Chapter 9: Kinky Boots

Feb 08, 2025

My burlesque origin story here is true, and I don’t know what possessed me to try this raunchy art, after a lifetime of being rather uptight and weird about sexy performances, and especially sex work. And actually now that I write this, I realize I’ve answered my own question: at the time I began burlesque I was well on my way to finally separating from my husband (and indeed at the time of this kink party I recount here, I had moved out into a place of my own). Not only that, but I had been practicing polyamory for a few years before this, too, which was a big deal as far as my sexual maturity, if not awakening. And burlesque just fit right in with my lifelong love of vaudeville, as I talked about recently on the Let’s Burlesque podcast.

I’m kinda bummed I felt the need to change the name of the head of that Boulder burlesque troupe, as the real name is not only a fantastic pun, but reallllllly appropriate for her. Ah well.

My experience in working consent for kink shows is what makes me unusual in the realm of intimacy coordination, by the way: most stage combat guys will take courses in intimacy coordination created by those same organizations (begun for the most part in 2017-2018, funny enough around this same time frame) in the wake of #metoo. My more underground background makes my approach fresh and, I think, even more effective, at least it can be. I don’t have any interest in the kink party or BDSM scene, but I do honor my experiences with them and am glad I can bring my knowledge to the stage in a different way.

I’m not sure what other details to add for a GLOSS on this one: this chapter strikes me as very Observation-Essay-like, in that most of it is about the sensory details of the kink party scene. I wax so descriptive here that I can’t think of any more to add. Let me know in the comments if you have any other holes you’d like filled. Ahem. That didn’t come out right…

Zuko's Musings