Diversity and Empowerment?

Abstract

This chapter focuses specifically on the diversity, or not, of pole students and instructors, looking first at issues of race and ethnicity, and age, and going on to discuss ideas about empowerment. Is there diversity in pole classes? In Chapter 4 I discussed the ‘whiteness’ of the venue of the classes (a city centre pub) during stage 1 of the research; I also discussed how by stage 2 of the research many schools or instructors were setting up dedicated, women-only pole studios. So while initially, and to some extent still, many classes took place in venues which may have been unwelcoming to some groups of women, overall the shifts in the venues of pole studios has made classes much more inclusive, at least in theory.

The diversity of students in our courses encourages us to empower each other through the art of pole dancing.

(www.poledancingschool.com/, accessed on 10 June 2009)