Social Workout

Culture Wars

Squeaky Clean Pole "Fitness"

Pole Fetish (via Trent Nelson)

Pole dancing has never sounded so wholesome. This weekend, Layton, Utah hosted Pole Fetish 2009, the first pole fitness competition in Utah. Naturally, some community concerns arose. The word fitness doesn't actually eliminate the word pole, or the word fetish, and this is, after all, Davis County, Utah. (Named after one Daniel C. Davis, captain of the Mormon Battalion. I happen to know this as I grew up just down the road!) But promoters for the event were awfully persuasive.

In the words of one competitor and event booster: "It's like gymnastics...but instead of a balancing beam or parallel bars, there's a pole." Another promoter said she hoped pole fitness would become an Olympic sport.  Hmm....  One of the rules for this weekend's competition: No tips.  Not sure how many other Olympic sports have to actively state that policy.