belly-dance-rants:

I confused about the sexuality vs belly dance thing. Is it wrong for anyone to find belly dance erotic? Because it does emphasize the body,and its movement. Also,I love burlesque,and I think the style basically takes anything (I once saw a burlesque piece based on cooking) and makes it erotic and fun! Is it an insult if the person watching and doing it know that not all belly dance is sexually meant? -Anonymous

The reason why belly dancers really hate the fact that most see it as sexual is because it’s like belly dance = stripping. We get teased and asked if we will be taking our clothes off, if we’ll be using a pole, wonder why there are families at parties, things that are COMPLETELY the opposite of belly dance standards.

I don’t know if you are from the US, but here sexual women are seen as… morally corrupt. They shouldn’t expose their sexuality and if they do, they are the wild childs, the hookers, the whores, the bitches, the loose girls, the strippers, the porn stars. Basically, we are disgusting and undesirable if we are openly sexual.

Burlesque is border line for me, personally, but others it’s seen as empowering feminine fun. What we want people to see is an art form, not some sexual dance that is only for men. It can be sensual, yes, but sexual…? Mmm, no. We want people to see the hard work we put into this dance and not see it as something that just about ANYONE can do without proper training.

If someone were to see a sensual dance as erotic, I can see the connection there. But if it’s a fun shimmy-filled drum solo, that seems offensive to me to call it erotic.

To put it all to a short close, we are trying to get rid of the sexual stereotype and make it into an art form.

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4. lokisflyting reblogged this from velociraider and added:

   Yes it is. It is also hella sexy.

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6. velociraider reblogged this from ilove-bellydance and added:

   I’ve posted about belly dance not being taken seriously before, and this is a much more eloquent way of phrasing it....

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    I’m actually having to debate this with friends and family when I told them I wanted to take bellydancing. It’s a...

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    I’ve actually had to go to City Council and speak up about this subject. They wanted all restaurants and nightclubs that...

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