AIBU to think that ballet is extremely sexist

[Clossaintjacques]

and that some of the practices would not be acceptable in any other industry.

The facts are

Women in ballet are meant to maintain figures that resemble prepubescent girls and this has become more prevalent over the last 50 years with ballet dancers getting thinner and less womanly.

But the main point is that there are far more girls competing to get into the industry but male choreographers massively outweigh female ones.

AIBU to think that this industry (art form) should not be partly funded by the tax payer unless it changes some of it's sexist practices.

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We were lucky enough to see Sylvie Giullem dance. She is slender, but I wouldn't like to try to beat her at anything requiring stamina or strength.

I agree it's sexist in as much as any industry is - the men tend to be in charge, but that's certainly not confined to ballet.

I think any athlete has to be very careful about what they eat, female ballet dancers have to be light otherwise it wouldn't work.

With regards to more women wanting to be ballet dancers - it's like football, children tend to want to be that which society pushes them towards, hence boys want to be footballers and girls want to be dancers. I wouldn't say that comes from the ballet industry as such.

Good points Pootles

Can you imagine if the majority of football managers and bosses were women though?

"Last year he said he had not cast a British woman in a principal role in Swan Lake because foreign ballerinas had a more 'pleasing' look. He explained: 'An English dancer with a stocky body can do the steps but the aesthetic look is not as pleasing as a French or Russian dancer.
'They can be too bummy, too titty or too short in the neck. A true ballerina is much finer, much longer.'"

This was the quote I was talking about. He is a leading choreographer!

YABU imo. Men still hold the top positions in all female dominated areas. Cooks are generally women, top chefs are generally men. Hairdressers are generally women, top hairdressers are generally men. It isn't confined to ballet - society is sexist.
As for top ballet performers having pre-pubescent figures that is also true of any sport where kids train at a high level through puberty. It is also highlighted by the fact that professional sportspeople tend to have low levels of body fat so less boobs/hips/bum in general.

Because these women are ripped from the arms of their loved ones, incarcerated, and forced at gun point to practice and perform, and they hate every second of it and are helpless to give it up

anyone with anything to do with the industry knows that there are many issues in the ballet world that are far from resolved - altho i would say racism and lack of workers' rights for dancers (ie poor pay, little health support for injuries etc, shortness of working life) are the ones in the spotlight at the mo.

i think it's fair to say that male dancers/choreographers are valued more than the female, it's partly the relative scarcity of men in dance making them so and a bit of the cook/chef issue. there are massive gender politics issues embedded in dance, who could possibly argue with that? but eating issues permeate male as well as female experiences of dance.

'An English dancer with a stocky body can do the steps but the aesthetic look is not as pleasing as a French or Russian dancer. 'They can be too bummy, too titty or too short in the neck. A true ballerina is much finer, much longer.'"

In my youth I worked in the textile industry and British women are mainly of Germanic stock - big boobs, hips etc compared to Southern European and Slavic women, who are generally slimmer with smaller boobs.

(There was a huge amount of science going into the lacy bra in Britain at the time, to make it able to hold up the average British big bristol rather that the small Southern European tit )

"In her tell-all autobiography, Dancing on My Grave, Gelsey Kirkland details her struggles with cocaine, eating disorders, and a choreographer who made her pop amphetamines while issuing dictates like 'must see the bones'. The dancer Heidi Guenther ? who died in 1997 as a direct result of an eating disorder ? was an exceptional case, yet to talk to young dancers working today, anorexia and bulimia are as much of a problem as they ever were."

blimey. I had two choices of dance class at my leisure centre. Ballet or cheerleading. I would rather my dc did ballet than cheerleading as I didn't think cheerleading had good role models, while I reckoned ballet was full of fit, strong women like Darcey Bussel who were good role models. Obviously there are people with odd attitudes to women and weight in ballet as there are in any job. However, as she will never be a prima ballerina (she definitely has parents of 'germanic' stock!!!) I think she will be ok. She just loves dancing. Incidently, I'm in an adult dance group and there are no anorexics there!!!!

Ballet? I dont know about sexist but ballet is NOT populist.