Beyond Botox
More women seek self-enhancement through stripper classes, intimategrooming and surgery

NEW YORK -

Emboldened by tumbling taboos and enabled by advancing technologies, womenare going well beyond Botox in the quest to enhance their appearance andexplore their sensuous side.

Erotic accouterments, cosmetic enhancements and activities once blushinglyassociated with Playboy playmates and exotic dancers now comfortably fit intothe repertoire of corporate lawyers and soccer moms. Even the most intimatecosmetic surgery is as easily accessible and openly discussed as an episode of”Desperate Housewives.”

Some consider this a healthy reawakening of the seductress innate in everyfemale. Others bemoan it as further evidence of the over-sexualization, or”stripperization,” of American girls and women. Either way, it’s happening, it’s proliferating and it’s a growing business.
Out of the strip clubs and into the strip malls, classes in striptease andpole and lap dancing are popping up around the country for women who want tolearn to look hot while they burn calories.

On June 18, Toronto-based Flirty Girl Fitness made its U.S. debut inChicago’s West Loop, kicking off what it plans as a national franchise chainfeaturing such classes as “Chair Striptease,” “Hottie Body Boxing,” “BootyBeat” and, of course, pole dancing.

“I’ve had doctors, attorneys, pharmacists, police officers and housewives.Women from [ages] 19 through 68 take my classes,” says Mary Ellyn Weissman,owner and instructor of Empowerment Through Exotic Dance Ltd. in ChicagoHeights.

And then there are matters of intimate personal grooming. In 21st CenturyAmerica, young women increasingly favor body waxing to remove pubic hair instyles ranging from the barely there “Brazilian” to its extreme cousin, the”full Brazilian.” Some apply hair dye as well.
Nancy Jarecki, founder of bettybeauty inc. “the first-ever color for thehair down there,” has sold nearly 100,000 units of her growing line of bettycolor kits since the New York company marketed its first product lastSeptember. This fall betty is to launch in Australia, Japan, the UnitedKingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, said Jarecki.

California surgeon David Matlock, a pioneer in so-called boutique cosmeticgynecologic laser surgery, has developed the trademarked Designer LaserVaginoplasty cosmetic procedure for women unhappy with the external appearanceof their genitalia and the Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation technique to tightenvaginal tissue. The surgeries average one hour and cost between about $6,000and $8,000. Both procedures are marketed as enhancing women’s sexualexperience.

Defying reality, fighting back
Increasingly, women, particularly Boomers, are interested in revivingsensuality that may have wilted under the pressures of work and family.
“This started, I think, in the late 20th Century, and it has ratcheted up.That’s what is really interesting to explore: Why is it women are so willingto invest time and energy and money in everything from coloring their nipplesto decorating their pubic hair and, then, changing their genitals?” askssocial historian Joan Jacobs Brumberg, a professor emerita of humandevelopment and gender studies at Cornell University and author of “The BodyProject: An Intimate History of American Girls.”

She cites two factors. Over the past 25 years the concepts of beauty andhealth have become conflated. For example, the idea that being thin is notonly “beautiful” but “healthy,” she says.
“I also think there is a demographic thing here. More and more Americanwomen expect to be gorgeous and sexual athletes into their 80s,” she says.
It’s great (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).But is it realistic? Many women seem willing to try.

Stacey Smith, a Chicagopolice officer, is one of them. Smith loves her pole-dancing classes atWeissman’s Chicago Heights studio.
\Getting her groove back

“It’s a blast. I dress like a man every day. I wear men’s clothes, and Iwork with mostly men. Then I come home, and I’m mommy to four. And I’m amaster’s student in public safety administration. So, I don’t have a whole lotof time to be feminine. This kind of helps to get your sensuality back, not tomention physical fitness,” she says.
“Another influence is just hitting menopause. They’re trying to fight back.We all know we need to work out more as we reach menopause,” says Weissman,47. “What better way to do it than kill two birds with one stone and reclaimour sensuality?”

Kerry Knee, 36, who founded Flirty Girl Fitness in December 2005 with her32-year-old sister Krista, agrees. “I think every single woman, I don’t carewho she is, how old she is, wants to be sexy. They want to be thought of assexually attractive creatures, but no one ever teaches you how to do that,”she said, noting she finds the increase in confidence among clients striking.

Jarecki, a movie producer, came up with the betty product line afterwatching Roman women leave hair salons with doggie bags of dye for theirnether regions. Her best-selling kit is FUNbetty, a hot pink hue particularlypopular in Middle America, she says, adding, “Who knew?”
“Our new demographic is older people. People are dating again and at anolder age,” says Jarecki, noting many buy betty not “just for the gray, butf or fun.”