by Mandy Van Deven
– India –
Anyone who has ever sat through the frequent and painstakingly choreographed musical numbers in a Bollywood film can tell you that dance is an integral part of Indian culture. From Bhangra in the Punjab province to Kathakali in Kerala, each part of the country has its own distinctive combination of body movement, facial expressions, and hand positions which form the regional style. But nowadays in urban India, dance is not simply used as a form of cultural expression. Women of means are being seduced by a type of dance that is a little more, shall we say, exotic.
Lessons for striptease, burlesque, lap dancing, and pole dancing are the newest class offerings at local fitness centers and dance studios in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. Housewives, college students, magazine editors, and professional businesswomen have found a common way to explore their dormant sexuality and burn calories by swaying away the stress of living in a demanding modern society. These women juggle the same roles as their Western counterparts—wife, mother, professional—and the contemporary affluent Indian woman finds a space of her own to relax, have fun, and get in touch with her inner diva while taking lessons in exotic dance.
When asked about the appeal of these erotic moves, Sneha Krishnan, editor and co-founder of the feminist webzine Sa, says, “I think one big reason is Bollywood. Sexy dances have become, increasingly, the symbols of liberation in Bollywood cinema, and as always, Indian women are following.” The bikini is the newest fashion sensation appearing in Hindi cinema, and if you pair exposed flesh with certain sensual choreography, you can see the “adult” appeal.
The influence and increasing prevalence of American pop culture also plays a part. Every Café Coffee Day, the Indian version of Starbucks, plays a constant rotation of MTV videos that glamorize the openly sexed up moves of pop starlets like Britney Spears, Katy Perry and the Pussycat Dolls. The Dolls themselves were a burlesque troupe before entering the mainstream, and their music is used in the classes to inspire the student’s inner vixen to come forth and be a “hot freak” like the quintet. Fulfilling the simultaneous desires to craft thin yet curvaceous bodies and claim a sex appeal of their own, exotic dance classes help women shed pounds and inhibitions, see their bodies as beautiful, and demand a right to their own sexuality.
“These classes have become popular with young Indians in particular because they are seeking out innovative ways to stay in shape, and they give them a confidence that comes with doing something different and unique,” says journalism student Hamsini Ravi.
Aparnaa Venkatesh agrees, “A lot of women attend these classes because they want to express their sense of freedom and identity, or perhaps because of the thrill factor of doing something that doesn’t toe the line of conventionality.” This brand of freedom, however, still has some constraints.
One may find personal empowerment while gyrating around a pole, but that doesn’t mean the behavior is socially sanctioned. Most women who attend these classes aren’t ready to admit to their families how their afternoon trip to the gym is spent. Indeed, it was a challenge to find women willing to speak to me for this article. Instead of being completely forthcoming with more conservative family members and friends, many women tell their loved ones they are simply going to work out. However, some students attempt to convince their friends to join them, and the ones who are more daring bring what they’ve learned in the classes into their intimate relationships.
“For some women, showing boyfriends and husbands new moves would definitely be a motive,” says Krishnan, though she is quick to add that some men would see the dance as immodest and unsuitable for one’s wife. For those unperturbed by the private show, the classes’ reputation is bolstered by husbands and boyfriends responding positively to the, er, stimulation. Men want to feel wanted by their partners as much as women do, and these classes help the students feel at ease when expressing their own desires.
Those more prone to moral policing may be uncomfortable with what women learn at places like Mumbai’s Dare and Bare, but the students overwhelmingly report positive results. A woman may enter the class with apprehension, but after learning to break free of taboos, she leaves feeling rejuvenated, more confident, and comfortable in her own skin.
Exotic dance isn’t likely to make its debut in Bollywood in the near future, but that won’t stop some women from suggestively swaying their hips in the privacy of their own homes.
About the Author
Mandy Van Deven is a freelance writer and the founder of the Feminist Review blog. Focusing on gender, politics, and popular culture, her work has appeared in various online and print media, including AlterNet, Bitch, In These Times, and make/shift. Mandy worked for over ten years as a grassroots organizer in New York and Atlanta. She is an avid and enthusiastic world traveler who has collected friends in countries all over the globe. Mandy currently lives in Kolkata, India.
