"Burlesque Female Behemoths": transgressions of fat, Femme Burlesque

Abstract

Burlesque Female Behemoths analyzes the rebirth of the American burlesque scene over the past two decades and considers the political and cultural landscapes that have allowed for the emergent movement known as neo-burlesque. Particularly, it examines the communities of fat-identified, queer femme dancers who vigorously challenge rampant fatphobia through the bump and shimmy of modern burlesque choreographies and routines. Rather than suggest a re-reading of fat, femme bodies through hegemonic notions of beauty, femininity, and ability, this dissertation engages recent scholarship on queer failure and reveals the transgressive nature of these performances that dare express fat and queer desire on stage. By considering fat, femme burlesque against the current moment of fat panic, this dissertation reveals the, often, political nature of these performances as they defy and attempt to dismantle neoliberal regimes of morality, responsibility, and shame. Burlesque Female Behemoths offers a reading of fat, femme performance as capable of producing a new body politic that subverts contemporary models of success, re-imagines queer failure through corporeal epistemologies, and causes paradigmatic shifts in categories of health, aesthetic, and desire to the benefit of all bodies.