Glitterditch Debate: Is Burlesque just stripping?

Here's what the guys said:

"Burlesque is a fashion now. It's more glamour. It has much more history than standing on stage and getting your kit off."

"I think it's got a lot more to do with the clothes. It's all old fashioned where women were always supposed to be covered up, that's why when they show flesh with those kind of clothes on it's sexy. It's sexy because it's forbidden."

"It's not really done for men to just get off. It's entertainment and a visual show. If you wanted to just see tits, you wouldn't go to see a woman slowly get naked with the use of very large powder puffs or in a martini glass... well, maybe some guys do!?"

"Stripping is great!!!"

And the girls:

"It's not theatre. It's a dance form, if that. It's certainly not very high-brow. We've come to expect burlesque to be saucy, but really it should be a variety of performances not just tits and ass. That's what you go to a strip club for."

"It doesn't exploit women. Women have a choice to do this. We're not undoing all the hard work feminists have done. Feminism gave the women the choice to get on stage and take their clothes off in the first place."

"The fact that there is such a distinction between Burlesque and strip clubs shows that there are two types of audience. The fact that people are still searching for a distinction says that they're not happy or comfortable with a strip club."

So there you have it.

Don't leave things there. Tell us what you think. Is Glitterditch telling you about entertainment, or just about glorified strip clubs? Is it all OK just because there's nipple tassels? Have we ruined the feminist movement forever? Does it matter that the person who objected yesterday was male? Answers in the comments...

Flickr image from Mike Goat's photostream.