The ’empowerment’ of women does not result from emulating the big business porn!!!!!! This is evidence of the insidious cultural colonization of non white women by sexist western ideals of beauty and femininity. Why, because you too are ‘worth it’! Please read the info bellow from Object:
# The mainstreaming of the sex industries, in particular pornography, lap dancing and prostitution – is leading to the ‘pornification of culture’ in which images of women and girls influenced by pornography is increasingly prevalent.
# The sexualisation of women and girls is linked to the promotion and reinforcement of sexist attitudes which underpin discrimination and violence against women, as well negative effects on individual health and well being
http://www.object.org.uk/index.php/new-object-report-urges-tough-action-on-sexualisation-of-women-and-girls
Merryn- So do you see this as a kind of “false consciousness” on the part of Indian women?
No, not “false consciousness”, rather I see it as a western post feminist amalgamation of hetero-norms about sexuality, femininity and consumption re-sold with a new face. Old sexist stereotypes of what it is to be sexual and feminine are re-packaged to women as apparently now offering them ’empowerment’. We can see in the west that this has back fired severely with young girls being placed under extreme pressure to perform ‘sexy’ at younger and younger ages. Servicing the phallus-(performing traditional roles of being the object of male desire) is a double edge sword. We know how men treat women in the sex industry so why emulate this? How is this really empowering?? Is it because women are trying to appropriate the horrible sexism they see everyday with the attitude ‘if you cant beat them join them’?
What do you mean by “empowering” exactly? Empowering to whom? And in what way? And for how long? And who gets to decide what is and isn’t empowering? And if you decide that erotic dance isn’t empowering and another woman believes it is, are you not denying her agency and ability to speak her own truth? Feminists use this term “empowering” a lot without actually specifying what they mean by it.
Also, what do you mean by “traditional”? It’s important to remember that India is not the United States. Which is to say that India doesn’t have the same social and historical context as the US, and therefore, actions that appear to people from the US (or the West more generally) to be an adoption of “western post feminist amalgamation of hetero-norms about sexuality, femininity and consumption” may not actually be this way when viewed through India’s, not America’s, lens. Viewing it as a Western co-optation denies that there may be something uniquely Indian about the actions and experience, and if one takes that perspective, then you can also argue that adopting feminism and freedom that resembles the West is eroding “true” Indian culture. (This is what is being argued here by Hindutva groups and Indian feminists are struggling against this ideological framing.)
That being said, many feminists in America disagree with your assertion that erotic dance is anti-feminist or replicating sexist norms. There is wide variation in the experiences of men and women who participate in the sex industry. An alternative to the standard dichotomy of end sex work vs. have exploitative sex work is to reform sex work, which many feminists are doing (see: Audacia Ray, Courtney Trouble, Feminist Porn Awards, etc.)
Furthermore, taking a class in erotic dance does not make a woman a sex worker (though this is just the accusation–overt sexuality = whore–that would no doubt be lobbed at them from the conservative family/friends from whom Indian women hide the real nature of their fitness activity), and none of the women in this article are sex workers either. So you’re mixing a few of your points together in ways that need to be more clearly delineated.
I am glad to see that it has finally made its way to India though. Being more in tune with ones sexuality is very important, and though it is true that there is a certain stigma associated with pole dancing and stripping, that the playful element of it is what makes it empowering.
There is a wonderful interview series of professional women in online journalism.
http://www.ourblook.com/Table/Gender-Studies-and-Media/
The interviews were conducted by the University of Iowa gender and mass media class this past fall.
Ah so pole dancing is all part of Indian culture is it? Once again
pseudo feminists are claiming western feminists are forcing a version of
feminism on Indian women. No need to look at how white male supremacy
is blatantly promoting pole dancing as empowering to all women
irrespective of their real life experiences living in a world which
continues to be male dominated and male-centered.
Whilst feminism has never claimed all women are identical – what
feminism does state and this is commonly dismissed as too radical, is
the fact women globally live in societies which are male dominated and
male-centered. How the system of male domination over women varies but
something all women have in common is the fact we cannot lives
independent of male control and male domination.
But claims western feminists are imposing their view of feminism on
non-western women is a common tactic much used by those who promote
individuality and belief we cannot criticise any culture when such
cultures oppress women as a group. Therefore we must not criticise or challenge anything because apparently we are all
equal individuals, actively freely choosing how to live and enact our lives. So, we also must not challenge or critique societies which engage in torture or imprisonment of individuals (read men because women
do not exist as human) who dare to challenge dictator regimes.
