No, feministing.com, burlesque isn't a reclamation of anything.

Feministing never fails to disappoint me. I go there only to see the news updates, but often I end up finding an article that makes me shake my head. One of those articles was a little blurb on burlesque that included a video from youtube. Above the video it states,

“Burlesque, as I’ve known it, is a dance form ripe with gender play, body reclamation, and audacious creativity. The burlesque of Chicago-based troupe Lickity Split, San Francisco performer Lotta Bootay, and others is characterized by women claiming full agency in their own sexuality–however strange, stereotypical, or salacious it might be. So you can imagine my “uh oh” when a friend recently sent me this trailer:”

Oh my GOD, Xtina is in it! She's a total feminist! Remember that video "dirty" where she gave into the bullshit that women are "dirty" as is sex with them? Gosh, she's so liberated with her whiteness and her millions of dollars!

Gender play? By dressing up in all female clothing and dancing about for men to stare at? Yeah that sounds really empowering – giving out boners is totally liberating! Also, this idea of “body reclamation” is utter bullshit. Dancing for men, in traditionally submissive manner is NOT reclaiming your body; it’s actually doing the opposite. Feeding into the patriarchy and finding empowerment from pleasing dudes is not liberating and it’s certainly not 'owning' your body. I mean, if you like burlesque feministing, then go ahead but don’t lie about it.

I also love the fact that she wrote, “characterized by women claiming full agency in their own sexuality–however strange, stereotypical, or salacious it might be”- wait, how is this having agency in your sexuality? Oh, right the sexuality that has been influenced by male supremacy. That’s not really breaking barriers, it’s more of the “if you can’t beat em’, join em’ philosophy. Also, the blogger noted that it is “stereotypical”, so if it is, then why would it be considered feminist? I mean, aren’t feminists against stereotypes of women?

Also, burlesque is whole-heartedly un-feminist in that it expects women to look a certain way, a way that men have told us they preferred us to look for decades – barely dressed and acting like we want them all the time. Sorry to burst your fun-feminist bubble, but feminism is about more than prancing about in panties and blowing men kisses, actually it’s not about that at all. When did patriarchy become something to be encouraged rather than destroyed?

Another fail for feministing!