Comments for About-Face http://www.about-face.org Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:40:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by Boner Killer http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9824 Boner Killer Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:40:11 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9824 This is the most shocking and horrendous thing i have ever heard -- let's just teach girls at a young age that if they want to be physically strong, they need to be "Sexy" first and if they want to be empowered and have higher self-worth - they must use their bodies to achieve it. This is the most shocking and horrendous thing i have ever heard — let’s just teach girls at a young age that if they want to be physically strong, they need to be “Sexy” first and if they want to be empowered and have higher self-worth – they must use their bodies to achieve it.

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by Jess http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9822 Jess Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:30:20 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9822 Come see me, let me teach you what you need to know when writing an article about Pole Fitness. You have my email, you have my website there on my submission form, I look forward to meeting you very much, Im here to educate and will look forward to reading your article after you have experienced fitness at its highest level. Come see me, let me teach you what you need to know when writing an article about Pole Fitness. You have my email, you have my website there on my submission form, I look forward to meeting you very much, Im here to educate and will look forward to reading your article after you have experienced fitness at its highest level.

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by emma thorpe http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9821 emma thorpe Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:22:45 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9821 This article seems to be a rant of opinion rather than indepth analysis. It loses its credibility when it uses the phrase "attempts to pass off pole dancing as a physical fitness". Here the author is trying to deny scientific fact. Also most tricks, poses and lifts used in modern pole are stemmed from Chinese pole and mallakhamb. Using a picture of a girl in denim shorts and describing a pole as a stripper pole also takes the matter completely out of context. Would you call a pole in a playground a stripper pole? I suggest actually attending an induction class for research rather than spouting out uneducated and outdated statements which alienates a huge international community of athletes. The matter of age I agree is a subject of great debate but more so on the subject of muscle development at young age. On YouTube there are many videos of hardcore weight training by ten year old boys. Much more concerning in my view. The final point I would like to make is the raising of paedophilia as a related subject. Would you blame the actions of children for the sickness of a damaged mind? There is no unusual baring of flesh involved in these fitness classes and the moves are in no way provocative unlike those of freestyle and Latin dance which children may also engage in. Maybe the feminist concern here shouldn't be the subject of pole dancing but that of a female author who can't even be bothered to research a subject before publishing a piece on it This article seems to be a rant of opinion rather than indepth analysis. It loses its credibility when it uses the phrase “attempts to pass off pole dancing as a physical fitness”. Here the author is trying to deny scientific fact. Also most tricks, poses and lifts used in modern pole are stemmed from Chinese pole and mallakhamb.

Using a picture of a girl in denim shorts and describing a pole as a stripper pole also takes the matter completely out of context. Would you call a pole in a playground a stripper pole? I suggest actually attending an induction class for research rather than spouting out uneducated and outdated statements which alienates a huge international community of athletes.

The matter of age I agree is a subject of great debate but more so on the subject of muscle development at young age. On YouTube there are many videos of hardcore weight training by ten year old boys. Much more concerning in my view.

The final point I would like to make is the raising of paedophilia as a related subject. Would you blame the actions of children for the sickness of a damaged mind? There is no unusual baring of flesh involved in these fitness classes and the moves are in no way provocative unlike those of freestyle and Latin dance which children may also engage in.

Maybe the feminist concern here shouldn’t be the subject of pole dancing but that of a female author who can’t even be bothered to research a subject before publishing a piece on it

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by Jess http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9820 Jess Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:16:48 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9820 Come see me, let me teach you what you need to know when writing an article about Pole Fitness. Come see me, let me teach you what you need to know when writing an article about Pole Fitness.

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by Saphy http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9818 Saphy Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:51:22 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9818 Meant to include these videos too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8jhnWnJY_w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roOpKsflY2I Meant to include these videos too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8jhnWnJY_w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roOpKsflY2I

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by sid http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9817 sid Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:48:15 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9817 I must admit to being surprised that About-Face requires so little from their bloggers. I must admit to being surprised that About-Face requires so little from their bloggers.

