Objectivity is almost a choice you make. As a burlesque performer, I didn't choose to be objectified.
The difference between burlesque and the newspapers is that the former never pretended to be performing a public service by exposure.
I don't think there is such a thing as being too raunchy when it comes to the art form of burlesque.
Me personally, I want to entertain people above all. When you look back at burlesque in history and the real golden age of burlesque, those entertainers were there to entertain, and there wasn't usually some big political message behind what they were doing.
Every one of my products - my lingerie, my perfume, and everything that I do beauty-related with regard to building my burlesque shows - is just me.
When I started performing, there was no Internet; I didn't really have anything to copy. I kind of had to just make up what I thought burlesque was, based on photographs of Sally Rand or whatever.
Like Degas did a lot of dancers, Toulouse-Lautrec spent a great deal of time in dance halls and burlesque halls and painted the dancers, the drinkers and those who were out away from their wives.
I think it's got long legs, like my dancers. Classic burlesque has a comical element. Do I think it will go there? No.
People love burlesque today because it incorporates all the old-school glamour, satire and highlights the female form -- it's something that many women can actually see themselves doing.
My mother worked in the old Minsky's troupe, which toured the country in the golden age of burlesque theatre.
It doesn't matter what size or shape you are. Burlesque is about feeling positive about who you are, about knowing how to shake what you have and being proud of it.
Like the burlesque comedian, I am abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement.
Heroics that don't come off are the very essence of burlesque.
There's an old joke that strippers work for money and burlesque dancers work for applause. For many of them, it's not the way they make a living - they just do it because they like to do it.
The venue deserves a late-night slot, and for that we've gone for Jimmy and a burlesque show and an almost-anything-goes comedy show with Jonathan Atherton.
Just the whole concept of burlesque, I've always been fascinated with it. I've always collected so many books about burlesque.
A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.
The carnival was the predecessor to the burlesque world-this all tied together, the psychic, the hypnotic... That gave me a good foundation for playing the girlie shows, my opportunity to play for female dancers. I also played midway music and worked the sex shows.
It is a sin to be a mocker.