Someone just sent this video to an email list that I'm on. I highly recommend everyone watch it. It's NSFW, and that's the part I'm going to rant about.
In case you didn't see the video because I branded it NSFW, let me summarize. It's a video of some of the most amazing, beautiful, athletic women I've ever seen, performing amazing feats of strength and flexibility and agility, and wearing bikinis or workout shorts/tops.
So why is it NSFW?
Because they're pole dancers.
Yes, that's right, these fully clothed women doing gymnastics and Cirque du Soleil acrobatics are flagged as NSFW by YouTube simply because of the cultural association that we have that "only strippers" dance on a pole.
So, now that you know there are no nipples or pubic hair, and no sexual activity, and no foul language, you might want to go check out the video if you didn't before.
Because these women should be celebrated. They are truly athletes. They are truly beautiful. Their lines are pure elegance the likes of which I see in ballroom dancing. The strength of their bodies is deceptively amazing. They are pure works of art that combines the radiance of strength and sexuality.
These women weren't even doing anything particularly sexual in this video. There were no moves that I often see at strip clubs, the spread-your-legs-in-front-of-some-guy's-face move, no gyrating or grinding, no tongues sticking out, nothing at all that isn't seen in a Silk Dancer's routine or any other acrobat.
So it just infurates me that this is considered NSFW just because the women who do it are wearing platform heels, that poles are usually associated with strip clubs, and that strip clubs themselves are bad.
Strip clubs are the essence of a good relationship. The participants are made aware of the rules up front, everyone agrees to the structure, it's an open and honest arrangement. And it doesn't transmit STDs.
I don't even have words for how angry it makes me that women are penalized for their sexuality. One of the things I enjoy so much about ballroom dancing is the hyper-awareness of my own body; how each muscle group works cooperatively with the others, the interplay of tendons and bones and muscles. I love the feeling of being conscious of one set of muscles contracting and sliding against another. And just watching these women brings that awareness back.
It is utterly amazing the skill and strength and beauty that they encompass, which is only enhanced, not diminished, by their awareness and acceptance of, nay, control of, their own sexuality. These women are powerful, and in control; they own their sexuality, they are comfortable in their own skin. And as well they should be!
One of these women simply standing there in a bikini is not nearly as beautiful as the same woman performing these athletic feats, not because of the contortionist positions she puts herself in (although the graceful lines of her body *are* attractive), but because she claims her body as her own by doing so. She is embracing all that she is, strong, feminine, graceful, and sexual.
I just can't wrap my mind around anyone who sees this as ugly, shameful, or evil. And I'm royally pissed off that our society tells me I should see it that way too. I think our society is deeply flawed and inherently diminished for the loss of this beauty when it views this specific form of art as "shameful" simply because "only strippers pole dance".
In case you didn't see the video because I branded it NSFW, let me summarize. It's a video of some of the most amazing, beautiful, athletic women I've ever seen, performing amazing feats of strength and flexibility and agility, and wearing bikinis or workout shorts/tops.
So why is it NSFW?
Because they're pole dancers.
Yes, that's right, these fully clothed women doing gymnastics and Cirque du Soleil acrobatics are flagged as NSFW by YouTube simply because of the cultural association that we have that "only strippers" dance on a pole.
So, now that you know there are no nipples or pubic hair, and no sexual activity, and no foul language, you might want to go check out the video if you didn't before.
Because these women should be celebrated. They are truly athletes. They are truly beautiful. Their lines are pure elegance the likes of which I see in ballroom dancing. The strength of their bodies is deceptively amazing. They are pure works of art that combines the radiance of strength and sexuality.

So it just infurates me that this is considered NSFW just because the women who do it are wearing platform heels, that poles are usually associated with strip clubs, and that strip clubs themselves are bad.
Strip clubs are the essence of a good relationship. The participants are made aware of the rules up front, everyone agrees to the structure, it's an open and honest arrangement. And it doesn't transmit STDs.
I don't even have words for how angry it makes me that women are penalized for their sexuality. One of the things I enjoy so much about ballroom dancing is the hyper-awareness of my own body; how each muscle group works cooperatively with the others, the interplay of tendons and bones and muscles. I love the feeling of being conscious of one set of muscles contracting and sliding against another. And just watching these women brings that awareness back.
It is utterly amazing the skill and strength and beauty that they encompass, which is only enhanced, not diminished, by their awareness and acceptance of, nay, control of, their own sexuality. These women are powerful, and in control; they own their sexuality, they are comfortable in their own skin. And as well they should be!
One of these women simply standing there in a bikini is not nearly as beautiful as the same woman performing these athletic feats, not because of the contortionist positions she puts herself in (although the graceful lines of her body *are* attractive), but because she claims her body as her own by doing so. She is embracing all that she is, strong, feminine, graceful, and sexual.
I just can't wrap my mind around anyone who sees this as ugly, shameful, or evil. And I'm royally pissed off that our society tells me I should see it that way too. I think our society is deeply flawed and inherently diminished for the loss of this beauty when it views this specific form of art as "shameful" simply because "only strippers pole dance".
no subject
Date: 5/14/09 07:25 pm (UTC)From:Grrrrr...
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Date: 5/14/09 08:52 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 5/14/09 09:34 pm (UTC)From:As an aside, yeah, dancers are _pretty_. I always thought so. I've taken up ballroom (because, along with many other reasons, I am apparently insane) and it has already improved my confidence in being in my own skin. Doing lead, so far. It's pretty wild.
no subject
Date: 5/14/09 11:05 pm (UTC)From:Congrats and welcome to the world of ballroom dancing! Of course, you've also got some wonderful partners-in-crime to dance with out there :-D so I'm sure you'll have lots of fun!
no subject
Date: 5/15/09 01:50 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 5/15/09 06:24 am (UTC)From:However, I completely agree with you that they should be celebrated, but not because what they did was beautiful, or sexy, or highly regarded by the judges/peers.
The amazing, and truly beautiful thing that I saw was what you pointed out: "These women are powerful, and in control; they own their sexuality, they are comfortable in their own skin."
Achieving that, in our society, is something to be celebrated, regardless of what other people think, and regardless of whether or not it is done on a pole, or in public.
I *love* it when you post things like this. Except for that part where your are angry/pissed-off/not at peace.