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by Saphy http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9816 Saphy Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:47:26 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9816 There is a BIG difference between pole dancing and pole fitness. Pole dancing can involve stripping, trying to look sexy etc, pole fitness is about doing complicated moves and developing a lot of upper body strength and flexibility to do them. It's very similar to gymnastics (which many 3 year old children do and no one criticises it!) why is it acceptable and considered to be a serious sport when a horizontal pole is used but slutty and degrading when the pole is vertical?! I've always wanted to try gymnastics but unfortunately I can't find any adult beginner classes in my area so I'm doing pole fitness as a good alternative way of building strength and flexibility. Please actually look at some pole fitness videos and gymnastics videos and compare them. Pole fitness classes have men and women in shorts and tshirts while girls in gymnastics are in fancy skin tight leotards and often wearing lots of make up so how is pole fitness more sexualised and more about image? The comment about spreading their legs is ridiculous. Again look at gymnastics! It's NOT about male titilation, pole fitness participants and gymnasts (women AND men) are just showing their incredible strength and flexibility. I'm not criticising gymnastics btw, I just don't know how you can trash pole fitness when the stuff you complain about are the same moves used in a respected sport. Check out the following videos if you don't believe me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I3L2mM_mC0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpc8tRpV-UY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gdD2vLQ-rc&feature=related There is a BIG difference between pole dancing and pole fitness. Pole dancing can involve stripping, trying to look sexy etc, pole fitness is about doing complicated moves and developing a lot of upper body strength and flexibility to do them. It’s very similar to gymnastics (which many 3 year old children do and no one criticises it!) why is it acceptable and considered to be a serious sport when a horizontal pole is used but slutty and degrading when the pole is vertical?! I’ve always wanted to try gymnastics but unfortunately I can’t find any adult beginner classes in my area so I’m doing pole fitness as a good alternative way of building strength and flexibility.

Please actually look at some pole fitness videos and gymnastics videos and compare them. Pole fitness classes have men and women in shorts and tshirts while girls in gymnastics are in fancy skin tight leotards and often wearing lots of make up so how is pole fitness more sexualised and more about image? The comment about spreading their legs is ridiculous. Again look at gymnastics! It’s NOT about male titilation, pole fitness participants and gymnasts (women AND men) are just showing their incredible strength and flexibility. I’m not criticising gymnastics btw, I just don’t know how you can trash pole fitness when the stuff you complain about are the same moves used in a respected sport.

Check out the following videos if you don’t believe me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I3L2mM_mC0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpc8tRpV-UY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gdD2vLQ-rc&feature=related

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by dcardona http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9815 dcardona Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:41:41 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9815 I disagree with the other commenters. No matter what is said here by teachers and students of this activity, and regardless of the fact that "men do it, too," pole dancing, or pole fitness, is still a sexualized activity to the broader public and you are fooling yourselves in thinking the 5 year old who is in a class today will not learn the history, sexist subtext, and reputation of the activity in only a few years. Is this child going to separate the two views? No, they are going to integrate them. In a society when 5- and 7-year-olds can identify "sexy," why would you think they are suddenly blind to the sexualized side of what they are doing and not internalize these concepts concurrently with other explicit and implicit media messages telling them their value is found in "sexiness" either now or down the line? Comparing it to swimming or gymnastics is disingenuous because those are not popularly seen as sexual showcases. Compare it to a similar activity in the Chinese acrobatic tradition and you will see the moves using the poles are vastly different. I disagree with the other commenters. No matter what is said here by teachers and students of this activity, and regardless of the fact that “men do it, too,” pole dancing, or pole fitness, is still a sexualized activity to the broader public and you are fooling yourselves in thinking the 5 year old who is in a class today will not learn the history, sexist subtext, and reputation of the activity in only a few years. Is this child going to separate the two views? No, they are going to integrate them. In a society when 5- and 7-year-olds can identify “sexy,” why would you think they are suddenly blind to the sexualized side of what they are doing and not internalize these concepts concurrently with other explicit and implicit media messages telling them their value is found in “sexiness” either now or down the line?

