Saturday, July 31, 2010

Should kids be pole dancing for fitness?

There's a really interesting article in the Calgary Herald today about Tantra Fitness, a company that operates in BC, which offers pole dancing classes for kids.

Tammy Morris, owner of Tantra Fitness, says that pole dancing does not have to be erotic. Pole dancing is a great work out that requires fitness and technique. Morris acknowledges that the activity is steeped in sexual history, but nonetheless, thinks any moral panic around its instruction to young people is misplaced. She says that children don't associate the pole as a sexual thing - they see poles at the playground or in the circus, and just see it as something fun to play on.

So, is pole dancing just a fun way for girls to get some exercise, or is there something sinister about sending your daughter to a pole dancing class?

On the one hand, I can totally see Tammy Morris's point. If I was a 9 year old girl, I would probably LOVE to swing around on the pole, hang upside down and learn all kinds of cool tricks. The problem is that pole dancing is inherently sexual... in our society everyone associates it with erotic dancing. So, while it may be perfectly legal to teach pole dancing to kids, our society dictates that it's immoral.

Scanning through the comments on this article, I see that almost everyone is disgusted or outraged by this idea. I am still undecided... what do you think?

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