a theater space with a stage director and real costumes and everything. We have our first cast meeting tonight, a photo shoot tomorrow and first rehearsal on Thursday. And our director, Shifra, is my favorite lady ever. We really enjoy one another, she directed me in a play at Bailiwick back in the day, and I know she can help bring the vision to life (while sharing it and adding her own flair.)

It all represents some steps forward for this (still fledgling) company that I’ve built. It’s interesting, because until last summer it was very much like the shows were just something I did once in a while. And with a focus on taking myself more seriously for just a year–we’re about two weeks shy of the end of that period–to see what happens, things have become more and more clear for me.

What has become clear? Glad you asked!

It’s become clear to me that I have the desire to make this more than an avocation. It may take some time, but I’m on the road. It had become clear to me that the things I am working on in my day job have direct application to making myself a success in this arena, as well. These are life issues that will follow me no matter who I work for. And so I’m glad to have the chance to resolve them in a professional environment with a really supportive boss. (It would be hard to work on these things in the burlesque world. See above commentary that we’re avoiding talking about.)

And the other thing that has become clear is that I just need to focus on myself and my fellow performers and not worry about what other people are working on. It is hard to do, especially with so much cross-over of performers and temptations to gossip with certain ladies, but I need to work on not doing that, as well. The goal is to make Girlie-Q viable and lucrative for everyone who chooses to be involved, stay close to home with audience and community, and have a great time playing and performing and invoking glamour, while making people think.

Putting the femme back in feminism. Makes a nice new tagline, don’t it?

Burlesque Overload!

Images, top to bottom: Pride costumes, yours truly in performance (photo by Mystic Images), and beginning burlesque class (photo by Becca Heuer) at Design Dance.

This blog entry is cross-posted on on the new Girlie-Q website. So excited.

Whew. It has been quite a week!

I spent the first part of it working on costumes and the second part making the Girlie-Q website pretty. I’m pretty excited about the site in particular, because it’s been such a long time in coming. I wish I’d sat down and figured all of this out a year or two ago, but better later than never. Also this week, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a mobile computer device (aka the Gphone). I’m super excited because now I can shoot photos and post here right from my phone. Expect lots of updates from the L–and keep your eyes peeled (get it? peeled?) on the site for updates on the featured performers page and (probably next week or the week after) videos of people’s acts and more photos.

I’ve got a backlog of about six months worth of media to process, make pretty and post.

In other news, I am performing tonight in the Flesh Hungry Dog Show along with Cruel Valentine. It’s gonna be a fun night. (You should come out!) Gary Airedale always puts on such a cool show. (And there’s the added bonus of getting to be in the basement at Jackhammer for our dressing area, which I am not supposed to focus on…But it’s got a pummel horse and a swing. How can I not?) And I’m super excited to see our friend DJ Sky, who is also spinning at the queer prom on June 27!

Also this weekend, I am working on some promo for the prom and holding auditions for The Girlie-Q Variety Hour, which is the headlining burlesque show in the Naked July Festival at National Pastime Theater starting on July 3. Super psyched about that! We’re seeing a whole lot of amazing performers. I won’t give away who is auditioning, but watch this space for updates. It’s going to be an outstanding cast!

Sidenote: I was looking for the link to National Pastime Theater and in my search, I thought that they might have been npt2.org. Oh, how wrong I was. Ever heard of the National Network for Pulp and Paper Technology Training? Me neither, until this morning. In case you were wondering, their mission is to: “provide the pulp and paper sector of the United States forest products industry with a globally competitive, technologically advanced workforce and to give students and incumbent workers around the nation exciting and effective education and training opportunities.” Wow. The internet is a vast and fantastic place.

All righty. Gotta jump now.

xox,
Ms. Bea Haven
The Great Chicago Fire
Public Feminist #1

Relaxing, Finally.

Finally, a moment to catch my breath.

I had to give up one of my newer commitments today, because I was feeling really overloaded and stressed. And the end result was an evening to just sit down and relax, which was really needed this evening. I sat around, chitchatted on the phone with T, ordered myself a Pocket (I’m obsessed with Pockets), and watched a few hours of a re-run of a Top Model marathon.

Work-work is crazy bananas, so it was totally cool to have a night to chill.

Things are going really well. I was just accepted into Mondo Homo 2009, which is a queer performance and arts festival in Atlanta. I will get to travel with my work more–which has been a goal since I got my MFA. Super cool. I still have to negotiate the travel stipend, but I think it’s all gonna work out. Yeah!

Also, I have been working hard on my new Martini Time costume. I started this costume sewing class and we’re about halfway through and I lined and sewed the halter-top part of the dress on Saturday. Me and the teacher also started making the pattern for the bullet bra.

I need to really kick the sewing into high gear and start sewing when I’m not in class to make it happen by April 11 (the show for which I am sewing the costume) and get going on my video piece for it, but it’s gonna be so nice when it’s ready. The costume pieces are flashy and the colors are great on me. Can’t wait to unveil it all.

This past weekend was pretty amazing. As I mentioned, it kicked off with a really great show on Thursday night. On Friday, I just chilled with Special Lady T and MainGay and watched Battlestar Galactica and had some sushi from Indie Cafe, one of my favorite new places to order from.

On Saturday, I taught a killer class and then did a bachelorette party, teaching striptease to ten ladies, which was so much fun. After that, we went out with MainGay and Pastry Chef for a really nice dinner at this great Italian place and went back to T’s place (where some lovin’ was had. Incredibly hot lovin’, I might add). We then fell into bed, exhausted. Her cat, Gertrude (the cat’s actual name), was up all night serenading us and trampling on our heads, so we were extra tired.

Sunday–me and T got up early and packed for three hours before I went to costume class and then headed to the weekly salon Girlie-Q is running to rehearse with Special K. (We’re reviving our Walk Like a Camel act from five years ago for the Country show on April 9). I went to pick T back up after that and we packed some more.

The reality of moving in with T is really starting to sink in. It’s been a long time (maybe this is the first time ever) that I have felt so solid about someone and I’m truly grateful for her in my life. Details like changing my address and cancelling utilities and renting a storage space are making it all very real and vivid. And each time we speak on the phone or see each other, we’re just delighting in one another, laughing and appreciating our togetherness and coupledom.

It’s just blissful.

All right, time to get back to relaxing. Have a nice week, kids!

xox,
Ms. Bea Haven