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Perceptions of Pole
Hi everyone,
I’m a senior sociology major at the University of Southern Mississippi, and I’m doing a study on the perceptions of pole dance and pole fitness for my senior research project. As part of the research, my professor and I developed a survey that asks for people’s experiences with, perceptions of, and feelings toward pole dance and fitness. While I have had quite a few people who are unfamiliar with pole complete the survey, I have had a much more difficult time finding people who have actually tried pole dancing. With that being said, I would like to invite anyone who can spare a few moments to please take the survey. It is a completely anonymous survey and will only take around fifteen minutes; I have posted a link to it at the bottom of this post. Any and all participation will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much for your help,
Christa -
25 Replies
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I did it…bit disappointed. Has the author any experience of pole? It reads like a parcel of prejudices, stereotypes and preconceptions wrapped up in an academic paper.
Most people as fat as I know are quite able to grasp that people can attend boxercise classes at the gym without it being synonymous with taking up cage fighting. Poling is now mainstream, taught in perfectly normal
gyms and dance studios alongside Zumba and TRX. And the survey also doesn’t even cover home polers who don’t attend classes.I dunno. What’s the survey trying to prove?
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I think what I noticed is a lack of research or depth- it seems to only scratch the surface. It’s dealing with issues that we had around about four years ago, maybe longer, but not with the issues going on now. The connection of stripper to pole dancer is lesser now than it has ever been, and doesn’t seem to often be an issue unless you’re talking with certain, very unfortunate, people and their opinions with objectifying women. Those people are often simply ignored.
I would have been happier to see some more research and a bit more depth in this survey, to see what the current challenges to most pole dancers are. -
Tropical, I agree. I completed the survey. It was excruciating. I felt like the survey itself was shaming me for my pole participation. Can you believe those intro questions meant to identify risky/impulsive behaviors!? One was something along the lines of, “I do things I know are bad for me because they’re fun.” What. The. Hell. And that’s not even the worst of it.
This survey has some major built in biases in the questions that are asked and definitions that are (or aren’t) given. This is the nature of Sociology. How can you say grace and strength and sexiness are mutually exclusive? Ever met a man (or woman) who was attracted to strong women? (Or vice versa?) Don’t think grace and ease of movement are sexy? Get your head checked. What is “sexy” then, exactly? Some people think shyness and subtlety are sexy rather than overt advances. Can women ever win? We will be accused of being “sexy” no matter how hard we try to cover overselves up and hide ourselves. HELLO!! Sexuality is a part of life and a part of every individual. Get over it! I wrote about how women taking back pole dancing for themselves is a wildly feminist act, and so is expressing sexuality in a way that isn’t intended to gratify men. But just because a movement isn’t overtly sexual doesn’t make it not sexy. My mind is exploding by the stupidity of the assumptions at play here.
Unbelievable! By the way, I think you (Venners) are all sexy! I admire your strength (inner and outer) and courage at taking this pole journey despite all the people out there throwing stones and hunting witches. Pole on.
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So I thought it was a bit… Hm… Scattered?! At first I thought it was made for the non-polers… But then I woukd have expected questions like “have you heard of pole fitness?” “Do you know anyone who does pole fitness” Or “how would you feel if a loved one told you that they took pole fitness classes” but at first I did find it a bit weird asking about the stripper or morality thing… But it did balance it with asking about confidence, strength, grace…
Personally I struggle to see the point in the survey, but hopefully the author will find out something that helps her…
Just to comment on what tropical said, it really doesn’t touch on the home poler…. Which I think is who faces the most discrimination. It’s one thing taking a class… That legitimizes it… It’s another thing to have a pole in your home. It requires a lot more explaining, and gets weirder looks.
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On a side note, I suspect the student investigator might actually be a pole enthusiast, given that she chose this topic. I have a minor in Soc, which by no means makes me an expert, but I do understand how difficult it can be to come up with survey questions that actually measure what you’re trying to measure – and moreover, to get a professor (who probably doesn’t Have a very nuanced view of pole dancing) on board with where you are trying to go with it.
I reacted strongly because I have very strong opinions about the topic based on my own experiences.
