The history...

No one can really say who was the first person to strip, nor in which country it happened. However, we know that the term “striptease” was introduced by the Minsky brothers in New York in 1916/1917. Here is the history of stripping…

The bible makes a reference to stripping in the gospels. Herod’s birthday was being celebrated and the daughter of Herodias danced at it and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Then she, under her mother’s coaching, said: “Give me here upon a platter the head of John the Baptist.” Stripping takes its roots with the Egyptian or Assyrian courtesans, then in the Greek cities revering Aphrodite and her Roman equivalent, Venus. The rooms of Aristophanes or Plaute are crammed with scenes of people taking their clothes off. It took the Christianization of the West to prohibit body exhibition.

In the second half of the twelfth century, sensuality and eroticism appeared with the fashion of the ladies of the Court.

In the 17th century, the ideal buttocks was round and soft, preferably white as snow.

In the 18th century, an essential accessory to the ladies of the Court was the fan, which made them both sensual and mysterious.

This is where begins the history of burlesque in London with "British blonds” that were pioneers of burlesque. They presented themselves not in long dresses but in tights… They also brought burlesque to New York which kept asking for more. The show is not summarized only to undressing yourself in a sensual manner it is also a humour show, of dance and of theatre. It would seem that the first dance show where the artist undresses herself completely took place in 1890 in a restaurant in Missouri. In 1893, the French can-can appeared in Paris in the Moulin rouge where the dancers would lift up a leg to reveal their thighs wearing puffy slips and underwear. In 1894 was the birth of the complete version of stripping and it happened at the Divan in Paris. The first steps of stripping in the United States were difficult and perturbed by Puritanism.

The beginning of the 1900’s was very rigid and would not openly tolerate these "degrading" exhibitions. Eastern fashion was going to revive the music-hall, the dances with veils or belly dancing. While crossing the Atlantic, this new trend transformed and became a more American show: burlesque. Voluntarily vulgar and provoking, the American burlesque pleased quickly to the general public. Belly dancing became closer to stripping and became the very popular Hootchie-Coochie, which was going to be imposed in all burlesque shows. Most sources agree to say that stripping would have been born in Canada in the 20’s. The Hoochie-Coochie began using support bars in the center of the stage as support, before integrating it to their dance, creating a more amusing and spectacular show. The profession of stripping nude appeared for the first time after the First World War, in France. The show did not last since stripping and burlesque were forbidden in New York in 1939. Stripping became popular in Montreal in the 40’s in Gayety with Lily St-Cyr. In the 50’s stripping was integrated to the popular culture. Stripping is more than a job, this is a dedication. It was officially considered an art in 1955, after which a stripping academy was opened in Paris and a US senator declared that "stripping is a purely American art and a noble institution" (translation from French). In the 50’s, stripping was more marketed and became one of the pillars of the always expanding sex industry. Stripping was only for women. However, for at least 20 years now, this is no longer true with the appearance of male strippers. In the 70’s, with the sexual liberation, shows became more and more sexual… The go-go dancers gave in to cosmetic surgery little by little, starting with breast implants. It is only in the 70’s and 80’s that including a pole during a stripping show became popular. Since then, the principal aspects of stripping are in place and hardly changed, except for certain upgrades, as the very popular lap-dance, or contact dances. It first appeared in Montreal in the beginning of the 90’s but was not legal until 1999.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, women have had the desire to add to their couple by making it more erotic by stripping in their home with accessories such as a chair, bed, walls, etc. This is a pleasant way to keep their man at home and to use the mythical art of stripping…