There are thousands of ways to diet and exercise, and every year it seems as though another fitness fad dominates the market and becomes the latest obsession. Step aerobics, Tae Bo, yoga, pilates, the list goes on and on.
When it comes to extraordinary means of maintaining fit and healthy bodies, however, this one takes the cake.
Flirty Girl Fitness, an increasingly popular workout program, has brought the world of stripping to your living room. The Flirty Girl Fitness program teaches its audience exotic dance moves once hidden behind the debaucherous doors of the local strip club. In order to obtain that sexy body you’ve always wanted, you can slim down and tone up by learning lap dance moves on your kitchen chair. And for just $1.00 more, Flirty Girl Fitness will send you a Flirty Fitness pole to install in your own living room. Bonus!
Launched in 2005, co-founder and co-“Flirty Girl” Kerry Knee bought a pole for her home to teach herself “exotic” dancing and experimented with incorporating the moves into a fitness routine. Kerry quickly developed a “prowess on the pole” and rapidly “took to the new sport.” The Flirty Girl Fitness studio is now one of the leading workout facilities for women in Toronto, and the program has quickly spread throughout North America.
The routine includes dancing with feather boas, lap dancing on kitchen chairs, pole dancing, and dance moves consisting of participants rubbing their bodies in not-so modest ways. The promotional ad aired on national television would force parents to cover their children’s eyes.
One must call into question the participant’s intent in working out to this program. Possibly thousands of women will watch the commercial and say to themselves, “If only I had a stripper’s body.” The Flirty Girl Fitness program plants a dangerous idea in women’s heads that they can’t be slim or beautiful without resorting to a pole or lap dancing.
Perhaps the greatest crime of Flirty Girl Fitness is the exaltation of stripping and exotic dancing to something to be desired. No longer is pole dancing a reprehensible occupation reserved for scantily clad women disrobing before desperate men; it’s now a sport or a simple hobby. Ultimately, Flirty Girl Fitness will lead to the further objectification of women, empty promises, and lowered self-esteems.
Nowadays, it’s easy for women to submit to the pressures of the health and beauty industries, particularly since commercialism and marketing tells us that we’re not pretty enough or thin enough. If we don’t have flawless bodies, we’re left with a feeling of worthlessness.
In order to combat the objectification of and the pressures of commercialism on young women, Dove, the skin care corporation has launched its Campaign for Real Beauty. Through intense and thought-provoking videos, the Campaign displays how commercialism and the pressures of the beauty, health, and fashion industries enable insecurities in young women while encouraging parents to talk to their daughters about what constitutes real beauty.
It’s a shame that so many women succumb to such pressure. In a society in which “dignity” is a dirty word and “sexy” is a trait to be desired, it’s no surprise that so many women are flocking to the Flirty Girl Fitness studios.
But, like all fitness trends, perhaps pole dancing will fall by the wayside. Look on the bright side. At least it’s not Richard Simmons on a pole.