Pole Dancing

[geetarplayer]

[url="http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=O0YOS4C2QJUNWCRBAEOCFEY?type=topNews&storyID=696221"]Story from Reuters UK[/url]

If you want the story without the weird details, here it is in one sentence:

[quote]Growing numbers of urban British women -- from bankers and accountants to charity workers and housewives -- are using poles to get fit and get sexy.[/quote]

Later in the article, we discover this ambitious statement:

[quote]Gone are the days when pole dancing was seen as the preserve of the sleaze industry, an activity performed by over-made up doll-like women before leering men in dingy strip joints.  Well, almost gone.[/quote]

They're just making it that much easier for creepy guys to stare at them without feeling any kind of guilt or shame.

-Mark

[MagiDragon]

[quote name='geetarplayer' date='Mar 27 2005, 11:21 PM']They're just making it that much easier for creepy guys to stare at them without feeling any kind of guilt or shame.[/quote]

I only wish i could say i was shocked. I'm not. Our society is sad.

[jgirl]

Yeah...

pole dancing as aerobic exercise=very creepy

[Ash Wednesday]

Very disturbing. I first heard the buzz about pole dancing classes on some talk show like Sally Jesse Raphael or something like that, only the women weren't English, I think they were from the Los Angeles area.

[sweetpea316]

Yeah, I heard something about this on some TV show...I think its no good. I mean come on, there are so many other, less provacative ways to get in shape! What ever happened to the treadmill or good old jogging?? Why must the world make everything, including exercising, so overly sexual? I just don't get it...

[disturbedxfairy]

[quote name='geetarplayer' date='Mar 27 2005, 11:21 PM'] They're just making it that much easier for creepy guys to stare at them without feeling any kind of guilt or shame. [/quote]
i don't really get this statement. how will "creepy guys" stare at them? you can do this in the privacy of your own home if you choose to do so.

[geetarplayer]

Because they're using it to feel "fit [i]and[/i] sexy". Once they've made that kind of switch in the privacy of their own homes, they've made the switch in public--in their attitudes about themselves, maybe a little bit in their wardrobes, etc...

-Mark

[Lil Red]

[quote name='disturbedxfairy' date='Mar 28 2005, 12:13 PM'] i don't really get this statement. how will "creepy guys" stare at them? you can do this in the privacy of your own home if you choose to do so. [/quote]
i agree...i think you guys are making a big stink about nothing.

[delta557]

Well, I just flew back from London, and I didn't see any poledancers there. Darn...

hahaha jk!

[Dreamweaver]

What about bellydancing? The use of bellydancing as a way to get fit could go along the lines of poledancing. Traditionally, belly dance (or Middle Eastern dance) was a way for Arab women to bond and it even strengthened the muscles to assist during childbirth.

Today's society has tended to sexualize traditional Middle Eastern dance, turning it into a caberet performance by scandily clad dancers adorned with sequins and such.

I've done bellydance, its fun, and a great workout, but I don't see the "necessity" in revealing clothing/costumes for it. Not all branches of bellydance are the same though. The "tribal" branch emphasises more traditional clothing for an exotic look.

Pole dancing isn't my idea of a workout. Most people don't happen to have poles in their basements to practice when not in class....

[geetarplayer]

Atleast belly dancing has some cultural value...

-Mark

[MichaelFilo]

Belly dancing was a form of entertainment found in the area known as the "Arabian Peninsula". I don't suspect belly dancers used it as a workout to feel fit and sexy. It was an erotic display, and any Arabic movie showing belly dancing will show that almost always it was completely men who were there (usually in a house) or in a party when both men and women were there in couples (at some club). Here's a little history for everyone :

"Despite the lack of accurate historical information, a few points can be agreed upon. Bellydancing as it is known today is very old. It retains its connection to fertility and eroticism by being an indispensable feature at weddings in many Middle Eastern countries, performing the multifold purpose of getting the bride and groom (who may have just met) in the mood, making a blessing of fertility on the couple, and providing entertainment for the guests. Today bellydance is enjoyed variously for its artistry, ethnicity, beauty, healthy eroticism and fun!"


[url="http://www.venusbellydance.com/abt_bdance.htm"]Venusbellydance.com[/url]


Pole dancing has always been a strip-club thing. However, when Russian schoolgirls pole dance, it is in a uniform with ropes tied to a pole in which they run in circles and probably through in some dnacing (totally non-erotic).

But seriously, anything that makes you feel fit and sexy, or aims to do that, might get you to change your attitude about yourself, and dress like someone who is fit and sexy, and act like another person who is fit and sexy, the apple of their own eye. That kind of thinking is awful.

[RandomProddy]

Does dancing the maypole count?

[Ash Wednesday]

True, pole dancing or the like in the privacy of your own home with your spouse would probably be fine in itself but I think it's what it represents, and that's what bothers me personally.

I think people are overly obsessed with sexualizing everything. You can even make your workout sexy!


While we're at it, where are the male stripper classes?

[shelly_freak]

I was thinking of the like pole dancing with the ribbons and the medivel-y-ness, wow am I out of it today

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='shelly_freak' date='Mar 29 2005, 09:05 PM'] I was thinking of the like pole dancing with the ribbons and the medivel-y-ness, wow am I out of it today [/quote]
Hence my post: "Does dancing the maypole count?"