Bugger 'empowerment'. I like it!
I've just been informed that the charity my poledance school is associated with (and have raised over £4000 for) has received an email urging them to cut all ties with us, basically because pole dance is the commercialisation of women's bodies. The email also quoted this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/students-pole-dancing-david-mitchell?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments and agreed with the attitudes to poledance contained within it.
So, is poledance "part of an on going unpleasant invasion of pornography into mainstream society and should be stopped" and is it true that it "degrades and disempowers girls and women".
I firmly believe that neither of those beliefs are true and I'll go into why in a moment. Firstly, however, I want to stan up and say the following (well, I would stand up, but I have the flu, and vertical seems beyond me today):
I don't care if it's "empowering" or not. I like it and that's good enough for me!
Not every choice I make is a political one. Not every decision I make is based upon whether it makes me a 'good feminist' or not. Poledance is fun, it's incredibly good for me and (though, I'll admit this is unusual) it is a substantial contributor to my ability to defend myself physically. I don't need another reason to do it. Frankly, I have two degrees in cognitive neuroscience, am an accomplished martial artist, own my own home, have a good job and am hoping to get a DPhil in my chosen subject. I don't need my fitness regime (or my sex life for that matter) to 'empower' me. I do a damn fine job of that on my own.
Having said that I don't care whether pole dance is empowering or not, I am still going to make the case that it is. I understand the arguments against. It's connected with stripping (which is apparently by definition a Bad Thing), it is focused on pleasing men, it makes women into sexual objects for men's viewing pleasure. I also understand the desire of large parts of the poledancing world, to distance themselves from this. Many poledance organisations (my own school included) cling desperately to the idea that pole dance (or vertical dance, as some prefer to call it) has no sexual component at all. It's just good exercise in an all-female environment. They stress this point over and over again, and will also try to distinguish between their dance form and stripping by what moves the different groups do, usually looking down on strippers as if they're some lower form of life.
Bollocks!
You can tell me till you're blue in the face that "there's nothing sexual about poledance", but if you do it while teaching me to crawl across the floor with my arse upraised and wriggling seductively, I'm going to call bullshit. Poledance is sexual. But it's a powerful, female sexuality, and for me, that's where the empowerment comes in.
The sexuality I see in young (and some not-so-young) women, is mostly of the passive variety. I've best heard it described as "silent". Girls and women are there to be attractive, not attracted. With so much of a girl's perceived value being tied up in being seen as sexy and beautiful, she must try to attract the attention of as many men as possible, but gods forbid she actually have an active participation in her sexuality. Girls who approach people they're attracted to, who take action based on their desires, who might even (gasp) have sex on the first date, girls (fundamentally) like me - we're tarts, sluts, whores (damn, you know. I never even thought of charging!) and worse.
Poledance isn't like that. Dancing on a pole, you aren't being some delicate flower passively waiting for the approach (and decisions) of her prince charming. On the pole, it's my sexuality that matters. My choices. My desires. It's up to me whether I feel cheaky, seductive, languorous, flirty, dismissive or passionate. And I'm choosing to show some of that to my audience. It's all about me. When I dance alone in my kitchen (yes, I have a pole in my kitchen), even though it's mainly for practice, I am still dancing my emotions, my sexuality and my power.
Added to which poledance is, by it's very nature, an incredibly strong form of dance. It's a chance to revel in the power, strength and grace of your physical form. Some girls may want to appear weak and fragile, hoping for a man to take pity on her and protect her from the big bad world. Watching an accomplished poledancer, it's clear that's never a role she'll be taking on. The physical power of the dance requires that any relationship be one based in respect, rather than protectiveness.
So, rather than poledance being 'all about them men', I would argue that the (presumed) male audience's attention is demanded by a frequently aggressive female sexuality. It's all about the dancer, entering the masculine realm and making it her own. She uses enormous strength, takes up space, draws attention to herself and demands that you focus on what she's choosing to show. All of these are classically masculine traits, subverted by the poledancer to become a strong, active form of female sexuality.
