That's not an excuse

(Bazongaloid, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:33, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Also
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/students-pole-dancing-david-mitchell
(Bazongaloid, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:34, Reply)

I think that's a bit unfair
I do agree that women who say its empowering are wrong, but to say pole dancing is grim and women who want to learn it are stupid and impressionable is disagreeable.

I don't do pole dancing so I can dance for men or even in front of men, I did it because it started out as a giggle and then became a really good form of exercise. Yoga gets you into far more filthy looking positions than pole dancing, but because of pole dancing's origin people think it's sleazy. That's fine if you only know of the pole dancing that's in strip clubs where the women wear tassles and huge stilettoes. It doesn't have to be like that, it can also be athletic and gymnastic, but people who've never seen that just assume that as soon as we get in a pole dancing class we all strip naked and start gyrating when that's not the case at all.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:44, Reply)

The argument that yoga gets you into dirtier looking positions
is surely negated by the fact that in yoga, the position is designed to exercise and/or stretch you, whereas in pole dancing, the position is designed entirely to look dirty.

I don't really know where I stand on the issue. On the one hand I don't see anything wrong per se with learning to pole dance as a form of exercise, but, were I to have a daughter, I wouldn't want her to be a pole dancer.

And if pole dancing is really good like gymnastics, why not do gymnastics?
(Bazongaloid, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:46, Reply)

it's the combination of dance and the gymnastics
plus you can't really take up gymnastics as a hobby, it's not like a drop-in drop-out kind of thing.

I know pole dancing is supposed to be sexualised and you can't be a professional pole dancer without being a stripper as the two just don't go together. Having said that, the bar I teach in have asked me to dance there on a Saturday night to advertise the classes and to keep people in the bar with the entertainment. Whilst I'd like to believe that people will stay to watch because they want to see an impressive form of dance, for the most part I know they'll just be perving.

I'm not one of these people who says that pole dancing is empowering and it's not sexy, it is, but to me it's only as sexy as watching girls doing salsa dancing and the like, it all depends on how you dance. My teacher was off sick one night and so her friend came and stood in and she was a lap dancer and she couldn't teach us any of the moves that our previous teacher had been working on, she just showed us how to grind and hump the floor and stuff, which wasn't what we were looking for.

Pole dancing was originally designed to be slutty and stuff, but it doesn't have to be, which is what these women bang on about when they say it's empowering, it's only as slutty as you want to make it. Some women in clubs grind all over the place like they're having sex with themselves, they don't even need a pole.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:59, Reply)

I did gymnastics for eleven years.
I find dance to be a better work out, and much more fun and sociable. Plus it puts less stress on my knees (important since my knees are fucked from my days as a runner).

I use a lot of the techniques I learnt in gymnastics in dance, and some of the moves are very similar - they both look massively impressive when done properly. If you had a daughter, you wouldn't mind her being a gymnast, I assume. Its just that pole dancing has all the stigma attached. My parents are perfectly fine with me dancing, because they know I'm not about to start doing it for money.
(Applebite Uh! A cow!, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 17:05, Reply)

I'm with Kitty.
I so my best to avoid mentioning it when I meet someone new, because they automatically picture the sleazy version, and men tend to get this glint in their eyes and will invariably throw their arms in the air and say "Dance on me then, use me as the pole" or some other such line.

What the majority of classes entail is not essentially dry humping an eight foot rod, but complicated and difficult gymnastics, it requires a lot more skill and fitness than you'd expect. If women want to learn it to go onto a career of low lighting and notes being stuffed in their knickers, then that's up to them, but everyone I know does it because it's fun, and a really excellent toning workout.

Personally, I would hate to do it naked, the friction burns would be horrible.
(Applebite Uh! A cow!, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:53, Reply)

I fully appreciate where you are coming from
however, I don't like the "it requires a lot more skill and fitness than you'd expect" comments. It's fairly apparent to look at it that it's not particularly easy and requires a fair bit of strength.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:56, Reply)

I mean as opposed to what most people think of when they think pole dancing,
i.e. The body rolling, strutting and general rubbing, rather than proper pole dancing. More people have seen this version than the gymnastic one.
(Applebite Uh! A cow!, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 17:00, Reply)

I guess.
I've seen more of the gymnastic variety
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 17:01, Reply)

I also have weak arm muscles
strong shoulders though
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:45, Reply)

Pussy.
Before I fucked my neck up I could do 6 chin ups in a row. I'm quietly proud of this achievement.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:47, Reply)

I'm really shit at them
and it troubles me somewhat

if I ever fall off something and end up hanging at arm's length then I'm fucked.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 19 Apr 2010, 16:52, Reply)