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I’m sorry for any misunderstandings. Both my professor and myself have taken pole classes, and it most definitely wasn’t intended to sound prejudiced against poling in any form. It was, though, written in a way that presented commonly known perceptions (although some may be negative) in order to get a better understanding of how both people who have experience with pole and those who have never tried pole truly feel about it. One of my goals is to see how the perceptions of people who have never tried poling compare to what is, or was, popular ideas about pole dance/fitness. Overall, the survey wasn’t intended to try to prove anything but rather provide a better understanding of how people view pole dance/fitness.
Also, the survey is designed in such a way that presents the survey taker with questions based on their experience with pole, whether that be no experience, in a classroom, or at home. Again, I’m very sorry for the misunderstanding; I should have explained better. Thank you for taking the survey though. If there are any other issues or if there is anything else about perceptions of poling that you feel was left out of the survey, please share them. I really do appreciate the time spent on the survey and the feedback provided. I hope my explanation for why the survey is framed the way it is makes it seem much less biased. The intention was not at all to frame poling in a negative light but rather to present common positive and negative perceptions, ideas, and stereotypes of pole and compare them with people’s actual thoughts on the matter. -
I took it too, I found it pretty annoying as well..
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Well, the questions themselves introduce bias because the survey is structured around negative perceptions. The introductory questions even, for example, were not positive things. The survey could just as well have asked how strongly I agree with the following: “I am an extremely thoughtful person”, or, “I am a productive member of society”, or, “I make good choices for myself”…you get the point. From the get-go the underlying assumption is that pole dancers exhibit poor decision-making skills or are thoughtless. My point is, why not present the positive side of whatever you’re trying to measure and let people disagree with the statements? Surely you catch my point about the wording of the questions. I think a far, FAR more interesting study would be to construct a second survey using the same questions in the inverse…so questions that are entirely positive, as I mention above (you had a couple, such as, “I think pole dancing is empowering”) – and let people DISAGREE if they have negative stereotypes – and then compare the results of the two. As a Sociology student you must know that the way you word questions dramatically affects the responses you will receive. I just do not feel that your questions did not introduce bias – even while I realize that you yourself do not have a negative attitude about pole.
Very thought provoking, thank you.
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I didn’t have any problem with the survey. I actually felt there were more positive statements than negative ones, actually. The whole point of the survey was to find out perceptions, so of course there were going to be questions about negative perceptions.
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I didn’t really take issue with the survey…. But I don’t think any result would surprise me. Many people feel many different ways. I choose to surround myself with, and share my life with, people who get me 🙂
What would really interest me is having non-pole people’s reactions to certain clips and pics.
See how people feel about pure strength moves, what about those same move in heels? What about fully clothed on a silicone pole? Would people react more to floor work or pole work?
Sometimes I’m curious what puts people off… Is it the lack of clothing? The apparatus? The heels? Or the moves themselves?
Also Im never good at judging what is appropriate for my non-pole Instagram 😜 sometimes I want to share things I’m proud of but I’m not sure of the reaction of in-laws and such. So I’d be curious. When I ask my husband, he usually judges what’s appropriate by the amount of skin showing. I guess that’s a good rule. If I’m (somewhat) covered up and people still want to judge… Let them. I’m so used to watching 1/2 naked girls dance around a pole so I’m soooo desensitized to it!
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I took it. Didn’t bother me at all.
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Hello Veeners:
I am her professor, and the last thing I wanted to do was offend this group which I feel provides a valuable and safe haven for polers. I will try to provide a little background in case that helps. As she is currently a student honing her research skills, as well as in the process of learning about pole through trying it out and interacting with other polers, I would very much like this to be a positive welcoming experience for her rather than a negative one. Because of that, plus the way in which many of the questions offending you are mine, I ask all of you to please direct any anger and frustration towards me and not her. I welcome your feedback so feel free to contact me individually here (or my personal e-mail indicated on the survey). I do have some experience with pole, a couple years worth, and have a pipe in my backyard. I have also read about many polers’ experiences with people who they feel misunderstand the activity. These misunderstandings are multiple, and can be perpetuated by studios themselves. Meanwhile, there is research in the literature on pole but it is very limited and it is often framed by issues of whether the sexualisation of culture is good or bad, etc. At the end of the day, I feel that polers are in the process of creating various meanings for pole, in the midst of a society that has framed it in potentially other ways. I wanted the survey (amongst other things) to give polers a chance to discuss this. I did fear the survey would be read by polers as potentially offensive. Interestingly enough, I actually put the survey up on a computer and discussed how polers and non-polers might read or misread the survey. Although we made changes, I knew some people might still be offended and misread from whence some questions came (read more below), but I took the risk because I think it is important to understand what good and bad stereotypes people have about pole, and because a researcher has to begin tackling the issue by addressing and building off the literature that already exists (whether he/she agrees or disagrees with that framing).
