The Belly Dance Taboo - An Erotic Fantasy, a Patriarchy Victim or a Feminist Victory?

"Ye to sirf prostitues karti hain"
(It is a dance carried out only by prostitutes)

I was dumbfounded 1 morning while my boss produced that scathing statement whilst we had been discussing how we invest our weekends pursuing our passions. He additional went on to share some unsolicited guidance on how I ought to "Do it only infront of my husband or boyfriend."

I was infuriated by this crude ridicule of the integrity of the art I adore and my soul felt agitated. I would have created a snide remark around his caveman mindedness if, at that immediate, the demure girl in me wasn't forced to reconsider the option produced a year back.

I reminisced. I had, with fantastic enthusiasm, consciously selected to discover belly dancing as a way to discover and express my femininity. First I was skeptical around participating in an encounter that is assumed to be sexually exploitative but was instantly struck with contradiction. For the initial time I appreciated my physique for what it was in a position to achieve physically and aesthetically.

It felt so great. The doubt transpired. It transfigured into an urge to spread awareness around the art type and address the stigma attached to it.

'Belly Dance' is a well-liked improvised version of Raqs Sharqi, a dance kind originated in the Middle East that entails undulating and serpentine movements of the torso. Extremely known by the image of a voluptuous lady in a sequined costume and bare midriff performing such movements.

It originated as an art type passed on from a mother to her daughter to prepare the womb for kid birth and was frequently done at social gatherings.

Then how come along the way an art with such sacred origins came to be recognized as disreputable, some thing no suitable females would indulge into and it was shameful for men to watch as properly.
Patriarchy.

"Belly dance exists at a point of conflict amongst girls's expressions of basic truths, and patriarchal interpretations of this expression. It really is not an effortless spot to be", Andrea deagon phrases it properly. It's these points of conflicts from which we can alter realities.

When for girls the dance was a way to express feelings and a inventive outlet to reconnect with their sensual selves which is an intrinsic aspect of human state.

The patriarchal era viewed girls as a potentially disruptive force and their sexuality regarded unsafe, due to the assumption that men are unable to resist their strong lure.

The cruel patriarchal norms thus gave rise to a stereotype of belly dancers as sexually offered, morally questionable, exotic unveiled dancer, an antithesis to restrained Muslim womanhood.

In addition, although the west began to colonize Middle East, it attached the element of exotic to it. Failing to learn the movement vocabulary they wrongly perceived it as anything sensual and irrational. It was quickly shunned as a dance that arouses carnal desires in men.

Due to the fact men can not handle themselves against girls's allure, they put the duty on ladies as an alternative. Are there any other causes why it would be so intrinsically wrong for ladies to express their sensuality in public?

I would say belly dance is transgressive For the reason that it destabilizes social assumptions that ladies really should not (publicly) shake, or draw focus to their breasts, hips, abdomens, and specially their pelvises.

Nowadays, girls about the planet are taking it up and you ask them why?

To go beyond the comfy into what stretches, challenges and revitalizes the mind. It aids them to tap into their physicality, reconcile with their physique, feel liberated and foster a spirit of sisterhood.
It really is sad that such an expressive dance kind remains so misunderstood by a majority of the society and For the reason that of my unabashed appreciate for it I can only hope the planet quickly comes to embrace it.