Please do a slut drop
The comments on Meghan Murphy’s pole dancing piece are a sight to behold. So much denial, so much fury, so much how dare you.
One:
It’s sad that there are people out there that think like this. You’re following a very strange line of reasoning in this article. To me (and probably many others) the line of reasoning is this: “Because men find this sexy, you shouldn’t do it.” The problem with that is that men will fetishize just about anything. As a woman, you shouldn’t have to alter your life, thoughts, or actions because of what men are thinking, (which is how I view feminism).
Except the line of reasoning is not “you shouldn’t do it.” It’s that you shouldn’t pretend it’s feminist to do it. And saying “you shouldn’t have to alter your life, thoughts, or actions because of what men are thinking” while praising pole dancing is absurd, since pole dancing is so obviously shaped by what men want to look at. Women aren’t inspired to turn themselves upside down with their legs pointing in opposite directions just at random, you know.
After reading this article I felt the need to comment and educate you, Meghan Murphy on a few things. You call yourself a feminist and yet you are against the idea of allowing women to make their own decision to attend a pole dance fitness class. Women are consciously making a decision to attend fitness classes, regardless of their reasoning, because women want to. Is that not what feminism is about? Allowing women the right to be equal?
Except that’s not what she said. See above.
Oh love please get off your tight prudish arse and do a slut drop and Drop the high and mighty attitude. Don’t hate on something you’ve never tried.
Feminism at its finest!
Meghan’s replies in the comments are fairly magnificent.
Those comments really are a thing of wonder. I learned so much. Like, it turns out that Sexy Funtimes Feminists™ truly are the most-funnest and most-empowered feminists! And that all those those other “feminists,” like Meghan, are completely clueless about how to do feminism.
Speaking of which, why does Meghan want to dis-empower women and restrict them of all choices, anyway?
I also learned that owners of pole studios can be just as mansplainy to feminists as MRAs. But, wait, maybe there’s overlap?
Anyway … wow. These folks remind me of the old-FTB/new-Orbit crew, who I assume are massive supporters of the pole. I would love to see someone from the Orbit contortion enough to try to denigrate commenter Bleep’s funny observation that a rather specific hobby involving kielbasa sausages is as feminist as pole dancing. Knowing them, though, I bet they could find a way to show how those two activities are nothing alike. I think Greta would be perfect for writing that response.
Yay, Sexy Funtimes Feminists™!
‘Women aren’t inspired to turn themselves upside down with their legs pointing in opposite directions just at random, you know.’
There’s no shortage of real sport and fitness activities that include inversion and extravagant displays of strength and mobility. Tumbling, gymnastics of all sorts (but gee, women don’t do rings or parallel bars…)
But in order to be ‘liberating’ you have to toss in the spike heels and glitter?
What if those wanna-be Sexy Chix had ever had a chance to actually BE strong and skillful via activities that weren’t riddled with commodification and self-loathing?
It’s all irrelevant anyway since the issue was whether pole dancing was appropriate at a Take Back the Night event not whether it should be allowed. If adult women want to do pole dancing for a hobby then that’s up to them. However, they should at least be grown-up enough to admit that it is sexual. I presume that’s why it appeals. It’s not inherently wrong to want to learn sexy dancing but it’s not appropriate in every setting.
As for the business about choices, by extension of this logic, any hobby a women chooses should be affirmed as feminist. So: football, pottery, crochet, zumba, amateur dramatics; whatever you’re into that’s feminist, that is. Unless it’s culturally appropriated (I know because Everyday Feminism have a lot to say on that subject). No choice a woman makes about anything should ever be criticised as she chose to do it and that is what feminism is all about.