Ah, burlesque. Perusing the shows at Edinburgh Fringe over the last few days, I've been struck by its abundance and popularity. It seems that burlesque grows in popularity year on year; sometimes it's as though the whole city is waving its nipple tassels at you. And burlesque as a concept, along with its promises of female-run spaces where sexuality and eroticism are celebrated, must surely be a positive thing. It requires skill, timing and imagination, after all. It’s a place where, importantly, women can take their clothes off without being judged. And it's totally different from being “just” a stripper, right? Right?

Here is a selection of quotes that Edinburgh has suggested apply to burlesque, thus differentiating it from standard stripping:

“It's about the tease, rather than the nudity.”

“It's about a more inclusive idea of what is sexy.”

“It's empowering. The performer is the one in charge.”

“You don't actually show any pink bits.”

The problem is, most burlesque shows don't really do what they say on the tin. The majority of performers dress in a very similar aesthetic: Fifties pin-up with sequins and feathers. Basques, stockings and suspenders are bog-standard turn-ons: they hardly challenge society’s views on what’s sexy or acceptable. And it may be about concealing rather than revealing, but make no mistake, you are going to see tits - even if the nipples are safely ensconced behind Instagram-friendly pasties.

Yes, perhaps a slightly greater range of body shapes than the laser-narrow spectrum on show in magazines is on offer, but expect to see mostly women (yes, there are some men, but this is a mainly female pursuit) between the ages of 25 to 35 with a body that falls within the medically standard ‘healthy’ BMI range.

Although it's had a resurgence in recent years as the ideal slice of classy titillation for people who wouldn't dream of actually going to a strip show (goodness me, no) or who want to do something ‘edgy’ for their hen do, burlesque originally meant a theatrical parody of a serious work with the aim of rendering it ridiculous. It was used to haul the mighty from their perches and poke fun at pretension, repression or hypocrisy. It was often bawdy or risque, and grew from the Victorian music hall into the variety scene of the Thirties and Forties, with the stripping gradually replacing the songs, magic acts, comedy and all the other elements of the traditional cabaret show.

To qualify as a burlesque, according to the original definition, a routine ought to have some elements of humour, grotesquery, satire, storytelling or transgression in it. It's an art form, dammit, and it should make you think. But all of the shows I’ve encountered seemed to have forgotten that, and focused on straightforward stripping. Perish the thought that we might conflate what they do with people who work in strip clubs, eh?

The secrets of comedy couples Show all 7 1 /7 The secrets of comedy couples The secrets of comedy couples Richard Herring and Catie Wilkins Herring and Wilkins met at a gig in Southampton in 2006 and married in 2012 Matthew Stylianou The secrets of comedy couples Elis James and Isy Suttie James and Suttie met at a comedy gig in Barnstaple in 2009 and started dating in 2010. They live in Crystal Palace, south London with their nine-month-old daughter, Beti Matthew Stylianou The secrets of comedy couples Elis James and Isy Suttie Suttie says: 'There's no friction when you're content. You need light and shade for comedy. It's much better to write about when you're unhappy' Matthew Stylianou The secrets of comedy couples Sara Pascoe and John Robins Pascoe and Robins, 34 and 33 respectively, met in 2012 at the Edinburgh Fringe. In their stand-up shows they talk openly about their relationship– she about his low sex drive, he about her menstrual mood-swings Matthew Stylianou The secrets of comedy couples Sara Pascoe and John Robins Robins says: 'You see comics backstage and they're showing you pictures of their kids and holidays and they're really happy. Then they go on and do material about how they never have sex anymore because they've been married for 10 years. Why not just say you love your wife?' Matthew Stylianou The secrets of comedy couples Justin Edwards and Lucy Porter Edwards an Porter have appeared together as husband and wife once, on the Radio 4 panel show Act Your Age Matthew Stylianou The secrets of comedy couples Justin Edwards and Lucy Porter Porter says: 'Little arguments are very useful for sparking ideas for stand-up. Most of the material that works for me is about rows we've had or ways that he's annoyed me' Matthew Stylianou

That isn't to say that there aren't acts like that out there. After all, just as the existence of hundreds of faked Nessie photos isn't proof that the monster doesn't exist, the fact that most of the stuff that calls itself burlesque isn't really doesn't mean that there is no such thing. But these actual burlesque routines will have to have something more to them than the usual sequence of gloves-off-basque-off-wave-a-fan-around. If you’re following that sort of generic routine, then fine – but don’t present it as ‘alternative’ or boundary-pushing work.