This book provides an international, multi-disciplinary empirical account of pole classes and how they fit into wider discourses about bodies and gender, and age and fitness. In particular, the book explores how women initiate agency and espouse liberation and empowerment through something as seemingly problematic as pole classes. This book, the first of its kind, examines pole dancing classes, which are held in more than 50 countries worldwide. This study draws on original qualitative data collected in the UK, Australia and the US with participants who attended pole dancing classes and their instructors. Using pole dancing classes as a starting point for a wider discussion about gendered physicality, body image and embodiment, leisure, empowerment and pleasure, the voices of the participants are placed alongside current discourses, drawing on leisure, gender and cultural studies and sociology to reveal a phenomenon with many contradictions: for example, the recurring theme of participants disliking physical exercise, but of feeling liberated, and even empowered, by pole classes. Such findings challenge the image of pole classes as sexualized and objectifying. The book also examines such topics as men and pole and the worldwide pole community Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 List of Figures......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 1 Towards a Feminist Ethnography......Page 17 2 From Circus and Sex .........Page 34 3 ... to Fitness and Leisure......Page 52 4 What is a Pole Class?......Page 69 5 What Not to Wear......Page 87 6 Diversity and Empowerment?......Page 101 7 ‘A Thing of Beauty’......Page 119 8 The Pole Community: Opening Closed Minds......Page 139 9 Case Study 1: ‘Empowering Women with Confidence’......Page 152 10 Case Study 2: Power Moves and Everyday Bodies......Page 169 Conclusion: A Positive Active Identity?......Page 186 Appendices......Page 197 Notes......Page 203 Bibliography......Page 206 B......Page 214 E......Page 215 H......Page 216 M......Page 217 P......Page 218 S......Page 219 W......Page 220 Z......Page 221 "This book pays much needed attention to a fascinating phenomenon emerging from striptease culture and the mainstreaming of sex ... Holland's cutting-edge ethnography illuminates brilliantly the complexities of feminized and embodied empowerment swirling around these poles, as women from all walks of life explore this new form of exercise and self-expression. 'Poler' is now a new word in my vocabulary!"--Catherine M. Roach, Associate Professor, New College, University of Alabama, USA 'Pole Dancing, Empowerment and Embodiment is accessibly and appealingly written ... [offering] a fresh perspective and much needed empirical contribution to current debates around the sexualisation of culture.' - Sociological Research Online Machine generated contents note: Acknowledgements * Introduction * Part I: The Context * From Circus and Sex ... * To Fitness and Leisure * Methods, Ethics & --Reflections * Part II: The Classes * A Beginners Journey * The Princess & --The Pea. Or, Exercise in Disguise * The Pole Community * Part III: Two Case Studies -- * Pole-Da-Cise * Mens classes * Discussion & --Conclusions * Appendix: Table of Responses to Online Questionnaire * Bibliography Machine generated contents note: Acknowledgements * Introduction * Part I: The Context * From Circus and Sex... * To Fitness and Leisure * Methods, Ethics & Reflections * Part II: The Classes * A Beginners Journey * The Princess & The Pea. Or, Exercise in Disguise * The Pole Community * Part III: Two Case Studies * Pole-Da-Cise * Mens classes * Discussion & Conclusions * Appendix: Table of Responses to Online Questionnaire * Bibliography .
this Book Provides An International, Multi-disciplinary Empirical Account Of Pole Classes And How They Fit Into Wider Discourses About Bodies And Gender, And Age And Fitness. In Particular, The Book Explores How Women Initiate Agency And Espouse Liberation And Empowerment Through Something As Seemingly Problematic As Pole Classes.