So, if some people find it 'empowering' to learn to hang upside down on a pole by just one ankle, go for it. Personally, I just find it agonising, rewarding, addictive and enjoyable.
So, is poledance "part of an on going unpleasant invasion of pornography into mainstream society and should be stopped" and is it true that it "degrades and disempowers girls and women".
I firmly believe that neither of those beliefs are true and I'll go into why in a moment. Firstly, however, I want to stan up and say the following (well, I would stand up, but I have the flu, and vertical seems beyond me today):
I don't care if it's "empowering" or not. I like it and that's good enough for me!
Not every choice I make is a political one. Not every decision I make is based upon whether it makes me a 'good feminist' or not. Poledance is fun, it's incredibly good for me and (though, I'll admit this is unusual) it is a substantial contributor to my ability to defend myself physically. I don't need another reason to do it. Frankly, I have two degrees in cognitive neuroscience, am an accomplished martial artist, own my own home, have a good job and am hoping to get a DPhil in my chosen subject. I don't need my fitness regime (or my sex life for that matter) to 'empower' me. I do a damn fine job of that on my own.
Having said that I don't care whether pole dance is empowering or not, I am still going to make the case that it is. I understand the arguments against. It's connected with stripping (which is apparently by definition a Bad Thing), it is focused on pleasing men, it makes women into sexual objects for men's viewing pleasure. I also understand the desire of large parts of the poledancing world, to distance themselves from this. Many poledance organisations (my own school included) cling desperately to the idea that pole dance (or vertical dance, as some prefer to call it) has no sexual component at all. It's just good exercise in an all-female environment. They stress this point over and over again, and will also try to distinguish between their dance form and stripping by what moves the different groups do, usually looking down on strippers as if they're some lower form of life.
Bollocks!
You can tell me till you're blue in the face that "there's nothing sexual about poledance", but if you do it while teaching me to crawl across the floor with my arse upraised and wriggling seductively, I'm going to call bullshit. Poledance is sexual. But it's a powerful, female sexuality, and for me, that's where the empowerment comes in.
The sexuality I see in young (and some not-so-young) women, is mostly of the passive variety. I've best heard it described as "silent". Girls and women are there to be attractive, not attracted. With so much of a girl's perceived value being tied up in being seen as sexy and beautiful, she must try to attract the attention of as many men as possible, but gods forbid she actually have an active participation in her sexuality. Girls who approach people they're attracted to, who take action based on their desires, who might even (gasp) have sex on the first date, girls (fundamentally) like me - we're tarts, sluts, whores (damn, you know. I never even thought of charging!) and worse.
Poledance isn't like that. Dancing on a pole, you aren't being some delicate flower passively waiting for the approach (and decisions) of her prince charming. On the pole, it's my sexuality that matters. My choices. My desires. It's up to me whether I feel cheaky, seductive, languorous, flirty, dismissive or passionate. And I'm choosing to show some of that to my audience. It's all about me. When I dance alone in my kitchen (yes, I have a pole in my kitchen), even though it's mainly for practice, I am still dancing my emotions, my sexuality and my power.
Added to which poledance is, by it's very nature, an incredibly strong form of dance. It's a chance to revel in the power, strength and grace of your physical form. Some girls may want to appear weak and fragile, hoping for a man to take pity on her and protect her from the big bad world. Watching an accomplished poledancer, it's clear that's never a role she'll be taking on. The physical power of the dance requires that any relationship be one based in respect, rather than protectiveness.
So, rather than poledance being 'all about them men', I would argue that the (presumed) male audience's attention is demanded by a frequently aggressive female sexuality. It's all about the dancer, entering the masculine realm and making it her own. She uses enormous strength, takes up space, draws attention to herself and demands that you focus on what she's choosing to show. All of these are classically masculine traits, subverted by the poledancer to become a strong, active form of female sexuality.
So, if some people find it 'empowering' to learn to hang upside down on a pole by just one ankle, go for it. Personally, I just find it agonising, rewarding, addictive and enjoyable.