It was whilst sitting in an empty strip club in Amsterdam, waiting for my tour guide, a former sex worker, to arrive, when I stared at the poles raised on the platform before me and began to truly understand why it was so hard for people to recognise that a sport had emerged from this, let alone accept it. 

 

When you tell people you do pole, a range of reactions can follow. “Most are very supportive and [people] realise that pole is very hard,” Rebekah tells me. “They are mostly very impressed.” But “once in a while, you get an odd reaction of course, where someone immediately refers to the supposed ‘dodgy reputation’ of the sport. I am sure every pole dancer has discussed this with their pole friends,” Miriam says. Both Dina and I have been asked a number of times if we were strippers. “I’ve also had a couple of guys (always guys) hint that it must be a great way to meet women,” Indigo adds. “But honestly, if that’s the goal, there must be easier ways that don’t leave you as battered and knackered as pole does.” 

 

The variation in reactions reflects differences in awareness about pole as a sport, and the stigma that surrounds sex work in general. “I think it depends on whether they have heard about it before”, Miriam says to me. Many people probably associate pole dancing with stripping and sex work, which is indeed where the sport originates from. Yet there are significant differences between pole and stripping. There are three main styles of pole dance, the first of which is pole sports, or ‘fitness pole’ where strength, athleticism and agility are displayed via acrobatic spins, tricks, and holds. Performers often compete in pole sports competitions. The second is exotic pole, which is the most similar to ‘stripper pole’ and is the style of pole which probably springs to mind first for many people. It focuses more on sensual, fluid movements, and is typically performed in high heels and incorporates body rolls and floorwork. The third is artistic pole, which focuses more on artistic expression and storytelling and incorporates more typical elements of dance or choreography. FKA Twigs can be seen performing a style of pole most akin to artistic pole in her music video ‘cellophane’. These are not strict categories; pole dancers often incorporate various elements from the different styles in a performance. Dina describes pole as “an intersection between physical fitness and self expression through dance music.” 

 

“The general pole class I would teach is very different to a Strip 101 class, for example. A Strip 101 class is designed for strippers, or people who want to work in the industry,” one of the speakers on the EP 75: Stripping Vs Pole episode of the ‘Uncovered - For Pole Dancers’ podcast says. It was a desire to find out more about the origins of pole that led me to the guided tour of the strip club in the first place. 

 

The governing body of Pole and Aerial Sports is the International Pole Sports Federation (IPSF), home of the World Pole and Aerial Championships (WPAC). The IPSF’s goal is to regulate pole sports, hold competitions, and promote it as an athletic sport so that it will one day be recognised by the International Olympic Committee. Most recently, pole sports was awarded Observer Status by the Global Association of Global Sports Federations (GAISF). In Cambridge, the application for pole to be a half blue or blues sport is still underway. Pole dancing still struggles to be recognised and taken seriously as a sport, in large part due to its origin in and association with sex work. The struggle for pole to be seen as a sport also indicates that there is still much room for improvement regarding both gender equality in sports and how society tends to view female sexuality, especially as pole is a female dominated sport.

 

The fact that pole sports’ origin and association with sex work currently hinders efforts for it to be taken seriously as a sport belies general attitudes in society towards sex work, which is stigmatised and often not viewed as ‘real work’. Sex workers are often not taken seriously or treated with respect. Miriam notes that the more unpleasant reactions you can encounter when you tell people you are a pole dancer “can be a good entry into asking yourself and others what the sport’s origins in and association with sex work and stripping mean for you, and how you can honour this fact. I sometimes share something about the history of pole dancing, or which sex worker union I donate to, and how I made that decision.” 

 

Anyone who has ever tried a pole class knows how it is more difficult than it looks. The simple act of climbing up the pole requires quite some strength. The outside leg hang (depicted below), for instance, requires hanging upside down on a pole (which can be made to spin) almost entirely by the skin of the back of your knee.