Meh. Most dancing is oversexualized, but not too many parents would think twice about enrolling their kid in ballet. Those dancers in their “underwear” aren’t wearing any less clothing than a typical middle school dance team. Is that a problem in itself? Obviously. But since the kids participating in pole dancing here seem to be far more appropriately dressed than their school sponsered counterparts, I don’t see the harm. In this country we associate pole dancing with stripping, but in some other cultures (I think China?) it’s just a sport.

Just to keep things straight… less is more when dancing on an apparatus such as a pole. Skin contact with the pole is needed to do some of the intense acrobatic moves without falling. Wearing garments appropriate to the sport or mode of dancing you are drawn to is key to being able to succeed. Would you tell a bicylist to lose the skin tight shorts and instead wear a baggy clothes? Not likely to happen… besides the dangers of getting your bell bottoms caught in the chain the extra drag will also slow you down. Taking the pole out of the dark smoky room where women are objectified and sexualized, most often by men, and into the brightly lit studio of dance studios and fitness rooms is the most liberating thing that could happen to dancers. Why should we be stigmatized for wanting to own something we started? I say go with whatever form of dance works for you. There are plenty of dance forms that are socially acceptable that were once taboo… Would any one question the artistry of Cirque du Soleil? Ribbon dancing, hoop dancing, they all share common roots as the pole yet they are glorified and held with high regard. Belly dancing is also sexually suggestive if you want to take it there but honestly, so is any way the female form naturally moves. We are curvey, delicious, and move in ways that men do not… but, this doesn’t mean it’s bad. Owning the pole is not just about strippers in clubs, it’s about owning our feminine… owning our power. If this scares you, I beg you to look deeper and try to liberate that part of the brain that has let culture shame women who want to dance and explore feminine movement.

The only reason this form of “dance” is equated with the feminine is because men have used it for years as a form of sexual exploitation of women. Had this form of “expression” not been directly related to stripping, there wouldn’t be anything sexual about dancing on a pole. In fact, on it’s own, it would be pretty silly. The pole, you see, is the fantasy stand-in for the men who are watching the dance. You don’t “own” anything here – you’ve just decided to buy into the idea of female sexuality that men have sold you.