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Musings on Feminism and Belly Dancing

Back in May, I was enrolled in an anthropology of gender class.  We were talking about situations of women expressing their sexuality for their own enjoyment and whether it challenged or upheld notions of female beauty. I brought up my belly dancing class because I find belly dancing classes to be rather unique spaces in terms of women and self-esteem. Here is a place where people (mostly women) of all shapes, sizes, and ages are encouraged to show off their abdomens, move their bodies, and feel powerful and sexy while doing it. When it came time for the local hafla (dance party. It’s pretty much a ballet recital for adults), our teacher left it up to us individually whether we wanted to show our bellies.  To my pleasant surprise, most women in the class took her up on the offer—women in their fifties, women with stretch-marks, women of all shapes and sizes were dancing exuberantly, their bellies revealed, and, you know, all of us had a wonderful time. It was incredibly empowering. My roommate and I, at the age of 21, were by far the youngest in our class, and it felt great to be surrounded by older women who still loved their bodies enough (perhaps not every day, perhaps not all the time) to show them off in this image-positive setting.