Comparing it to swimming or gymnastics is disingenuous because those are not popularly seen as sexual showcases. Compare it to a similar activity in the Chinese acrobatic tradition and you will see the moves using the poles are vastly different.

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by Lorna http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9814 Lorna Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:29:18 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9814 Dear Blog Writer I have found your article rather interesting, yet at the same time I believe that had you a little more knowledge of the subject and perhaps even experience in the art of pole dancing your opinions may sway. You mention the article in the Daily Mirror in June 2011 (which I imagine is where the bulk of your “inspiration” for your blog came from). I have read this article and again don’t exactly agree with what is say as it suggests that a room with “pink feather boas and sparkling mirrors” would be an inappropriate place to dance. When I was young pink and sparkly was light years from unacceptable among my friends. I looked also at the website in question, and if you look around the World Wide Web it does not look dissimilar to many others out there promoting pole dancing. At no point during my browsing did I see anything that I would deem inappropriate for a teenager to view. In your blog you ask the question “how young is too young to expose preteens and even teenagers to this “sport” almost inextricably linked to eroticism?” I was particularly tickled by your use of quotation marks, if you happen to have a dictionary handy then you will be educated on the definition of sport – “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature”. I believe in this case (not one to argue with the Oxford Dictionary after all) that pole dancing fits like a glove to this definition. I fully understand that there is a stigma round pole dancing, however I also believe rightly or wrongly that people like you are at fault for leaving the stigma lingering. Pole dancing has the ability to increase self-esteem and confidence (I am a case in point for that) and I challenge your opinion that this is not good for teenagers and young children, if anything it could help them growth as a person. The moves in pole dancing, like gymnastics do contort the body, but isn’t that what makes them worth watching? I would strongly suggest that before you write another blog airing your opinions on pole dancing and particularly the Art of Dance, you should maybe go along and experience a class or two and find out for yourself that they are harmless fun and a great way to keep physically fit. Dear Blog Writer
I have found your article rather interesting, yet at the same time I believe that had you a little more knowledge of the subject and perhaps even experience in the art of pole dancing your opinions may sway.
You mention the article in the Daily Mirror in June 2011 (which I imagine is where the bulk of your “inspiration” for your blog came from). I have read this article and again don’t exactly agree with what is say as it suggests that a room with “pink feather boas and sparkling mirrors” would be an inappropriate place to dance. When I was young pink and sparkly was light years from unacceptable among my friends.
I looked also at the website in question, and if you look around the World Wide Web it does not look dissimilar to many others out there promoting pole dancing. At no point during my browsing did I see anything that I would deem inappropriate for a teenager to view.
In your blog you ask the question “how young is too young to expose preteens and even teenagers to this “sport” almost inextricably linked to eroticism?” I was particularly tickled by your use of quotation marks, if you happen to have a dictionary handy then you will be educated on the definition of sport – “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature”. I believe in this case (not one to argue with the Oxford Dictionary after all) that pole dancing fits like a glove to this definition.
I fully understand that there is a stigma round pole dancing, however I also believe rightly or wrongly that people like you are at fault for leaving the stigma lingering. Pole dancing has the ability to increase self-esteem and confidence (I am a case in point for that) and I challenge your opinion that this is not good for teenagers and young children, if anything it could help them growth as a person.
The moves in pole dancing, like gymnastics do contort the body, but isn’t that what makes them worth watching?
I would strongly suggest that before you write another blog airing your opinions on pole dancing and particularly the Art of Dance, you should maybe go along and experience a class or two and find out for yourself that they are harmless fun and a great way to keep physically fit.

]]> Comment on Trending with toddlers: pole dancing? by jasmin http://www.about-face.org/trending-with-toddlers-pole-dancing/#comment-9813 jasmin Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:55:23 +0000 http://www.about-face.org/?p=10004#comment-9813 Have to laugh at the comment “holding their legs in a V-shape.” ! Umm thats called a straddle and its a commen gymnastic pose. Have to laugh at the comment “holding their legs in a V-shape.” ! Umm thats called a straddle and its a commen gymnastic pose.

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