This survey was designed to start looking at what motivates people to take pole classes (as well as more erotic dance classes at studios), and to see how people’s perceptions can change after they take classes or try pole through some other outlet. For example, personally trying pole made me viscerally realize pole required things out of my mind and body that I did not previously anticipate. Rather than automatically assume that the expression of one’s sexuality, versus one’s strength, or flexibility, or anything else, is separate from the other…we wanted to give people a chance to discuss if/how they felt these are separate or overlap.
Question wording does affect people’s answers. Even the order in which answer choices are given affects people’s answers. That being said, many of the questions that are troubling this group were not worded by myself or my student. They are standard wording used to understand why people do what they do, whether it is pole or something else entirely, like not chewing gum in school. This includes that list of questions about acting without thinking or doing things for fun. To make this study relate to those theories about why people act the way they do, we utilized those questions. Of the questions we did word, we tried to take a more balanced approach. Further, my student wanted to give polers a chance to really express themselves in their own words, which is why she included questions where people could just write in their thoughts and would not be constrained by artificial answer choices. I can’t say too much about the theories here as I think that might bias anyone else who wants to take the study, but I would be happy to discuss this with anyone individually.
As for the sample, I encouraged my student to ask the first questions of people who have very limited knowledge and experience with pole. I also encouraged her to give the survey to a very different group of people, those who have experience poling. Home polers who have never taken classes were given somewhat different questions from those who have taken classes (although this probably was not obvious). I thought it would be valuable to see if/how all of these groups’ experiences and thoughts are different. It can start to tell us if the world really has moved on from stereotypes and issues polers may have faced years ago, or not. -
I did think the question about doing something knowing it’s bad for you just because it’s fun a bit odd. Happy hour is hardly good for me but it is fun.
Also, of course my coworkers would find it odd if I were moonlighting as an exotic dancer. I’m an engineer. Tbh, my coworkers find lots of things odd. They are engineers…
And I’m almost 40. No really concerned about what my parents think, lol.
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I honestly don’t understand why people are getting offended by this survey. The whole point of a survey is to allow for the whole range of answers, even ones you might disagree with. This actually seemed like a well put together survey to me. Perhaps there is a knee jerk reaction at play here. Anyway, thumbs up to your survey.
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Again, I wasn’t personally offended by the survey, but I could see how people were… Sometimes seeing things in print can trigger reactions. I’m sure none of it was intended by the author.
But lets see if I can do this…. Hm…. I’ll use both parts of my heritage as examples (maybe thats less offensive?!)…
What if I said, do you agree or disagree with these statements:
Jews are cheap and conniving. (strongly disagree)
Italians are greasy and promiscuous. (strongly disagree)Just cause you can disagree with something doesn’t mean the statement isn’t going to illicit an emotional response by the reader. I think thats probably what people felt when they read the survey.
If the question in the survey did read “I think pole dancing is empowering” maybe the people who feel like it is “immoral” would have an emotional reaction to that. Who knows.
All I know is I love Pole, and SV and everyone really. Hugs and Love all around.
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I agree with LunaLovely. The survey has lot of opinions to choose from. Honestly if it is biased at all it is probably more positive to pole. A lot more questions were like, “does pole make you stronger?” or “Does pole make you more courageous?” And only a few were about strippers. Which for the record, my opinion theres nothing wrong with strippers either.
