The Evening Post angered Bristol feminist groups when it criticised them for their attitude to a performance in the city by burlesque star Dita von Teese. Ms von Teese performed at the opening of an art exhibition in the City Museum. This is their response to the criticism, written by SIAN NORRIS of the Bristol Feminist Network and DR HELEN MOTT of the Bristol Fawcett Society, and supported by many other feminists.

ON Saturday, May 15, on the front page of the Evening Post, "Bristol feminists" were dubbed "hypocrites" for protesting over the use of the City Museum and Art Gallery for a striptease by Dita von Teese while, apparently, "turning a blind eye" to a naked performance a mile down the road (Trilogy at the Old Vic).

How wrong could that be. Not only were many Bristol feminists in the Old Vic – eyes wide open, cheering on that performance – but they had already spelled out why they believed the two events to be so different.

Any reader turning to the inside page would have seen the Post's own review of Trilogy as a witty, effective piece of feminist theatre and read the comments from spokeswomen from the Bristol Feminist Network and Bristol Fawcett. So it is "barely believable" that the Post, on the front page, should so misrepresent them.

"Bristol feminists" are not prudes; the 40 naked women of all shapes and sizes dancing wildly on the stage at the Old Vic offered a celebration of the female body exhilaratingly different from the airbrushed images of the idealised, pouting, sexual women we are endlessly bombarded by in the media.

It is concern over this tsunami of idealised images and their damaging effects that lies behind the protest that was made to Bristol City Council.

A very high percentage of women are unhappy with their own bodies and each year more and more are reaching for the surgeon's knife. Sixty-three per cent of teenage girls say they would rather be "glamour models" than nurses, doctors or teachers, baring their breasts for a living. In our unequal society where women still earn 17 per cent less than men and only 22 per cent of MPs are women this is regrettable – surely we want our daughters and sisters to have more progressive ambitions.

It becomes truly disturbing when placed alongside a long-term study for the Medical Research Council that shows that 44 per cent of 15-year-old girls are suffering mental disorders – a huge rise since the study began 23 years ago.

They are experiencing depression, body dissatisfaction, lack of self esteem and anhedonia – which is the inability to experience pleasure.

An extensive review of research by the American Psychological Association makes a direct link between the sexualised imagery of young women and girls – now so rampant in our society – and their mental distress.

The APA review also makes clear the direct links between the sexual objectification of women and acceptance of violence against women – as does the Home Office review in this country. Also in this country, research for the NSPCC has revealed distressing levels of violence in teenage relationships, alongside the recent explosion in the media of images of a very narrow and endlessly repeated notion of the sexual female body.

So, is it really "a bit of harmless fun" when the council allows the City Museum and Art Gallery to be used for a striptease that replicates those same stereotypes?

Public bodies such as Bristol City Council are required by national law to actively promote women's equality with men, and to act against harassment and discrimination.

Certainly, the council won't be able to address all the other forms of gender inequality, from women's under-representation in public life, to the gender pay gap, to the endemic levels of violence against women, until the links between these facts and the portrayal of women as sex objects are acknowledged and addressed.

BFN and Bristol Fawcett believe that when the council ignored the equality duty so casually on this occasion it set a troubling precedent that demanded to be challenged.

"Bristol Feminists" are not against burlesque. To burlesque is "to reduce to the ridiculous by exaggeration". By all means, let's have burlesque clubs that experiment with ways to empower women by subverting those dominant and damaging representations so that women might find ways to enjoy their own sexuality.

But does Dita von Teese do that? She is an independent, hard-working and skilful woman making her way in the world as an entertainer. Maybe in a different context (a burlesque club with a woman compere and acts that featured a range of body types and genders…) her performance might carry a different meaning.

But at the City Museum and Art Gallery she was the only person taking her clothes off and her act used the gestures and actions of Playboy sexiness-for-men (Playboy features in her background).

In the context of an exhibition that headlined only male painters, and where women artists were outnumbered two to one, her performance – while seductive and glamorous – was categorically far from challenging or subversive.

The council were therefore assisting to promote, normalise and legitimise highly damaging stereotypes. Bristol Feminist Network and Bristol Fawcett therefore called for a withdrawal of the invitation to Ms von Teese to perform in the museum.

These issues matter in the lives of us all, men and women. They impact on the quality of our relationships, on our happiness and of those around us. It is good that the Evening Post has been open-minded enough to give space to a fuller consideration of these issues.

"Bristol feminists" are not hypocrites, nor are they prudes. The debate about "burlesque" is welcome and timely: let's think about what might be truly innovative and potentially liberating.

This article was written by members of Bristol Fawcett and the Bristol Feminist Network. The signatures here show that theirs are not isolated voices.

Sian Norris, Bristol Feminist Network, and Dr Helen Mott, Bristol Fawcett.