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G-string
Strip of cloth passed from front to back between the legs, attached to and supported by a cord or band around the waist

A G-string is a minimal garment featuring a narrow piece covering the genitals, a string-like strip between the buttocks, and a thin waistband around the hips. Designed for both men and women—with men's versions having a front pouch—G-strings serve as underwear, swimwear, or costumes for exotic dancers and go-go dancers. Common materials include fabric, lace, leather, and satin. Many wear G-strings to avoid visible panty lines or to enhance sex appeal. Though often confused with thongs, G-strings have thinner back strips and waistbands, commonly made from string rather than fabric.

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Etymology

The term G-string is first attested in 1878.9 In the same book girdle and breech-clout is used for the same garment.10 It originally denoted the loincloths worn by certain American Indians, and did not come to be used for a type of female undergarment until the 1920s. The significance of the G is unclear. Charles Fletcher Lummis said it resembled a capital 'G'.11 It has been suggested that it represents a euphemistic abbreviation of groin,12 or else that it is short for girdle; the term girdle-string is attested as early as 1846.13

There are numerous examples in 19th century newspapers of a girdle (as the belt of a breech clout) being the repository for scalps, tomahawks and knives of native americans14 and with the same meaning girdle string was still in use in 1899.15

As attire for a dancer it is known from 1910 when Elbert Hubbard wrote: "Down in New York a girl gave a Salome dance in a G string and sandals"16 and as beach wear from 1921.17

History

The G-string first appeared in costumes worn by showgirls in the United States in Earl Carroll's productions during the 1920s,18 a period known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties.19 Before the Great 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.20 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.21 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.22

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 shows23 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.24 Showgirls sometimes wore flesh-coloured G-strings to give the illusion that they were completely naked.25

The American burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee is popularly associated with the G-string.26 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.27

By the late 1980s G-strings had become widely available in the Western world, and they became increasingly popular during the 1990s.28 Men's G-strings had developed from garments worn by physical culture and bodybuilding models,29 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.30 Other underwear brands, such as Sloggi and Jockey International, also introduced men's G-strings.31 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.32 As lingerie they are sometimes worn with a babydoll.33

In modern strip clubs the strippers often wear G-strings and the customers often give them tips by placing banknotes in their G-strings.34 The wearing of G-strings in strip clubs is required in some jurisdictions under laws that prohibit public nudity.35 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.36 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.37

Disposable G-strings are sometimes worn for modesty when spray tan is being applied at a beauty salon.38

Wikimedia Commons has media related to G-strings. Wikiquote has quotations related to G-string.

References

  1. "G-string meaning and definition". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 13 February 2023. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/G-string ↩

  2. Cole, Shaun (2018). The Story of Men's Underwear. Parkstone International. p. 242. ISBN 9781785256837. 9781785256837 ↩

  3. "G-string meaning and definition". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 13 February 2023. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/G-string ↩

  4. "7 Things You Never Knew About G-Strings". Inside Hook. 7 March 2022. https://www.insidehook.com/article/style/7-things-you-never-knew-g-strings ↩

  5. 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. 9781583940969 ↩

  6. Adhav, Lauren; Bennett, Alexis (28 April 2020). "8 Ways to Disguise Panty Lines Without Going Commando". Cosmopolitan. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/advice/a5855/ways-to-banish-panty-lines/ ↩

  7. "7 Things You Never Knew About G-Strings". Inside Hook. 7 March 2022. https://www.insidehook.com/article/style/7-things-you-never-knew-g-strings ↩

  8. Martin, Jill; Lehu, Pierre A. (2009). Fashion For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 390. ISBN 9780470595664. 9780470595664 ↩

  9. J. H. Beadle (1878), Western Wilds and the Men who redeem them, p. 249, Around each [Navajo] boy's waist is the tight "geestring", from which a single strip of cloth runs between the limbs from front to back - these two articles never being removed from the person in the presence of another. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101078191184&seq=11 ↩

  10. J. H. Beadle (1878), Western Wilds and the Men who redeem them, p. 282, [the Moqui] often appear entirely naked, except the girdle and breech-clout. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101078191184&seq=11 ↩

