Monday 30 November 2009

Alcohol-free beer, decaf coffee and vegetarian burgers

I ventured out to watch some bands at the weekend at the venue I usually go to. Since moving from the previous venue (that closed down) it's never been the same and the nights are usually dead. This weekend it was different. There were three bands on and the venue was jumping. It was full of people to the extent that I hadn't ever seen before. I guess live music is really coming back into fashion and people are getting out and supporting it.

On a completely unrelated note and nothing at all to do with audience numbers, this weekend instead of the usual DJ between bands they had burlesque dancers instead. The art of burlesque is having a resurgence of late, helped along by the usual media conspiracy. Those clever people on TV have once again worked out that if you want to popularise something you have to target women. But…how do you target women to like something that seems to be inherently male? Quite easy…you tell them to like it. You drag the issue out on Loose Women where you have performers explain that it is about empowering women, about women taking control of their sexuality. Then you bring out the big guns…"it's not women being exploited at all, if anything it is the women who are exploiting the men".

I've never really seen a burlesque show before so it was a first for me, and if you've never seen one I think the best way it could be described is; it's strippers who don't take off their clothes. Mmm. Quite. I actually found it quite mundane and rather tedious, not at all entertaining and not even erotic despite me being firmly heterosexual. Individually they were dull, but the fact that all that changed were the costumes - the routine and moves were all identical, just made it worse. The constant backdrop of the girls stood behind me hollering didn't help. Not only was the noise annoying, but I could practically see the strings attached to them as they urged the girl on stage to affirm her freedom, take control of her sexuality and exploit the men of the audience. Or something.

It's a symptom of our watered-down society, where something male-dominated is taken and weakened and women are told that it empowers them just so they'll buy into it. The result is something useless. It isn't pornographic enough to interest men, and it doesn't really interest women either, they just don't want to admit that the emperor has no clothes.

Unlike the woman on stage.

This rabid desire to equalise the sexes is just diluting everything. Making everything bland. Putting these issues aside, it was a bit of an insult to the bands also. When they were playing, people milled around the edges of the room, drinking beer and chatting with their friends. Then when the bands left the stage and the burlesque girls came on everyone rushed and pushed and cajoled to the front so that the men (who I assume have no internet access) can leer and the women can jeer, desperate to demonstrate their equality with men.

It just bored me. I was glad when the corsets finally came off as it meant the girls were leaving and the next band was starting.

2 comments:

Beastinblack said...

I went on holiday abroad last week and most of the women were walking about on the beach topless, and for some reason I was the only bloke sitting there staring at them! Women are there to be gazed upon, it is called basic animal instinct! The sexes are not the same! No superior or inferior, just different. now shove that down your pipe and smoke it Ms Harmen!

AS-4-L said...

Oh yeah...when I was at a beach the women couldn't believe I was staring at their breasts.

When they saw I was masturbating too they were livid!