Negative opinions

Now I will state this if you think differently than I do that is fine. We all have the right to our opinion, but lately I have been reading articles about how degrading burlesque performing is to women and that we are still kneeling to a patriarchal society. But take a moment and think about what legends have done and during the time they did it. They worked their asses off and most of them had children to care for as well. They did what needed to be done and beyond that as well. They showed women that it didn't matter what we did, because whatever it was we could prove to the world that we will do it our own way. They have given many women the strength to stand up and say we love ourselves. If you think about it a patriarchal society is not about us loving ourselves and being happy in our own skin. It is about loving what a man thinks and what he says is okay.  Granted I am glad my hubs likes his chubby bunny it's an added bonus ;)

But if you sat with any of the women and men who perform now our stories start off very similar. We didn't love ourselves when starting our classes for one reason or another. Either it was physical appearance or emotional turmoil something that kept us from loving ourselves was happening. Now through our own journeys we began to see ourselves in a different light. We started looking in the mirror when we were naked and saying hey this isn't so bad. For me personally I had had a baby boy who left his journey across my lower body and that can't be changed. I love my son to the point of pissing him off when I ask him for a kiss because I do it so often. But it didn't leave my self esteem in tact. I cried thinking my husband didn't find me attractive anymore and the fact was I didn't find myself attractive at the time.

Burlesque was an eye opener for me. It reminded me that I should love me I earned every mark I have. Some showed me that I could over come my own demons, others reminded me that I was given a miracle, and the rest reminded that I gained them through truly finding happiness in my life. So why not be ecstatic about finding an art form that allows me to do two things I love, dance and being naked. Yes I love being naked...I get made fun of for it all the time by my hubs. I grew up dancing in a world where I was too big and short, which caused me to have years of eating disorders and many suicidal moments thinking I was never going to be good enough. Now I get to dance and have fun doing it in my own skin that I earned.

So when bashing us performers for the art we bring to the stage I will say this...Kiss my fucking ass and all the other naked asses you have seen. If you hate this art form and laugh at me for calling it that DO NOT go to a show. Stop allowing your friends to drag you to shows and shut your damn mouth already. Also remember you are the reasons many of us got into this art in the first place. We were constantly told we weren't worthy of what we were doing just like you are trying to say. You know what our responses have been slapping glitter on us and twirling our pasties to our hearts content. We love the skin we are in now and laugh at people putting us down.

Burlesque is our courage and our way of telling the world we are finally happy.