I received an email this morning advertising pole dancing classes for kids, ages 12 and up. It – well, astonished is too strong a word, but at least made me do a double-take. I understand that pole dancing is an art form, artistic expression, etc., but since pole dancing DID originate as a way for women to sell their bodies to make money, I cringed at the thought of someone who hasn’t even fully developed from a child into a woman doing something like that. Since the Dope is pretty progressive about stuff like this, I was just wondering what the general consensus here was about a 12-year old taking pole dancing classes.
A 12-year-old pole dancing? What a granny!
Not a parent, but I can’t bend my mind into not thinking that it is creepy.
And yet, we have no problem with kids that age or younger taking gymnastics classes. Is there really a big difference between the two activities? Should there be? Why is the uneven bars an acceptable piece of gymnastics apparatus, but not the vertical bar?
As Chronos says, or implies, the pole is just equipment like a bar, used with dancing (instead of gymnastics). If my daughter (who is 12, incidentally, and takes dancing lessons) said they are going to learn pole dancing next time, I wouldn’t mind. I trust her dancing teacher to have a minimum of decency. She seems to be okay. I vote “with reservation” because if I didn’t know what establishment it was or who the teacher was, I would not allow her to go. But that is obvious, I guess.
Seriously. To this generation, and even many millennials, it’s just another athletic apparatus. My daughter’s brownie leader used to openly discuss her pole dancing class with people like it was cross-fit.
But I know what the men of my generation will be thinking when they see her on it, and so that just isn’t happening. She’ll have to find another activity that appeals to her.
Pole dancing has such a strong link to Strippers. People can claim it doesn’t always have to be bumping and grinding. But… its hard to ignore a hundred years of burlesque and stripper clubs.
I’d still have very big reservations about my child being taught pole dancing.
Heck even the symbolism of grinding on a pole (wink, wink) is very creepy for an under aged girl.
There’s too many other styles of dance. I’d say no to pole dancing.
Not a parent but we did raise a couple girls for a couple years. I would want to meet the instructor and see what the class is like but I would want to do that no matter what it was; karate or pole dancing. So I’m coming down on the no reservations side of the equation.
I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard that it was forbidden to openly sale leeks during the Victorian era, because of the presumed associations.
But sometimes a leek is just a leek.
Have you been to a strip club lately? It’s not like back in the day where the girls just sort of wiggled around awkwardly while disrobing; nowadays it’s more like Cirque de Soleil but with a two-drink minimum and only slightly less clothing.
Absolutely. Hers is, what, the third generation to take pole dancing as a fitness class? For women one or two generations older than her it may have fallen in the “sexy, not sex” bucket. At this point it’s just more full body than spinning class. I might stick around for the first class or two to check out a class and talk with the moms (I assume that the moms will be taking their daughters to this one, not the dads), but it sounds like a fun thing for the kids.
With reservation. I raised my son to think and do independently. I’d like to think I’d raise a daughter the same way. Before I’d accept, I’d make sure her mother had a talk with her about the stigma associated with pole dancing. And if she still wants to do it, have at it.
But if I’m being honest, I’d still wince at the thought of it.
A child who was biologically mine and with my level of physical ability, I’d be kind of worried about her cracking her skull open but I’d let her try. Flexibility is one of the few physical things I was good at.
The Niece? When she asked to start dance classes, her mother tried to sign her up for ballet. The teacher explained that children that age didn’t get ballet yet, but given how she was bouncing around the office, hip-hop seemed more appropriate once they started on the separate lessons. SiL started to throw a fit and apparently she wasn’t the first mother to do so: the teacher had several recordings at hand showing that her hip-hop classes consist of lots of synchronized bouncing and very little grinding. If The Niece ever decides she wants to pole-dance, my main worry will be that the pole be well-anchored at both ends, that kid has more energy than most boys.
These are my reservations - who is the teacher? Do they know how to teach 12-year-olds without injuring them? What’s the atmosphere of the studio? Is there proper safety equipment (and do they actually use it at appropriate times? All the pads in the world do no one any good if they’re stacked in the corner) Is there enough supervision?
Basically many of the same reservations I’d have with any dance class - plus a little more because the curriculum and teaching isn’t as standardized as ballet or tap class. A 12-year-old will be doing gymnastics on a pole, not grinding. Here is a kid doing some kind of tv-talent show (putting behind spoilers just in case -
but it doesn’t seem any weirder than any other dance/gym routine) [spoiler]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6uGIMXBB3o[/spoiler]
The rechristened “Pole Sports” has been granted “observer status” - a step on the way to becoming an Olympic Event.
So, enrolling both your daughters and your sons in pole dancing classes is now a patriotic act 
When my daughter was 12 she wouldn’t have understood the cultural implications of pole dancing, which is different from a grown-up taking said classes. Besides the fact that she might drop it casually into conversation with some random person, she might also be asking me five years later “I did what??”
Um, fuck no.
Upon consideration, I think my reaction would be stunned amazement that she was willing to sign up for anything NOT related to her iPad, followed by me quickly packing her off to start.
Parents take their kids to the mall to sit in Santa’s lap, so what’s the big deal if they give him a lap dance?
No, I thought of this.