Tara Tainton

Ancient Striptease
Striptease is an ancient art: various accounts in the Bible describe the daughter of Herodias (often called Salomé) as dancing for king Herod, who offered her anything she wished as a reward. Modern interpretations of these stories presume that this dance was, at least in part, a striptease. The Biblical account goes on to relate that, prompted by her mother, she then asked for the head of saint John the Baptist on a platter.

Burlesque
The People's Almanac credited the origin of striptease as we know it to an act 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, humorist H. L. Mencken coined the term ecdysiast as a euphemism for strippers; it derives from the Greek ekdusis meaning "to molt."

Male strippers
Until the 1970s, on an official level 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. Prior to 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.

This bit of history is credited to Answers.com and specifically to the Wikipedia.

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3.23 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."