Standards of Beauty in Burlesque

When burlesque began in the mid- to late-nineteenth century, standards of female beauty were very different than they are today. It has often been remarked that, by modern standards, Lydia Thompson and the rest of the British Blondes were hardly great beauties. At the time, though, rumors circulated about men willing to kill themselves in a fit of lustful obsession after seeing one of Thompson’s shows. True or not, these types of stories put performers on pedestals as sought-after erotic objects, prime examples of feminine beauty.

Burlesque has always placed a great deal of emphasis on created, artificial beauty, from the Blondes’ bleached platinum hair, to the heavy use of cosmetics, to the body-modifying effects of the corset. Female burlesquers in some ways performed an exaggerated version of femininity, simultaneously promoting the outward markers of female nature (hair, clothing, makeup, etc.) while revealing their constructedness.

Burlesque has also, throughout its history, been notably tolerant of a variety of body types. At a time when the ideal female form was skewing skinnier and skinnier (thanks in no small part to Flo Ziegfeld’s popularization of the slim, sexually contained All-American Follies Girl), there were several burlesque troupes and performers who prided themselves on their curvy physiques. Performer May Howard famously proclaimed that she would not hire any woman who weighed less than 150 pounds for her shows, while Billy Watson’s Beef Trust troupe boasted of its assemblage of 200-pound beauties.

The popular image of the burlesque performer was a large, tall woman, so powerfully-built that she was practically Amazonian. Publicity for burlesque shows took advantage of this association, with posters depicting voluptuous, statuesque performers in the roles of military officers, charioteers, or even literal Amazon warriors. This dominant female figure was fascinating and tantalizing, but like most aspects of burlesque, also a bit threatening. Men loved to watch burlesque performers, but at the same time, they were afraid that her feminine power was too dynamic to stay safely confined to the stage. In an era when women all over America were actively agitating for increased freedoms and legal rights, this was a very relevant concern.