G-string

For strings on musical instruments, see String (music). For the orchestral suite by Johann Sebastian Bach, see Air on the G String.

A G-string is a garment consisting of a narrow piece of material that covers the genitals, a string-like piece that passes between the buttocks, and a very thin waistband around the hips.^[1] There are designs for both women and men. Men's G-strings are similar to women's but have a front pouch that covers the genitals.^[2] G-strings are typically worn as underwear or swimwear or as part of the costume of an exotic dancer.^[1]

A black and white photo of a woman in a G-string

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 panties to avoid the creation of a visible panty line,^[5] or in order to enhance 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]

William Safire in his Ode on a G-String quoted the usage of the word "G-string" for loincloth in New York Times. Safire also mentions the opinion of linguist Robert Hendrickson that G (or gee) stands for groin, which was a 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

 

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 Variety magazine during the 1930s. In New York City, G-strings were worn by female dancers at risqué Broadway theatre shows during the Jazz Age. During the 1930s and 1940s, the New York striptease shows in which G-strings were worn were described as "strong". In shows referred to as "weak" or "sweet" the stripper wore "net panties" instead. "Strong" shows usually took place only when the police were not present, and they became rarer after 1936 when 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 Western world, and they became increasingly popular during the 1990s.^[17] Men's G-strings had developed from garments worn by physical culture and bodybuilding models,^[18] and in 1994 a men's G-string was the best selling design of HOM, a luxury men's underwear brand owned by Triumph International.^[2] Other underwear brands, such as Sloggi and Jockey International, also introduced men's G-strings.^[19] In Africa the G-string has become a fashionable item of clothing for young women, and they are often visible above the back of low-rise jeans as a whale tail.^[17] As lingerie they are sometimes worn with a babydoll.^[20]

In modern strip clubs the strippers often wear G-strings and the customers often give them tips by placing banknotes in their G-strings.^[21] The wearing of G-strings in strip clubs is required in some jurisdictions under laws that prohibit public nudity.^[22] Some regulations cover the design of G-string allowed. These regulations have in many cases been determined by liquor boards and can differ significantly over a short distance.^[3] The constitutional legality of such regulations has been upheld in two cases by the US Supreme Court, when it had to rule on whether 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. "G-string meaning and definition". Mirriam-Webster. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
2. Cole, Shaun (2018). The Story of Men’s Underwear. Parkstone International. p. 242. ISBN 9781785256837.
3. "7 Things You Never Knew About G-Strings". Inside Hook. 7 March 2022.
4. Preminger, Erik Lee (2004). "Chapter 1". My G-String Mother: At Home and Backstage with Gypsy Rose Lee. Frog Books. pp. 14–18. ISBN 9781583940969.
5. Adhav, Lauren; Bennett, Alexis (28 April 2020). "8 Ways to Disguise Panty Lines Without Going Commando". Cosmopolitan.
6. Martin, Jill; Lehu, Pierre A. (2009). Fashion For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 390. ISBN 9780470595664.
7. Safire, William (August 4, 1991). "On Language; Ode on a G-String". The New York Times. from the original on 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
8. Shteir, Rachel (1 November 2004). Striptease:The Untold History of the Girlie Show. Oxford University Press. p. 202. 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. 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. B. Foley, Undressed for Success: Beauty Contestants and Exotic Dancers as Merchants of Morality, page 143, Springer, 2016, ISBN 9781137040893
11. Shteir (2004), p. 201.
12. Shteir (2004), p. 205.
13. Shteir, Rachel (2012). "Afterword – Gypsy Rose Lee: "Striptease Intellectual"". The G-String Murders. By Lee, Gypsy Rose. The Feminist Press at CUNY. ISBN 9781558617612.
14. Guarnieri, Mya (16 July 2023). "Who Gets to Wear G-Strings Now?". The New York Times.
15. Gioia-Acres, Lisa (2013). Showgirls of Las Vegas. Arcadia Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 9780738596532.
16. Carolyn Quinn (2013). Mama Rose's Turn: The True Story of America's Most Notorious Stage Mother. University Press of Mississippi. p. 239. ISBN 9781617038532.
17. Opiyo, Valerie (2017). "The 'G-String' as a Space for Sexual and Political Imagination". In Bennett, Jane; Sylvia, Tamale (eds.). Research on Gender and Sexualities in Africa. Codesria. pp. 80–81. ISBN 9782869787124.
18. Cole (2018), p. 115.
19. Cole (2018), p. 109.
20. Martin & Lehu (2009), p. 360.
21. Scott, David A. (2003). Behind the G-String: An Exploration of the Stripper's Image, Her Person and Her Meaning. McFarland Incorporated. p. 9. ISBN 9780786418497.
22. McKeever, Robert J. (1995). Raw Judicial Power?: The Supreme Court and American Society. Manchester University Press. p. 234. ISBN 9780719048739.
23. Nordmann, Lorraine; Day, Andrea (2017). Professional Beauty Therapy. Australia and New Zealand Edition. Cengage AU. p. 657. ISBN 9780170386272.

 

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