Claims concerning ‘pole dancing’ does not replicate male domination over
women or promotion of male supremacy’ is in fact a cover for sexual
libertarians who always claim prostitution and the sex industry is not
male sexual violence against women and enforcement of male supremacist
ideology. The patriarchal/male supremacist system has at its centre the
belief that women and girls exist solely to sexually service men 24/7,
as well as always being in relation to males and ensuring males’
needs/demands/expectations come first and women’s rights/needs etc are
not even relevant let alone a human right.
So promotion of pole dancing for women is all part of white male
supremacy as well as generating huge profits for the promoters. Pole
dancing cannot be separated out from the now global mainstreaming of
pornography and widespread belief that a woman’s sole value lies in
becoming men’s sexual service stations. But then feminists must never
critique or point out how the sex industry is not about ’empowering
women and girls globally’ but is solely about maintaining male
domination and male oppression of women globally. Women globally have
not succeeded in throwing off the yoke of male domination and male
control but the rhetoric of ‘choice’ is used to make such claims. Pole
dancing is, as we know, tied in with pornography and the message of porn
is women are men’s sexual service stations – nothing else.
Claims such as choice, freedom, empowerment, promotion of a male-centered notion of female sexuality is
commonly viewed as ‘feminism’ whereas in fact such claims are not new but more of the same old male control and male domination over women as a group. The male supremacist system has used this approach before as I discovered on reading Marilyn French’s A History of Women In The World.
When laws were enacted in 19th century Britain concerning working class women the rhetoric used was ‘protection of women’ whereas in fact the real reason was maintaining male right over female right to work. So, such claims are not new – the only difference is the language used. Who
benefits from promotion of women as men’s sexual service stations? Why men of course – because claiming women are ’empowering themselves by adhering to male supremacist notions that women are ‘sex’ whereas men
are human is one of the central tenets of male supremacy. Becoming a sexualised object does not alter or change how the social construction of male sexuality is predicated on male domination and female submission. If a woman’s sole value rests in her being ‘sexually hot’ to men this does not challenge or change male supremacy – it only reinforces widespread belief women unlike men are not human.
Mandy, no one is saying that taking a pole dancing class means you have become a sex worker.
We are talking about “this brand of freedom” and what it means for women.
If you did not want such a discussion and merely wanted all your readers to agree with you that these Indian women are gaining freedom by signing up for pole dancing lessons, then you should have said so in your essay. It is pretty low to accuse non-Indians of being unable to identify with Indians and thus unable to make any judgement on your article, other than agreeing with you.
Koibrush: So what do you think this brand of feminism means for women?
I don’t expect nor do I want readers to simply agree with me. I want to dialogue, and so I respond to the comments.
It should be clarified that what I have written here is what Indian women have told me about their own perspectives on whether erotic dancing is freeing or empowering, some of which I agree with and some of which I don’t. Other things still I maintain an ambivalence about. What I do believe, however, is that it is important for non-Indians (particularly non-Indian feminists) to listen to Indian women when they speak about their own lives and forms of resistance and empowerment, as they are the experts in their own experience. And while a non-Indian cannot know what it is to be Indian, there is certainly room for empathy.
Actually, Koibrush, that question should have been “what do you think this brand of feminism means for INDIAN women” since that is what this article is about, and the responses should pertain to the particular subject matter at hand.
Echo, Forgive me if I’m misinterpreting your lengthy response, but it seems like you’re saying that because women live under patriarchal oppression, all tools of the patriarchy are implicitly oppressive. Is that correct?
If so, I both agree and disagree with you. I do think it is possible to alter a tool to the point of having forged a weapon for dismantling, but perhaps that’s a combination of my Marxist idealism and Shiva philosophy speaking: the key to the system’s destruction can be provided by the system itself, as it was created to self-destruct.
I also think its important to not overlook one’s agency, and the implicit paternalism in saying that the choices a woman makes for herself are disempowering (and the choices you favor are better) when she believes otherwise. This article doesn’t have the voices of white males saying pole dancing is empowering; it has the voices of Indian women. And while the larger context should be considered alongside one’s personal experience in discussions of oppression and freedom, why should the larger context take precedence? Should it not be considered in tandem with individual freedoms? If not, aren’t you simply replacing one hierarchy with another? And what exactly does this non-male-centered sexuality look like? Can it not include something like pornography and pole dancing?