In an ironic twist of fate, I recently both (re)started pole dancing as well as yoga. It is ironic because I also happened to watch a documentary called Yogawoman (it is fantastic, you should watch it). It addressed a growing frustration in me that whilst so many women practice yoga, the recognition they receive is…well…non-existent. People, and especially men, see yoga as a ‘soft’ form of exercise, mostly meditation, where no real effort is exerted. Yoga is something you complete in between shopping at Lululemon and a coffee catch up with girlfriends. And oh how wrong they are.

I won’t go into too much detail as you can watch it for yourself (linked below) but yoga once was relegated to the domain of men. It was practiced and taught by men. The feminine was seen as something to ‘overcome’. Once, when men participated as the leaders of the practice, yoga was seen as something logical, helpful and substantial to be involved in. The attitude to women who practice it in the West, especially and unfortunately from men, has been one of (sometimes not so subtle) dismissal. It is after all, the easy version of working out for housewives.

Attitudes to pole dancing are of a similar vein. Whilst it is not something that has been historically practiced by men, it is certainly seen as something practiced for them. Telling people I like to pole dance seems to be the equivalent of telling people of what you like in bed. A naughty, flirtatious confession.

Having said that, I do understand why people have certain ideas about the sport (are we saying sport or are we still saying dance style?). It does involve a pole and the majority of contact people have had with poles of that nature has been in those clubs. And it does involve a lack of clothing. A lot of pole studios market themselves as a way for women to get back in touch with their sexuality (although this is a tricky one because it is often seen to be sad and pathetic. Why?) and the wearing of stripper heels often undermines the ability for people to take pole dancing seriously.

Having said that, preconceived ideas do not validate dismissive and belittling behaviour. Having a pole in your bedroom to spice up your sex life is as close to pole dancing as me riding my bike to grab a newspaper is to Olympic cyclists.

The fact is that women who come back after their beginner class love pole because it hurts and because it makes you stronger. Instead of proving how tough you are by repeatedly bench pressing at the gym like a mouse caught in a mouse wheel, we prove how strong we are by doing pull up’s one handed on the pole…followed by inversion and splits and holding on by the skin on our ribs. We bruise and we display our bruises proudly. We don’t wear all that many clothes because we need our skin to scrape against the brass so we don’t fall and crack our heads open. And sometimes, the ladies like to wear heels because it not only makes you look good but it also increases the degree of difficulty required to dance.

The professional pole dancer level is that of Olympic gymnasts. I doubt the protein shake addict in your gym weights section could perform a third of what the likes of Felix Cane do. My pole instructor tells me to ‘suck it up’ every time I complain and feel sorry for myself. The hardness of the pole and the floor on your body and mind are much more unforgiving than the emotionless repetition of weight sets. Of course strength training is vital, even for a pole dancers. But the point is that we should not be so quick to dismiss pole dancers work as something inferior to that of their male companions.

The fact is that pole will probably have it’s reputation of sexiness for some time to come. Whilst we practice it, we forget how little people of the ‘outside’ world really know about it. The heels and the ‘finding your sexuality’ will raise eyebrows (and admittedly, some women will only use it to that end). But for the majority of us, pole dancing is not something we do to impress our boyfriends. It is something we fall in love in because we can fly, we can be acrobats and free women. The sense of camaraderie and sisterhood in a class is unparalleled. There is no judgement here based on how flat your stomach is or how beautiful your hair. We are all equal and all try our hardest to climb as high as we can.

Just as women continue to battle to claim the yoga mat so we should continue to reclaim the pole. It should not be a shameful, embarrassing thing to say you do. It should be something we are comfortable saying at work, with no follow up of validation that it’s not ‘stripping’…just like our yoga class is not an hour of relaxation. It is time we stopped being so ashamed and secretive about being women who love to pole.