Praca kobiet świadczących usługi seksualne w agencjach towarzyskich

Ślęzak, Izabela

doi:10.18778/7969-991-9

Cited by 14 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…At the same time, controversies surrounding the notion of pole dancing prevail and are encountered even among those involved in the activity who attempt to set clear-cut boundaries between the recreational activity they undertake and exotic dancing others perform (see, e.g., Whitehead and Kurz 2009), as in, for example, the use of the hashtag #notastripper. 2 Such 'othering' unveils how pole dancing is socially constructed as a deviant activity (see : Prus 1996;1997;Prus and Grills 2003) and can be seen as an example of how female bodies and sexuality are socially controlled (see, e.g., Holland 2009;Wojciechowska 2015;Ślęzak 2016). In that sense, it constitutes an offshoot of exploitation dis-1 Jennifer Lopez used online video sharing and social media platforms (e.g., YouTube) to document and explain the hard work it takes to perform pole dance moves and to elucidate the physical and health-related benefits of the activity, which could have an impact on further popularization of pole dancing.…”

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confidence: 99%

“I was ashamed, and now I am proud as I finally know how to let go.” How Female Polers Perceive, Experience, and Give Meanings to Their Bodies—An Ethnographic Case Study

Wojciechowska

2023

QSR

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Although the popularity of recreational pole dancing continues to gain momentum, its prevailing association with the erotic sphere and resulting stereotypes shape it as a borderline activity. Notably, the way pole dancing is approached and enacted elucidates how bodies, especially female embodiment, are socially constructed and controlled. Thus, to look at that issue from recreational female polers’ perspectives, this article sheds light on how their understandings of the body evolve with their engagement in the leisure activity at hand. That process is analyzed in the context of how women deal with tensions that arise while they navigate between the internalized societal expectations concerning desired femininity and personal agency. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data from pole dance studios in Poland, I discuss how polers’ perspectives on their bodies change from personal and interactional ‘limitations’ to embracing their bodies as interactional partners with whom to achieve their goals. In the process of learning by doing, women get to know their bodies and develop with them a relationship based on trust. Subsequently, growing to understand the bodies as their substantial selves that functionality allows them to achieve the ‘impossible’ as one empowers women. At the same time, I highlight how the process of espousing alternative perceptions of one’s body unfolds under the umbrella of an internalized frame of meanings concerning female embodiment that lures women to fit societal expectations. The interplay between the two sheds light on how female polers navigate toward reclaiming their self-confidence from the clutches of the critical social gaze while negotiating the notion of their bodies. Compelling in that regard is how relying on erotic associations with recreational pole dancing in terms of inciting empowerment through a sexual agency, as some studios do, plays out and factors into female pole dancers’ experiences concerning their leisure activity.

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confidence: 99%