DCentric

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Aztec Pole Dancing. It is unrelated but everything else was NSFW!

I was reading The Hill when I came across an article in the “Capital Living” section titled, “Pole-sters: Capitol Hill women burn stress, stay in shape with ‘exoterobics’”. See what they did there? So punny, right? Anyway, I dove in while thinking, “it’s about pole-dancing or some flirty aerobics class”.  Then I got to this paragraph:

The exercise program is nothing to be ashamed of, Carroll, owner Michaela Brown and other clients insist. Its strip, pole, chairwork and floorwork classes are “really just…fitness class[es] with different equipment and in higher heels”…

Brown’s new studio opens Friday at 518 10th St. NE, the latest success in her quest to help women find “fun, creative ways to work out.” Though her exercise of choice may seem racy, “I approach pole-dancing strictly from a physical-fitness point of view,” Brown says, and she has already attracted women who work in Congress, the White House, executive agencies and other high-profile places..

And that’s when the weirdness of it all snuck up on me. “Nothing to be ashamed of”.

So it’s okay to swirl and whirl around a pole as long as that’s not your actual job. If you’re a wonk or a worker at some respectable place like Congress, it’s a rather harmless way to get in shape while feeling daring. Lovely. Potentially empowering. Challenging, even.

But I can’t help but think about the inspiration for such classes or endeavors– actual strippers. You know, the women who don’t have the luxury of a well-regarded “day job”. Do they experience an increase in respect because White House staffers are shimmying their way to a fitter body in “higher heels”? Call me a cynic, but I don’t think so. Privilege; these exercisers have it. I guess that as long as your ability to pay rent or eat isn’t dependent on “exoterobics”, it’s all good.

“People have this stigma of these pole dances being done by women in G-strings, but it’s gymnastics, essentially,”

I’ll remember that the next time someone tries to insult a woman by telling her she looks like a stripper. “I think they meant, ‘gymnast’”, I’ll add, helpfully, as no one understands what I’m talking about since no one I know associates gymnastics with artful clothing removal– yet.

I just realized something. I think that a few years ago, I took a conventional dance class taught by Michaela Brown. She was kind and fun; I wish her and her students well. I just can’t stop thinking about how pole-dancing is now selectively acceptable. I’m allowed to do it without people making gross assumptions about my character or values because I don’t need to; the woman who has fewer degrees or options than me…well, she isn’t so lucky.