A dance critic and historian with a PhD in Comparative Literature, Garafola examines the displacement of the male danseur by the danseuse en travesty (female dressed in masculine clothing who took the male roles in ballets) from approximately 1830 – 1850. Relying primarily on contemporary accounts and criticisms, she argues that this shift occurred in conjunction with the increase of middle class participation in the theatre. Their expectations regarding gender roles were contradicted by seeing men "mince" about on stage as well as the ballet theatres becoming bordellos for the wealthy merchant classes. While she doesn’t discuss pointe shoes, this article is interesting in its examination of the shifts in audience and the new expectations of gender roles for the ballet. As it happens, these shifts coincide closely with the appearance of pointe shoes.