Sleazy soft-porn entertainment for smoky, low-life strip clubs, or a bit of good, clean fun, a great way to keep fit; just the job for getting the kids off the couch and into exercise?
It is, of course, pole dancing which has got the world (I exaggerate not) in a spin.The stooshie started when Cardiff council announced that it was providing pole-dancing lessons for children as young as 11. The council said that the classes had "captured people's imaginations" and"provedpopular with families". Cue outrage from parents and councillors and much gnashing of tabloid teeth, and then a climbdown by the council who finally recognised that, erm, offering young girls (I'm assuming the lads of Cardiff are off playing rugby and singing in male voice choirs) classes in a style of dance associated with the sex industry wasn't a great idea.
Advertising for the course on the website for St David's Hall, where the classes are to be held, has now been changed. Apparently the lessons are "sold out". Participants that have signed up are over 16. A picture of a woman twirling suggestively round a pole has been removed from the site. A council spokesman has said sorry for any offence. There has been no apology for the alarming display of crass stupidity and blatant misinterpretion of the good use of public money.
Meanwhile, in Australia (told you this was a global stramash), there has been similar outrage over this risqué business. The Australian media authority last week ruled that Channel 7 breached the industry code by incorrectly classifying three episodes of the soap Home And Away as suitable for children. The programmes contained scenes of pole dancing.
From Tiger Bay to Summer Bay, it's taken public complaint to convince those with the power to influence young people that they're dancing with the devil. Those who argue that normalising pole dancing in some way neutralises its seedy connotations are out of step. Mainstream does not automatically mean acceptable.
Then there are those who defend the "artform" as a valid way to get fit. I accept it takes athleticism, strength and agility to pole dance. But there are wee girls the land over getting the same benefits from gymnastics, ballet and martial arts.
As for crazy Cardiff council, I suspect it's just another example of fitness fads gone mad, but without a decent PR department. We've seen them come and go: boxercise, stepercise, salsacise, thighs- tumsandbumsacise. In a bid to keep keep-fit interesting, aerobics has grown arms and legs. Jane Fonda will be squirming in her Lycra. Last week I got fed up running round the uneven pavements of suburbia in the dark. Let's try some good old aerobics, I thought.
I stumbled across Body Jam. This sounded a bit sticky. I wondered if it was some sort of cosmetic treatment; what you slap on after the body butter. A call to the sports centre confirmed that it was "a bit dancy". I now know how to do "Beyonce hands" and discovered where my booty is (although shaking it is not a pretty sight). Those of us gathered - a dozen women for whom youth is still a recent enough memory not to have given up on the right to let our hingie bits hang loose, but who are old enough to have a laugh about it - had good fun and will be back. But next week we'll wear Lurex. As for the children, of course we must encourage physical activity in an increasingly sedentary generation. But healthy exercise and erotic dancing are, well, poles apart.
