After doing a show on women in burlesque last week, I announced I was going to research vintage male strippers and burlesque performers for this week. I knew it would be challenging. I didn't realize it would be impossible.
According to Wiki,
Until the 1970s, strippers in Western cultures 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 sexes appeared largely in underground clubs or as part of a theatre experience.
Link.
This surprised me, since striptease itself has a long history.
As Wiki notes,
The term 'striptease' was first recorded in 1938, though 'stripping', in the sense of women removing clothing to sexually stimulate men, seems to go back at least 400 years.
Stripteases have been known in some form in most cultures, from ancient Babylon and Egypt, to those of today.....
Clearly, there have always been male erotic performers of one kind or another. They existed in every culture where gay and bisexual men with money could hire or force other men to entertain them, which is to say that they've existed throughout human civilization. Whether in Rome, Persia, or China, there were always men (and more often, boys) who, today, we'd label as sex industry workers. They just didn't appear on the straight stage. No doubt, the public vilification of homosexuality required that performances occur in private or underground bars and clubs -- or, in ancient times, in the private courts and boudoirs of noblemen, and noblewomen too.
Wiki didn't offer any cites to support the claim that male stripping was known in the 1970s. My research was not academically complete by any means but as best I could determine, it seems the "Chippendales" dancers (ca. 1980s) really opened the public stage to erotic male performers. For those who hate their schtick, this may be sad, but there it is: their bumping and grinding muscle-men probably deserve the credit for breaking down the homophobic barriers to men acting sexual on-stage.
The dearth of early male erotic performers made me decide to take things in a slightly different direction. If you couldn't see men strip or dance erotically, what could you see if you were a libidinous gay man or female 100 years ago? The next post up will be a long and delicious look at the world of erotic male modeling in vintage photos.
How about men who perform in Live Sex Acts. I have stories about this from WWII in Germany doing a live sex act with an inflatable doll.
Posted by: cynde | Jul 19, 2009 at 09:50 AM
There is also the phenomenon in homosocial islamic cultures, where young boys are encouraged to dance for the entertainment of the adults. It's not overtly sexual, yet excitement and pleasure are part of it.
Posted by: cynde | Jul 19, 2009 at 09:53 AM
As far as ancient times, men probably didn't dance for other men so much. BUT those gorgeous, young, well-muscled, well-oiled, nude (or near nude) male athletes training/competing in arenas were no women were allowed... Now, that's where the erotic entertainment was.
Posted by: Aspasia | Jul 20, 2009 at 03:24 PM
Agree with you both. All those things and much more. The difficulty (in terms of blogging it) is in finding visual documentation. Lots of anecdotal material and eye-witness reports throughout history, but vanishingly little visual documentation (drawings, paintings, etc.) of ancient male erotic performers, and practically no photos of them until the 1960s either.
Posted by: Gloria | Jul 20, 2009 at 04:03 PM