Everyone is Beauuutiful! In their own wayyy... photo credit: Frankie Panky


I had a girl ask me at a party if she was too skinny to do Burlesque. I, of course, told her definitely not! In my opinion anyways and at least in Vancouver, Burlesque celebrates everyone!! We’ve got it all!! However, she thought that it seemed like it was only for the super voluptuous. I told her that its probably because this is one of the few places that honor the chubsters but it brought up some interesting thought for me on ye olde fat vs skinny burlesque debate! Yayy!! Can you hardly wait!?

Now for whatever reason, being fat is the most threatening thing to people. I’m not sure why but people are allowed to openly hate, mock, and despise people who are overweight. I completely understand that there are health benefits but I can also think that if it were that easy to be thin we’d all already be there. We don’t yell slurs at other unhealthy lifestyle choices. Its not an insult to call someone a smoker. Seriously imagine it- “You fucking smoking piece of shit!!!” That is serious comedy. Replace smoking with fat and…… you get what I’m saying. It is pure venom and hatred when someone is attacking someone’s weight. And it happens everyday to lots of really amazing people who are made to feel like they like they aren’t valuable and that their worth is only equal to how thin they are. Shit-tay.

So something that is cool about BurlyQ is that we can all play . Chubsters too! YAY!
But there is something interesting going on in terms of reverse fatism. People are getting all haterade on the skinny girls. A literal example is a review about Dinah Might’s performance at the Burlesque Hall of Fame from culturalcapitol.com (disclaimer: Dear Mr. Oxblood. I love you and your reviews. I actually really want to work for you. I’m sorry for calling you on your shit. Call me? xx)

“all I can say about Dinah Might is that I hate her perfect body and her stupid face—sorry, my thirteen year-old girl coming out.  Seriously, isn’t burlesque for ALL body types and can’t someone whose face is jammin’, body hecka slammin’, go pose for FHM or something?  Cash it in, hon.”

Umm. It IS for all body types! Even the “perfect” ones. Ok so maybe my thirteen year old girl is slightly jealous too but she is GOOD! No hatey hate!! Thats the easy thing to do. Whats hard is moving forward- its hard to see that being equal doesn’t mean being just as big of an asshole- it means behaving how you wanted to be treated. I think the biggest issue that holds women back in general is our perceptions and attitudes towards each other. I don’t know how much of it is evolution or genetics or something- but for women? Jealousy, labeling and not supporting one another is the main problem in the first place. Its really easy to want to say HA HA now you know how I feel but that isn’t helping! Its hurting.

There is some debate around “Curvy” shows or troupes that feature bigger gals exclusively and I get it. There is some exclusion here and now I might be backpedalling on my last point but I think that they are necessary at the same time. We don’t have shows that celebrate how thin someone is because it’d kinda be like giving yourself an academy award with your Mom in the audience. Its the same reason as to why we don’t have White People Appreciation month. Every day is White People Day. Its important for women to have pride in their bodies and honestly its alot harder when you are bigger. Plus it means so much to people to be able to see something that they can relate to. So so so much. HOWEVER- I also don’t think it means we can get all bitchy with our skinny sisters or treat them poorly.

I really think that Burlesque is going to play a really pivotal role for society and how it defines beauty. The message we are creating is that ALL women are beautiful; Chubsters, Stickbugs and everyone in between. There is nothing wrong with creating a future that truly believes in that and is one where we are supporting and helping and celebrating each other as we are.