Sexistential Crisis

So yeah, pole dancing FAIL.  Let me give you a breakdown of the situation.  A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine had organized a bunch of us ladies to go to take some pole dancing classes at the S Factor in the Marina.

Sure, pole dancing sounds like fun, and why not add more sexy dances to my repetoire, but there were a couple red flags:

1.  What in the name of christ is an S Factor?  I honestly don’t know.  All I know is this screams marketing lame-o talk and I can spot it a mile away.

2.  The class was held in the Marina.  Say no more.

Ok, so despite my skepticism about the location and the way they’ve branded this place, I brave the throngs of douchbags on the 22 to get there (they were in overabundance today as it’s also the SF douchebag fair Union Street Fair).  But seriously, this should be fun, right?  Me and a bunch of friends… how could this go wrong?

Well let me tell you.

So we get all set up and sign a 6 page release form (I may have handed over an unborn child.  Honestly it was ridiculous) and enter into a dimly lit room with a couple lights at either end, draped in red sheer fabric, two stripper poles in the center and a bunch of yoga mats lying about.

Our instructor, an extremely exhuberant woman enters the room with literally 200+ pounds of sass to throw about and begins to tell us that this is a place of love and acceptance.  We are all beautiful woman (blah blah blah) and there are no judgements here.  There are no mirrors, as well.  So far, I’m ok with this woman.  I like that she’s not a skinny bitch, I like that she’s got some personality and while I’m not big on the whole woman empowerment “you are a blossoming beam of light in the world” thing (which generally rings phoney to me), whatever.  I can deal.

So before we get stripper poling, or whatever it is we’re supposed to do, she asks if anyone has injuries.  Of course on the tome of paperwork I’d signed prior I did mention that I have achilles tendonitis due to a past life as a somewhat overzealous tennis player:

So I mention this, and my friend Hadessa mentions some rather serious issues she has with her knee caps just randomly popping out of place.

And with that out of the way we begin.  The lights are dimmed even further to the point where I can barely see anything and we are instructed to close our eyes (because we don’t want to judge the other woman as they warm up or work out — seriously??) and for the next 45 minutes are, literally, blindly instructed on a variety of stretching and pilates moves.

Red Flag #1: There are a lot of wrong ways to stretch and do pilates.  Not looking at the instructor is the absolute HEIGHT OF STUPIDITY.  To suggest that I have to close my eyes to do these exercises because I might judge or be judged by the other women there further emphasizes how shallow this whole “women empowerment b.s” really is.  I don’t need to close my eyes to be supportive or feel supported by other women.  Honestly, this is dangerous and very poor form.

So after our 45 minutes of blindly and presumably improperly stretching to phrases such as:

Clear your mind, open your arms and let them flow around your body the same way a fisherman casts his net into the deep blue lake of your soul.

WHAT?  What kind of stretch is that?  What does it mean?

And, my personal favorite:

Feel your vagina with your hands as you lie down and let your hands slowly caress your body as you move from the birthplace of the goddess to fondle your breasts.

Honestly it felt like a group masturbation circle.  Especially when in this process we were instructed to lie on our sides, rub our asses and on the count of three spank ourselves. Honestly, I can’t make this shit up (and no, in case some of you are wondering, the class isn’t open to men).

So finally after all this stretching we’re ready for some sexy moves.  We start learning some move to make us pounce like a cat.  The instructor mentions that we should use this to distract our boyfriends when they’re watching football (which, incidentally, if I ever do date someone that watches football and isn’t naturally distracted by my sexual prowess, please shoot me).  So we practice this move for a bit and then go onto sexy walking, which is kindof like coordinated drunk walking, slinking one foot in front of the other while thrusting our hips to and fro.

But there’s a problem, Hadessa’s knees are in pain from the 45 minutes of improper stretching and then overexerting herself while doing the cat move “entice your p.o.s. football watching boyfriend” thing.  So she moves to the side of the room and takes a break.  At which point, 200 pounds of sass comes walking up to ask her why she’s not doing the sexy drunk walk.  Hadessa explains that she’s in pain and need a break to which ‘sassy’ responds:

There are no breaks in this class.  If you’re not going to participate you have to leave the room.

So Hadessa gets kicked out.

Shortly thereafter, we are taught how to swing around the poll.  This move is dependent on placing all your weight on one ankle as you slither down the pole.  Immediately another red flag goes off.  I spent a month in physical therapy trying to un-fuck my achilles tendonitis two years ago and have no desire for a flare up.  But I give it a shot and sure enough the pain returns.  I tell the teacher I can’t do that again and she shrugs it off and says I should just try on the other ankle.

But I can’t.  See achilles tendonitis is recurring and can be debilitating.  So I leave, unprompted by the teacher, though feeling dejected and certain she’ll kick me out when she realizes that I won’t risk injuring the one ankle that isn’t in pain.

I walk outside and see Hadessa, who looks like she’s just been punched in the face and she immediately starts crying.  We leave, but not before I read the manager the riot act and get us a refund.

I wish there was a happy ending to this story; I did find the moves, the new age hypocrisy and the personal molestation rather amusing.  I just wish we could’ve ended the class actually feeling accepted for who we are and not on such a low note.

At the very least I’ve learned how to slink around the floor like a sex kitten and I’m sure one of these days that’ll come in rather handy.