"Jesus: The World's First Christian Feminist!" Tori Amos
So I'm on this myspace group (I know-rolls eyes-) that's called The Zills of Zion. It's about christian/spirtual belly dancers. I know that sounds weird try to get over it. I'm usually pretty quiet in that group. I prefer to head on over to where my fellow Browncoats congregate. Blah blah, blah Whedon, Firefly, Serenity related groups ... blah. But there was this one post that caught my attention. One of the girls and her group had been asked to dance at a christian festival. She wanted to know if she should wear a different outfit or change some of the dances so as not to offend the audience.
This filled my head with much confusion. I got to thinking, why should she if they asked her? Some of the other ladies in the group gave her some suggestions on more modest apparel or told her to tone down some of the movements. this made me angry and sad.
Another young lady said: "I know that this could be rather shortsighted of me, but I would like to point out that you were invited by them, to dance for them. I think that it is the responsibility of the coordinator to edit their own show for content. If they thought you weren't going to fit in just the way you are, or they had concerns about your dress code, then they shouldn't have invited you. I guess that's my honest thought."
I say "Here, Here! I agree and it also makes me kind of sad ... "
Then her reply was "I'm curious, because when I wrote I was thinking about how empowered dancing has made me feel.... Don't get me wrong, it's a private thing with my husband, but I was kind of sad in a way, because I applaud those who are bold enough to do it publicly and I felt like you should certainly feel confident. Why does it make you sad?"
"I agree with you about the empowerment with in the dance. What makes me sad it that she was asked to dance by her church group and because most church groups are conservative she's worried about offending them with her body and "provocative" movements. It just make me sad that some people think that the female form is dirty or needs to be controlled. It is dance and is a form of expression. And she's using this form of expression to honor God. Why should she censer it and would the message be compromised if she does?"
That little bit got me thinking on a lot of things ....
It's a whole big mess and I'd like to try and unravel it. :-\
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"Give me religion and a lobotomy" Beulah Land ~ Tori Amos
"Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
Frank Herbert, Dune.