Performing Gender in Recreational Pole Dancing: Enabling and Constraining Factors

ABSTRACT

Many people consider pole dancing to be a feminine leisure activity and a female dominated space, but it has recently gained observer status in the Global Association of International Sports Federation (GAISF), thus entering into the field of sport where hegemonic masculinity has historically prevailed. The strong connections between gender, body, and sport and the gender inequalities that permeate the sports culture make it interesting to explore the enabling and constraining factors of performing gender in recreational (i.e., nonoccupational) pole dancing, which is the aim of this article. The methodical approach is qualitative and inspired by ethnography. The article is based on a field study done in Copenhagen, Denmark, including observation, participation, and interviews. The theoretical perspective takes its point of departure in Judith Butler’s theory in Gender Trouble. First, the authors found that the body ideal in pole dance includes both feminine and masculine qualities. The analysis also shows that the different styles of pole dancing (i.e., “sportified” or “sexualized”) and the context in which pole dancing is practiced (i.e., women only or mixed sex) makes a difference regarding what enables and constrains men and women when it comes to performing gender. Inspired by Butler, the authors also discuss which possibilities pole dancing holds for performing gender in new ways, thus challenging oppressive gender norms. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of pole dance becoming a sport in relation to the possibilities of performing gender.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants in the study for their time, helpfulness, and openness.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ While some pole studio owners and pole dancers in the study were paid to teach and sometimes paid to perform, we did not explore pole dance as it is practiced as a profession in strip clubs.

² When including gray literature, there is also Finland, Croatia, and Czech Republic. There is also some literature from Russia, but it does not have English abstracts.

³ As also touched upon by others (e.g., Holland 2010; Kim and Kwon 2019).

⁴ In the study, pole studios A and B leaned mostly toward the sportified style of pole, while studios C, D, and F considered themselves more art/dance based. Studio E was somewhere between the sportified and sexualized styles (Jensen 2015b). This is presented here because these studios are the subject of analysis in this article as well.

⁵ When the study began, there were eight pole studios in Copenhagen. However, two of them (one used in the study) closed during the study while a new one opened. Since then, another one of the studios from the study has closed, and a few new studios have opened.

⁶ Bahri (2012:2,8) also pointed out that the empowerment is limited, as some styles of pole “exclude non white and/or non heterosexual women” and “contribute to the stigma of sex workers.”

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any funding.

Notes on contributors

Andorra L. Jensen

Andorra L. Jensen is a PhD student and teaching assistant professor at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sport at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She mainly works within the field of sport sociology and pedagogy but also has an interest in gender. Her current research project concerns the university education of and daily practice of physical education (PE) teachers regarding gymnastics as a subject area in high school PE in Denmark.

Lone F. Thing

Lone F. Thing is a professor and head of the Department of Sport and Social Sciences at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway. She has a master’s degree (Cand. scient.) in the areas Humanities and Social Sport Sciences and biology and a PhD from the Department of Sociology—all were undertaken at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is a researcher in sociology of sport with a specific focus on the body and the emotions