Pole dancing isn’t strictly for gender-reveal parties and grandma’s exercise routine anymore. We have a pole dancing club at Cornell University to thank for that.
The group calls themselves the Pole Posse, and they’re finally tearing down the stereotypes about pole dancing. This isn’t a woman-only sport any longer, and you don’t have to be a stripper to work the pole.
Thanks to workshops the pole dancing club has recently hosted, the activity of working it on a pole has been opened up to trans, non-binary and plus-size dancers, reports the Cornell Sun.
Like me, you were probably thinking to yourself “It’s about time. Where have these dancers been, and why haven’t they been working a pole until now?” That’s a great question.
“People think pole is [for] a very narrow group of people. A lot of people assume that men can’t do pole [or that] it’s a woman-only sport. No, that’s not true,” the Pole Posse’s social chair said.
“We do a lot of these different kinds of events in the hope of being able to expand and show people that pole is not just this one thing. Anyone can do pole, and anyone can enjoy pole.”
You hear that? Finally, anyone can do pole and can enjoy pole.
Let’s let the club’s vice president expand upon that thought, “People with less knowledge immediately associate [pole dancing] with sex work and stripping, which is understandable because its roots are in stripping and sex work.”
Well said. All you have to do is show up and hop on the pole. All are welcome so long as they can “do a pole walk.” Wait, what? That has to be a misprint. If not, has a formal apology been given?
An Ivy League pole dancing club for all
Do you mean to tell me this pole dancing club requires you to be able to walk? That doesn’t sound as inclusive as what I had thought heading into this. The promise of this club has fallen short.
The club’s vice president said as much. The very same VP who taught us, the “people with less knowledge,” that pole dancing isn’t just for strippers and sex workers.
“If you could do a pole walk, you could perform. Pole walk is [when] you stand and you walk around the pole,” said the vice president of Pole Posse. “We like to be very level-friendly, and we like to get [beginners] involved, and we make it easier for people who have never performed before.”
I hope the group does some searching within themselves to rectify this blatant and disconcerting shortcoming. They cannot rest when those in the trans, non-binary and plus-size communities who aren’t able to stand or walk are given the same support as those who can.
We were so close. This one is going to keep me up at night.
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