“Stripping for fun and fitness explicitly means not stripping for money, and implies the middle- and upper-class privilege necessary to pursue exercise as a recreational activity” -Jessica Berson
While I agree with many of Berson’s assertions in The Naked Result, I disagree with this one. Pole dancing has been, and will continue to be, a hobby of working- and lower-class people. In fact, it is much cheaper than other hobbies, such as gastronomy or skydiving. I discovered (in a place where I’ve lived) that fire dance classes are slightly more expensive than pole dance classes, but belly dance classes are far less expensive than pole dance classes. Dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant is much more expensive than all of these.
However, the cheapest option for pole dancing as a hobby is installing a pole at home. When I was taking online pole dance classes during quarantine, I saw some interesting home pole set-ups. Many people who aren’t middle- or upper-class can fit a pole in the bedroom, dining room, living room, or kitchen of their apartment. A new (safe) pole (I recommend xpole) costs about the same as buying 20 pole classes in a studio. There are many people who sell xpoles used for even less money. You can purchase online pole classes for the same price as online belly dance classes. Or, you can find hundreds of free pole dancing tutorials online—a big shoutout to Elizabeth B-fit and her YouTube channel!
You can pole dance at home in Uniqlo under-things or Target bikinis. If pole dancing is just a hobby, expensive pole wear is part of the consumerist drive of its mainstream marketing. To appeal to the middle- and upper-class, pole dancing has expanded into a variety of clothing brands, international retreats, and other ways to ostentatiously spend money.
Returning to Berson’s quote, which is part of her response to the mainstream marketing of pole classes, many sex workers have poles at home for “fun and fitness.” Her book was published in 2016 and takes camgirling into account, unlike books that she quotes (and I’ve read), such as Flesh for Fantasy, which were published before online sex work took off. 2016 was the year that OnlyFans was founded, and I’m sure Berson’s book was written and edited at least a year before it was published. She couldn’t predict how online sex work would transform in the following years.* Home poles can be used for work and fun in a world of OnlyFans accounts and Twitch streams. A home pole is sometimes a signifier that a woman does online sex work, and she’ll often dedicate a spare room to her filming/streaming set-up (including a green screen to hide her location). This signifier is something that whorephobic dancers push against, loudly reminding people in a pick-me tone that their home pole set up isn’t like those other girls’. The economy in the 2020s also means more women are turning to sex work.
In many ways, I think exercise is more crucial for working-class people than those who don’t have to work in order to survive. I’ve worked a variety of jobs that require me to be physically fit. This not only includes dancing professionally (in clubs, Ren faires, and a variety of other places) and teaching dance, but also working in retail and food service. Exercise physically, and emotionally, supports working-class people who have to stand and move around a store or restaurant for hours on end. A YMCA (or YWCA) membership is much cheaper than most dance classes (and sometimes includes dance classes). There are also thousands of body-weight exercise videos (no equipment required) on YouTube that can be done at home for free. If you need to work a physically demanding job, exercising is a way to protect your body’s longevity. Exercising also supports the mental health of people who rely on income for housing, food, medicine, etc.
In the capitalistic dystopia of America, there is a lot of stress surrounding labor for working-class people. Exercising won’t erase the limits of our socioeconomic condition, but it helps to cope with pay that isn’t keeping up with the cost of living.
*For more about the economics of online sex work, check out the first season of Hot Money
Pole dancing is definitely my most expensive hobby as I train in a studio. I feel very privileged that I can afford the lessons. I like to think of it as an investment in my health because it challenges me both physically and mentally!