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I think this is great that someone is trying to clarify/quantify information on this topic, which could lead to further studies looking at changes within the pole world at a more granular level. Good for this person and her professor!
I thought it was a fine survey. I’ve done research and you have to understand that data collection tries to paint an entire picture, in this case both positive and negative perceptions. Just because there’s a question about impulsiveness doesn’t mean the surveyor thinks you are impulsive or not. Science is about being objective no matter if we like the question or the answer.
For those who think the struggle of perception has waned over the last 5 years or so, come to WI and hang out. Most people have no idea what’s going on and are incredibly ignorant/rude about it. I’m guessing (hope) things have gotten better on the coasts!
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Done
Good luck with your study.
In a way I see it as very limited and very conservative outlook on pole athletes in general. Probably would be good to look at a history of pole sports (chinese, indian tradition etc.) also into development across the world like Russian, Ukrainian Federation of Pole Fitness, Pole fitness facilities for children in Europe… starting at age 5 and up. Ballet dancers coming to pole transforming it into a form of true art performance. -
Usually, unless one is writing a book, it’s best to narrow down the topic of a thesis, otherwise it gets out of control. It might be useful to touch on the history of pole sports such as Chinese pole in order to bring context to certain points, but to go full-on into it might not be in the best interest of the thesis.
Another thing I wanted to mention though, as someone else pointed out, perhaps a more comprehensive survey might question non-poling people what they think, as well as showing them pictures of a woman dancing with heels, without heels, perhaps show a video where a performance is gymnastics-based vs one that is meant to titillate. For example, when the survey asks what my friends’ and coworkers’ reactions would to my pole dancing or stripping I can only guess what they might be. So whatever I say is my assumption and might not be accurate at all, thus skewing the veracity of the survey results.
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I appreciate everyone’s feedback and ideas. My student is working on a project that she is designing and carrying out within this one semester, so it has to be limited in scope (although hopefully we can work on it after the semester ends). This questionnaire is just one portion of her methodology, and when distributing a questionnaire, it is easier to get a higher response rate when the survey is limited in length. This constrained how many questions we felt that we could ask.
In terms of the sampling, she is sampling non-polers, and there have been people who completed the survey who do not know that pole classes exist. This is why some of the questions are they way they are at the beginning of the survey. The questions about what your friends, and co-workers think (plus some of the other questions) are designed to test a particular theory. It isn’t so much about what they really think that matters, but what you believe they think that matters in this particular case. I don’t want to skew things by talking about the theory more here, but if anyone messages me individually I can explain our thought process for including some of the questions.
I think the idea of having non-polers look at pictures and videos is a really interesting and useful one. I presented some work on pole at a conference last year and began by showing a video montage of polers and I could hear from the ooohs and ahhhs and comments that these people had no real conception of what pole was like before that. In terms of the history of pole, I think looking at how people frame the history of any activity is very important. It can be a rhetorical strategy in and of itself. -
I thought the survey was fine. It presented what I must admit are some very real misconceptions about pole fitness and gave me a chance to say that I thought they were misconceptions and to tell why. I’m 56, a nurse, very conservative upbringing and live in a very conservative community. I’ve been taking pole classes for 8 years and I consider myself intermediate in skill. I love it but I’m very selective about who I tell about it. I wish it didn’t have to be that way. I am very excited that someone in a university setting finds pole fitness a topic worthy of researching. Thank you, I hope the results of your research will allow people to have a more realistic perception of what pole fitness really is in these current days and times.
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I see pole fitness as just another form of gymnastics. You can take any prop or apparatus and make it something else and use it in a different way. I tell everyone I know the physical challenges of pole fitness and if they roll their eyes I show them my biceps! I don’t know anyone else in my area that does pole fitness. The local studio teacher isn’t knowledgeable or safe and most of the attendees are strippers half my age. So happy to be part of Studio Verna:)
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Ooops, another type, Sorry Verna!
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Now I see what is happening, my computer won’t let me spell your name correctly. I will have to figure out how to take spellcheck off:)
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I took the survey and thought it was fine. I have no psychology background so the “offensive” bits might just have gone over my head.
Is it maybe possible that people got offended because some things are sore points for specific reasons?In any case, peace and pole
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