My-Body-for-others or My-Body-for-Itself? Reflections on my Encounter with the Art of Striptease and the Way it has Transformed the Relationship I Have with My Body

My body-for-others or my body-for-itself? This is the question explored in this article. It is centred on my experience as a performer, student, and observer of the art of striptease and how my engagement with this art has facilitated for me a process of transition from the body-for-others—a bodily state characterised by a profound sense of scrutiny, loss, invisibility, and isolation—to the-body-for-itself, which, by contrast, is enriched by self-discovery and self-celebration and moves freely and sensually towards the world and others. The article discusses the process through which, in the context of our tenaciously restrictive visual culture, striptease can lead to a deeper intimacy between the performer and his or her body and to a greater capacity for bodily expression and fulfilment. It considers the role that loss and lust play in this process, as well as the healing and transformative power of eros. This article employs a combination of memoir and scholarly analysis. Diary entries, memories, and reflections are used to evoke the essence of this experience and to offer the reader a phenomenological grasp of striptease. Existential ideas, particularly those of Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, provide a framework to articulate and conceptualise its potentially transforming power while also capturing the complexities and ambiguities of my engagement with this art.