The Striptease Origins

If you are interested in seeing female strippers in Chicago, it is a grand idea if you want to have a good time with all your friends. Whether you are looking for female strippers for a chicago bachelor party or male strippers for a bachelorette party, there are plenty of Chicago strippers available. If you enjoy strip clubs, you are probably curious as to where these strippers derived from and how and why they do what they do.

The women performing these exotic dances did not do so in an indigenous context, when they first began. At first, they were just responding to the commercial climate for this type of adult entertainment. Middle Eastern belly dance, also known as Oriental Dancing, was popularized in the US after its introduction on the Midway at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago by an exotic dancer known as Little Egypt. American strip tease nurtured its roots in carnivals and Burlesque theatres. The art and business enjoyed prosperity as the United States economy grew out of the depression of the 1930's through the fifties. In the sixties and seventies, with changing cultural expressions of sexuality, it declined in profitability and status. In the eighties and technology boom of the nineties, those in the profession enjoyed better acceptance and better working conditions.

A Norwegian court ruled that striptease is an art form and made strip clubs exempt from value added tax. The People's Almanac credited the origin of striptease as we know it in 1890s Paris, in which a woman slowly removed her clothes in a vain search for a flea crawling on her body. Striptease enjoyed a revival with the advent of burlesque theatre, with famous strippers such as Gypsy Rose Lee. In 1940, H. L. Mencken coined the term ecdysiast as a euphemism for strippers. This derives from the Greek ekdusis, which means, "to molt." In the 20th century, the exotic dance club grew to become thriving sector of the Canadian economy. In the late 1990s, a number of performers and dance groups have emerged to create New Burlesque, a revival of the classic burlesque of the early half of the twentieth century.

New Chicago Burlesque focuses on dancing, costumes and adult entertainment, which may include comedy and singing, and eschews full nudity or toplessness. Some burlesquers of the past have become instructors and mentors to New Burlesque performers such as Velvet Hammer and the Pontani Sisters. The pop group Pussycat Dolls began as a New Burlesque troupe.

Until the 1970s, strippers were almost invariably female, performing to male audiences. Since then, male strippers, performing to female audiences, have also become common. Male and female strippers also perform for gay and lesbian audiences respectively, as well as for both sexes in pansexual contexts. Before the 1970s, dancers of both genders appeared largely in underground clubs or as part of a theatre experience, but the practice eventually became common enough on its own.

Visits by women to shows and clubs featuring male strippers, usually as a group for an activity such as a bachelorette party, have now become part of mainstream culture in Western countries. Unlike the enforced sedate atmosphere at clubs featuring chicago female exotic dancers for male audiences, the female audience for male strippers is very vocal, rowdy, and even aggressive.

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