Despite the provocative title, this comes off as much more satirical than sensual, at least from today's perspective. The way that the scene is composed suggests that there was at least a strong dose of satire in the film-makers' minds. Likewise, the act itself is not really as attention-getting as the title would suggest.
The scene focuses on the trapeze artist Charmion as she performs the aerial strip-tease that had earned her a certain vogue for a time. In the corner of the picture, two male spectators watch her, seated in what is supposed to be a music hall box. The spectators are portrayed as the kind of country rubes that were often used as stock figures of ridicule in the era, and the two of them overreact to an extreme degree - usually with extravagant gestures and actions - to almost everything that the performer does.
It's hard to tell exactly what the original perspective behind the movie may have been. It is certainly possible (as the notes in Kino's Edison collection suggest) that the small stage audience simply gave cinema-goers a pretext for watching the performance without feeling like voyeurs. But since the act is not especially sensuous, even by the standards of its day, and because the two spectators are so obviously complete clods, it really works much better as a caustic comment on the Pavlovian response of the 'typical' (or stereotypical) male to even the slightest hint of sensuality.