Dita Von Teese: On Lesbianism, Feminism And A New Version Of Sensuality

Dita Von Teese is pretty high up on everybody's crush list.

Men and women everywhere cite her as a paragon of beauty, femininity and sexuality.

The admission that she has indeed had sexual dalliances with women, prompted years of speculation about where exactly her sexual preferences lie.

On Friday, in an interview with Huffington Post Live, she put the rumours to rest by admitting that no, sadly she is "not a lesbian."

Speaking of her past dalliances with women: "I feel like that's something I experimented with when I was younger. I think knowing myself, I realised that it was something I was doing experimentally or because I thought it was cool. But I'm not a lesbian."

*Sound of many hearts breaking.*

Does she really have to define herself?

This calls into focus, though, a side of female sexuality that has been much discussed over the years.

Now, it is widely acknowledged that where men fall much more often on one side of the fence or the other, women operate on a sliding scale of attraction - some are straight, some are gay and many others rest somewhere in the middle.

Until relatively recently, lesbianism wasn't taken seriously at all.

While "gay" or "homosexual" were still dirty words and carnal acts between two men remained illegal in the UK until the 1960s, lesbianism wasn't considered to be threatening enough to merit outlawing it.

Most presumed it either didn't happen, that it happened out of boredom or that it happened purely for male titilation purposes.

Nowadays, not only have we finally recognised that women can be gay outright, just as much as men can, but we've also gradually discovered that different forms of bisexuality are much more common among women than we'd ever assumed.

And perhaps Dita Von Teese, at least at some point in her life, may have rested somewhere in this group.

Yes, you can be a feminist stripper.

Dita also made a number of valuable points about what women can and cannot do if they want to identify with feminism.

She explained that she receives a lot of criticism about her shows, the worst of which claim that they are degrading towards women.

Countering this, she argues that we need to go back and look at "the true definition of feminism", because feminism, at its core, is about the freedom to choose how to live and in what manner to express yourself.

"You can't decide for someone," she said, " what is degrading or empowering."

"How is it degrading towards women when the women are the ones supporting it, getting inspiration from it and they're happy to see a different version of sensuality," she continued.

"Burlesque and the strip tease were originally geared towards men in the 1930s and 40s. Now, the big twist is that 80 per cent of the people that are going to the shows - and [...] there are between 1,000 and 3,000 people at some of my shows - and they're 80 per cent women," she finished.

She considers what she is doing to be "turning old fashioned ideas of feminism upside down."

She makes an important point about power - whether something is degrading or not, surely depends upon who is in control and whether or not they feel objectified.

If burlesque dancing feels empowering for the women involved and allows them and the women in the audience to explore their senses of sexuality, feminity and sensuality, it can't be too bad.

Do you agree with Dita about feminism? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

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