G-string

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For strings on musical instruments, see String (music). For the orchestral suite by Johann Sebastian Bach, see Air on the G String.
A black and white photo of a woman in a G-string

A G-string is a garment consisting of a narrow piece of material that barely covers the

exotic dancer.[1]

G-strings are usually made of fabric,[3] lace,[4] leather, or satin. They may serve as a bikini bottoms or they may be worn alone as monokinis or topless swimsuits. G-strings are also worn by go-go dancers.

As underwear, G-strings may be worn in preference to

sex appeal
.

The two terms G-string and thong are sometimes used interchangeably; however, technically they refer to different pieces of clothing. G-strings have a thinner back strip than thongs, and usually a thinner waistband.[3] These connectors are often made of string rather than a strip of fabric.[6]

Etymology

Man wearing a G-string front view

The etymology of the term G-string is uncertain, with the Merriam-Webster dictionary describing it as "unknown".[3]

taboo word at the time.[7] Rachel Shteir refers to Hendrickson's opinion in her book "Striptease" and adds that during the Great Depression, a "G-string" was known as "the gadget", a double-entendre that referred to a handyman's "contrivance", an all-purpose word for the thing that might "fix" things.[8]

Cecil Adams, author of the blog The Straight Dope, has proposed an origin from "girdle-string", which is attested as early as 1846.[9]

History

Woman wearing a black g string, in front a door, seen from the rear
Woman wearing a black g string
Male wearing black g-string
Male wearing black g-string

The G-string first appeared in costumes worn by showgirls in the United States in Earl Carroll's productions during the 1920s,[10] a period known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties.[8] Before the Depression most performers made their own G-strings or bought them from traveling salesmen, but from the 1930s they were usually purchased from commercial manufacturers of burlesque costumes.[11] During the 1930s, the "Chicago G-string" gained prominence when worn by performers like Margie Hart. The Chicago area was the home of some of the largest manufacturers of G-strings and it also became the center of the burlesque shows in the United States.[8] Early performers of color to wear a G-string on stage included the Latina stripper Chiquita Garcia in 1934, and "Princess Whitewing", a Native American stripper near the end of the decade.[12]

The term G-string started to appear in

Fiorello H. La Guardia, the Mayor of New York City, organized a series of police raids on burlesque shows[13] and closed strip clubs in the city for the first time in its history. The Mayor also banned showgirls from performing fully nude at the 1939 New York World's Fair.[14] Showgirls sometimes wore flesh-coloured G-strings to give the illusion that they were completely naked.[15]

The American burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee is popularly associated with the G-string.[16] Her striptease performances often included the wearing of a G-string; in a memoir written by her son Erik Lee Preminger she is described as gluing on a black lace G-string with spirit gum in preparation for a performance.[4]

By the late 1980s G-strings had become widely available in the

low-rise jeans as a whale tail.[17] As lingerie they are sometimes worn with a babydoll.[20]

In modern

First Amendment rights were being infringed.[14]

Disposable G-strings are sometimes worn for modesty when

spray tan is being applied at a beauty salon.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b "G-string meaning and definition". Mirriam-Webster. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781785256837
    .
  3. ^ a b c d "7 Things You Never Knew About G-Strings". Inside Hook. 7 March 2022.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9781583940969
    .
  5. ^ Adhav, Lauren; Bennett, Alexis (28 April 2020). "8 Ways to Disguise Panty Lines Without Going Commando". Cosmopolitan.
  6. ISBN 9780470595664
    .
  7. ^ Safire, William (August 4, 1991). "On Language; Ode on a G-String". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-512750-8
    . Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  9. ^ Adams, Cecil (2010-09-02). "What does the G in G-string stand for?". The Straight Dope. Archived from the original on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2014-12-21. Littell's Living Age, Vol. IX, 1846: 'Their arms were a small hatchet, stuck in their girdle-string.' While that hardly proves G-string is an abbreviation of girdlestring, the fact that the latter word existed and means the same as G-string supports my conjecture that the shorter term derived from the longer.
  10. ISBN 9781137040893
  11. ^ Shteir (2004), p. 201.
  12. ^ Shteir (2004), p. 205.
  13. ISBN 9781558617612
    .
  14. ^ a b Guarnieri, Mya (16 July 2023). "Who Gets to Wear G-Strings Now?". The New York Times.
  15. ISBN 9780738596532
    .
  16. ISBN 9781617038532
    .
  17. ^
    ISBN 9782869787124
    .
  18. ^ Cole (2018), p. 115.
  19. ^ Cole (2018), p. 109.
  20. ^ Martin & Lehu (2009), p. 360.
  21. ISBN 9780786418497
    .
  22. ISBN 9780719048739
    .
  23. ISBN 9780170386272
    .
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