I just came across a reference to this fascinating sounding article …
“How does she do that?’ Belly Dancing and the Horror of a Flexible Woman”
VIRGINIA KEFT-KENNEDY
University of Wollongong, NSW Australia
Abstract: The role of belly dance and the meanings attached to this dance for both the women who perform it and their spectators have undergone radical change since it was first introduced to the West in the 19th century. This article raises a series of questions about the process of bodily transformation through the practice of belly dance and explores the mechanisms by which women attain empowerment through the moving body. In particular, the complex intersections between ideas of display, spectacle, and the “grotesque†moving body are examined.
It is from Women’s Studies, Volume 34, Number 3-4 / April-June 2005, pp. 279-300.
It don’t have online access, but it sounds like a fascinating article; when you think about it men always seem to look uncomfortable around belly dancers – at least the Western men I’ve seen. It’s quite an aggressive form of movement.
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