I used to do Burlesque but was never really sold on the idea of it being 'empowering', I just used to like going to dance classes for fitness and also like performing on stage, so saw it as a bit of fun and another string to my bow. It was all a bit naff really, and I'm going to be brutally honest about myself and say I thought it would make me sound sexier to men. From what I saw of it some of the women going were young like me and thinking it would make them a coolgirl, others were wanting to reconnect with sexiness after having a baby/putting on weight/getting older etc and wanted to feel more confident and have a touch of glamour in their lives away from drudgery, as well as it being a way to make new friends. In that sense it felt fairly harmless, but yes, if a bloke found out I was doing burlesque classes they'd immediately say 'do some burlesque for us then' [boak] and that's all they'd want to talk about in the following conversation. I can see how pole involves acrobatic skills and would be a good workout, but I find it really depressing due to the young women I know who do this, who seem to be doing it for the same reasons I did burlesque. Middle class girls with low self-esteem and self-respect wanting to appear edgy and rebellious by dipping their toes in the water of 'sex work' in the safest way possible whilst inadvertently reinforcing the idea that women are just objects to be bought and sold, but never feeling the brunt of it because they're socially and economically protected. These are well-educated women in their twenties. Not saying all people doing pole fitness are like this, but it exists.