I think what it boils down to is that if you really want to do a thing, whatever your reason, you'll work out a way to rationalise that it's okay to do it, even a good thing to do it.
Looking back over the thread though, in amongst all the arguments about it being a great fitness work out, that it's fun, that it's origins are in Chinese gymnastics, that some men do it, too, that it's definitely not sexually objectifying if you're doing it in a class, for yourself and not performing for men, there are several snippets that suggest otherwise.
Wearing heels, even if this is only in some classes? Doing a "sexy little prance around the pole" to warm up (and thinking it's no biggie if you just opt out of this?) That when some performed for people at work it was nudge nudge wink wink, clearly not seen as fitness or an "art form."
Maybe folks just believe that it's different when they do it, so everyone should just back off.
What I find really interesting about this thread isn't the passionate advocacy of pole dancing as wholesome fitness and fun. It's the many comments from women who have said they aren't good at, don't like, or don't feel comfortable partaking in other forms of physical exercise. I'm actually more interested in why so many women feel that they can't/shouldn't/don't like sports or other physical activities.
I have two friends working in different settings with girls to try and encourage them towards healthy life choices, particularly related to sport and physical activity. You get the handful of girls who are really into sport and fitness. Mostly though, they face an uphill battle trying to engage young women in physical activity.
Some say other boys and girls will think they are Lesbians if they do sport. Some aren't happy with how their bodies look and feel uncomfortable being watched doing physical activity (some even being afraid of being teased or harassed, particularly by boys.) Some don't think having muscles, sweating, not looking your best aren't things girls should do. Some say boys don't like girls who are jocks or their family don't want them doing things that "aren't ladylike."
This thread just made me think of conversations with these two friends, of how hard it is to try and make physical activity appeal to young women, but within a context where girls and young women are conditioned to believe that they shouldn't do anything that might compromise their all important attractiveness and appeal to males?
So, might the appeal of pole dancing as physical fitness be because it has the trappings and social connotations that conform to traditional expectations that women be sexually appealing for men AND so is a permissible form of physical activity for women?