  11. Charles F. Lummis (1893), The Land of the Poco Tiempo, C. Scribner's Sons, p. 179, so named, probably, because its convolutions somewhat resemble a capital G — is in Apachedom a strip of unbleached muslin about six feet long and two feet wide ; and after it has been knotted, the extremities form small aprons in front and rear https://archive.org/details/landpocotiempo00lummgoog/page/n197/mode/2up?q=g+string&view=theater ↩

  12. "G-string". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/1116244313. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1116244313 ↩

  13. 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. /wiki/Cecil_Adams ↩

  14. "Chronicling America | Library of Congress". https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=1800&date2=1900&proxtext=girdle+scalp&x=16&y=3&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic ↩

  15. Charles T. Abbott (1899), The Cliff Dweller's Daughter, 1899, page 249, F. Tennyson Neely, he stripped the scalp from his fallen enemy and tied the hair to his girdle string https://archive.org/details/cliffdwellersda00abbogoog/page/n242/mode/2up?q=girdle+string&view=theater ↩

  16. The Philistine, April 1910 https://archive.org/details/philistineaperi02nygoog/page/n150/mode/2up?q=%22g-string%22&view=theater ↩

  17. "Fringe sewed on beach queens who lack conscience", The Coronado Strand, Coronado, Ca., August 20, 1921, The women police go armed with a needle and thread and when a girl is discovered tastily clad in a gee string and a light sprinkling of tan, the coppess takes her to one side and sews on a fringe. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CJ19210820.2.8 ↩

  18. B. Foley, Undressed for Success: Beauty Contestants and Exotic Dancers as Merchants of Morality, page 143, Springer, 2016, ISBN 9781137040893 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩

  19. 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. 978-0-19-512750-8 ↩

  20. Shteir (2004), p. 201. - 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. https://books.google.com/books?id=Mn48DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 ↩

  21. 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. 978-0-19-512750-8 ↩

  22. Shteir (2004), p. 205. - 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. https://books.google.com/books?id=Mn48DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 ↩

  23. Shteir, Rachel (2012). "Afterword – Gypsy Rose Lee: "Striptease Intellectual"". The G-String Murders. By Lee, Gypsy Rose. The Feminist Press at CUNY. ISBN 9781558617612. 9781558617612 ↩

  24. Guarnieri, Mya (16 July 2023). "Who Gets to Wear G-Strings Now?". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/style/g-string-thong-trend.html ↩

  25. Gioia-Acres, Lisa (2013). Showgirls of Las Vegas. Arcadia Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 9780738596532. 9780738596532 ↩

  26. 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. 9781617038532 ↩

  27. 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. 9781583940969 ↩

  28. 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. 9782869787124 ↩

  29. Cole (2018), p. 115. - Cole, Shaun (2018). The Story of Men's Underwear. Parkstone International. p. 242. ISBN 9781785256837. https://books.google.com/books?id=AdtUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT242 ↩

  30. Cole, Shaun (2018). The Story of Men's Underwear. Parkstone International. p. 242. ISBN 9781785256837. 9781785256837 ↩

  31. Cole (2018), p. 109. - Cole, Shaun (2018). The Story of Men's Underwear. Parkstone International. p. 242. ISBN 9781785256837. https://books.google.com/books?id=AdtUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT242 ↩

  32. 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. 9782869787124 ↩

  33. Martin & Lehu (2009), p. 360. - Martin, Jill; Lehu, Pierre A. (2009). Fashion For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 390. ISBN 9780470595664. https://books.google.com/books?id=cTCWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT390 ↩

  34. 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. 9780786418497 ↩

  35. McKeever, Robert J. (1995). Raw Judicial Power?: The Supreme Court and American Society. Manchester University Press. p. 234. ISBN 9780719048739. 9780719048739 ↩

  36. "7 Things You Never Knew About G-Strings". Inside Hook. 7 March 2022. https://www.insidehook.com/article/style/7-things-you-never-knew-g-strings ↩

  37. Guarnieri, Mya (16 July 2023). "Who Gets to Wear G-Strings Now?". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/style/g-string-thong-trend.html ↩

  38. Nordmann, Lorraine; Day, Andrea (2017). Professional Beauty Therapy. Australia and New Zealand Edition. Cengage AU. p. 657. ISBN 9780170386272. 9780170386272 ↩