NAKED

Intimate essays from a performer who challenges outdated constructs regarding art, sex, and love.

A burlesque dancer, sex educator, and social worker, Fancy Feast began her stage life early on, with her high school’s production of Cabaret, originally cast as Fräulein Schneider. “It was a juicy role but I didn’t want it,” she writes. “The role of the old, sexless crone or pathetic undesirable always, always goes to the fat girl.” Instead, she asked to be cast as a Kit Kat Girl (part of the chorus line); she completely engulfed herself in the character and embraced the sexiness the role invited. The author points to this moment, at age 15, as pivotal to her eventual career. “Nuns are called to serve Christ,” she writes, “and I was called to serve burlesque.” From then on, she was dedicated to creating a life on the stage. She attended countless events to teach herself the art of burlesque and of performance in general. While divulging the secrets of the industry—from pastie (“a miracle of engineering”) fixes to what she always carries before a show—the author uses humor and wit to keep readers on their toes, wondering what item of clothing, what layer, she is going to strip off next. She consistently entertains with her often jaw-dropping stories of the nightcrawlers who frequented the sex shop where she worked and other anecdotes about her love life, and she is candid about the elements of shame involved with being an overweight woman who is often desired only in the dark. The author invites us to confront our own views on sexuality, communication, acceptance, and power while honestly sharing her experiences. Ultimately, she makes us question our assumptions about which bodies deserve to be seen and celebrated.

A meaningful, vulnerable look at the world of burlesque from a storyteller who isn’t afraid to show a little skin.