Pole dancing exercise classes

but actually some of the dancers do wear heels if they are doing a routine, not for leg training (who ever heard of such a thing) but because for some moves where say you need to grab a foot, it's easier to reach for the heel for the less flexible.

Still, I have poled for 4 years and always in bear feet, never in heels.

I have never ever been to a class that required heels........

Some wish to pay women for poledancing. Others wish to make women pay to be able to poledance.

I actually considered the fitness aspect of it until people started to talk about wearing high heels for better leg training...haha. It is too connected to it's origin, which is still going strong, you can't completely seperate it.

I agree TheLeast - it will not be a true picture of a pole fitness class at all...it will be hideous.

OP, you've not been invited to join a class for fitness though have you, it's a one-off under the guise of exercise.

I wouldn't go either. I've no desire to play at strippers.

EyeOf, my post was in response to sleepdodger.

I see that, gymnastically, there's not a huge difference between, say, pommel horse and pole dancing, but that doesn't divorce it from the cultural context. I see the idea of trying to promote the gymnastic angle to minimise the cultural context but I don't think it's as likely to be successful as not doing it at all!

I didn't say "men do it too so it's OK" - that's not my point at all. What I'm saying is in itself, pole dancing can be separated from its lapdancing connotations. It can be done by men, it can be done by women in a way that is not for men, it can be simply exercise or dance.

So it isn't like, say, a lapdancing class where you learn to gyrate and pout and pick fivers up with your flaps, and there's really no other point in doing those things except as a sleazy entertainment. I'm drawing that distinction.

Whenthered said:
"When men make up a significant portion of the participants; when women stop doing the exercise in make-up, bikinis and high heels (arf at how wearing high heels makes it a better work-out); and when watching women pole dancing stops being primarily a male sexual activity; then I might be persuaded that pole dancing could be a feminist exercise."

I agree with this, but then you can't get to that point unless we start behaving in those ways. So as a feminist, in a way that I realise might be seen as perverse, I applaud Emeli Sande woman, and anyone else like her, who brings pole dancing away from the sleaze and makes it into something else - that can be about exercise and dance in an equal, non-dodgy way.

I'm thinking aloud and still deciding what I think on this thread, but I am NOT just saying "men can do it so it's OK". The point is a man could do it in the same way as Emeli Sande woman did it, in the same terms, for the same reasons, and in that sense she is putting it in the sphere of equality.

Also, I don't think feminism is about choice, as I've said many times, like a stuck record. It's not feminist to say any choice a woman makes is OK, just because she's a woman. (If that were the case what do we say about woman who take part in FGM or promote being a surrendered wife? They think they are doing the right thing.)

Ok, I am a serious pole fitness enthusiast. I go to a proper studio and treat it as a work out and a hard core one at that. However, I imagine a fun girls night out pole class is going to be the exact class I would hate, she will teach you how to bump and grind against the pole, and all the stuff I personally hate about pole.

I'm not going to get into the pros and cons of pole, it just isn't worth it on this board as its like swimming against the tide.

So yeah, go along by all means but the chances are this pole class will not be a typical pole fitness class :)

Too right, TDOW

so what do you think OP? we need to know, will you or won't you

generally speaking it is good to try new things without worrying about them too much (hopefully I will never be introduced to crystal meth while I still hold this attitude to life) so I'm sort of hoping you do, and you can tell us what it was like and whether it was all grim 'ladies/girls, we all want to be sexy' stuff or actually a fun thing to do with your friends

Chops, there are some amazing athletes on your link. Bloody hell.

You know how at the top of AIBU there's an AIBU is not fight club disclaimer?

It would be ace to get a "feminism is not the same as a choice, any choice, made by a woman" disclaimer.

Personally, I wouldn't do it in the first place, because I do see it as a male sexual entertainment thing and it will be forever tainted like that in my mind.
If you do go ahead though, you know it's time to head off when the instructor start referring to you as "girls" and talks about being sexy for your husband.

Roller Derby is a good woman-orientated sport, in that it is not a blokes sport adapted for women. The women started if off.

BadgerBumBag, I think it does depend on the teacher as to whether it is tongue in cheek sexy or purely athletic, dance and beautiful. I purposely looked for a class that didn't mention heels.

There is a division, and I really hope that athletic poling continues to establish itself as a recognised sport away from the nightclub scene and that more people can view it without immediately first thinking 'stripper'. There are championships held in various companies, and it is more like an amazing acrobatic act from something like cirque du soleil. The mixed doubles are brilliant linky

I went to a pole dancing class on a hen night & bloody hell it's hard work! I could barely get on the pole.

My friend goes to classes & they recently had a show. Any preconceptions I had about it being all Size 8 skinny Minnie's was quickly laid to rest! There were about 20 girls in the group varying from age 18-40 & size 8-18. You have to wear little clothes so that your skin gives you more grip on the pole but even the larger sized girls were so bloody amazing on the pole that no one cared what size they were. The core strength involved is unbelievable. One if the girls had been going for 6 months & has dropped from size 18 to size 14, you could see the muscle tone in her arms & stomach. They wear heels as it gives you more height to get up the pole higher & gives your legs better definition.

I think it is great exercise & going with a group of girls like I did on a hen weekend is a great laugh.

The pole in (male dominated) Morris Dancing is phallic too. Shall we complain about that?

I don't understand the fuss
Surely wailing about other women doing it is suggesting they shouldn't and is removing choice, or coercing to suggest they made a bad choice which is surely what feminism is against
This is my first post on f board & with the cliched comments made seriously makes me relate to the pre conceived notions people have about feminists.

It's an industry I'm involved in. I understand where the op is coming from. It is an amazing sport! and awesome to watch as such. However, it is one of a minority of fitness regimes/sports that often use bouffanty hair and stereotypical boobs tiny waist pert bottom imagery. Not always, but a lot.

Indeed. Saying "men do it too" has no value, IMO

I imagine men would struggle with their lack of lower body strength generally, in the same way that male gymnasts can't complete female routines. Not that I particularly need to see men doing something to make it seem worthwhile or not ridiculous.

There are some men that do pole dancing. But mostly they are in the