(I wrote this originally as a comment on another post, but want us to have a discussion anout it/get more visibility so decided to make its own post)
Something that I think gets overlooked in the inappropriate nature of these performances for children is the fact that many young girls are enrolled in dance classes where they're often underdressed and over sexualized- yet this slided by as totally normal and acceptable.
I took dancing as a kid and while pur dance costumes were typically spandex, there were always longer shorts under the skirts, no revealing low cut tops etc. And the dance moves themselves werwnt sexual in nature at all.
Over the years the typical dance companies have moved more and more into competitive dancing, and with this the costumes and dances themselves have changed drastically.
I have no idea if there is a larger umbrella group that is pulling the strings behind the dance conventions and competitions that has driven this trend, and then the individual groups just following suit in order to be comparable to the competition; or if this is just happening organically and along side the larger cultural shift that's taken place where young girls are being sexualized in media, tv, etc.
I've found it rather disturbing going to dance recitals for family and friends and seeing gueks as young ad 7 and 8 years old doing stripper moves in booty shorts. Absolutely disgusting. And a pedophiles dream, as most of these performances are open to the public.
Even my family members who are very religious seem to ser no problem with this as it's just become a widely accepted part of "dance culture"
I thought when there was so much outrage over Cuties that this reality would be acknowledged, yet somehow I never saw it come up. Even my family members who were very loudly against Cuties and cancelling Netflix etc seemed absolutely oblivious to the fact that their own daughters were wearing the same types of clothes and doing similar dances. Very biizarre.
This goes into the whole child pageant realm as well. Such young girls made to look like women. Basically with so much make up and frills they'd fit right in at any child drag show.
I think this is a major blind spot, and something we need to start speaking up about in the same way we speak out about children in drag. It's the same form of abuse, just without the rainbow flag.
Grooming little girls to ride the stripper pole.
Pretty much
Yep I have problems buying dresses for my little girl. I want her to look like a princess and to not freeze if it goes below 80. It's so weird why do they have these strapless things that look uncomfortable and impossible to keep in place on little kids. Then you find one that covers on the top and it's far above the knee. Nobody wants to see a little kids underwear. It's so gross.
And high heels for children!
So insane and absolutely unnecessary
My wife didn't take dance or skating, she wasn't allowed play pretend dresses or makeup, she didn't idolize any pop stars when she was little, she was not allowed to join swim team, her parents were incredibly strict about even mentioning sex and were face value hyper puritanical Christians yet she herself will tell me how young she was when she started thinking about sex. And she grew up into the exact opposite of what her parents would have wanted, not to mention the mental trauma and emotional abuse her parents have never truly owned up to even today.
I'm 100% sure had she been allowed those things like any other little girl she would have grown up normal and happy, not needing help or feeling ashamed and guilty about herself as a woman.
There's evil people in the world but not everything is a cabal rigged conspiracy
Yeah going far to the other end of the spectrum is always a recipe for disaster.
There is a healthy middle ground there somewhere. Unfortunately we slipped right by it and went from one extreme to another.
I hope your wife has found comfort in her body and sexuality. Its tragic when those things are taken from us, whether it be by well meaning parents or abusive perverts
There are a lot of "normal" activities that are thinly-veiled sexual rituals. Not all of them involve children, but dance is one that certainly does. Yoga is another that's more geared toward adults, but the premise is the same - degrade the culture with sexual innuendo while pretending it's not.
Okay dance in general is not a thinly veiled sexual ritual. What is this, Footloose? Hahah...
That's also not at all what Yoga is.
That is the slippery slope with fundamentalism
Everything human eventually is deemed evil..even stretching or dancing
That's why I don't bother to talk much about this sort of thing anymore - I get labeled a "prude" by those who either can't or don't want to believe that activities which have been fully integrated in our culture are actually satanic in origin.
I've made my peace with it, and you're entitled to your beliefs. I'm aware that I'm making bold claims here. As far as yoga goes, let's just say it's not a coincidence that one of the men responsible for spreading yoga to the west in the 1970s turned out to be quite a prolific sexual predator:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga
If you don't see what's wrong with this picture, there's some very deep programming at play:
https://i.ibb.co/crZkTZQ/Bikram-Yoga-with-Bikram-Choudhury-Flickr-tiarescott.jpg
This is right on the creep's Wikipedia page. It's what passes for "normal."
Of course, this form of yoga dropped in popularity when the world found out how sick its founder was. But the seed was already planted. It was rebranded to a different "style" and no one batted an eye.
The harsh reality is, yoga is one of the dozens of ways women are being sexually exploited by the system, as part of an ongoing campaign to turn them all into whores. The reason it works is because many women have been duped into believing yoga is empowering and/or good for them. It isn't. Maybe that's hard to believe if you don't have male brain chemistry - as a guy, I know exactly what all of those poses are supposed to convey, and I promise it has nothing to do with making you more limber.
EDIT: One last thing. On the subject of your original post, I want to commend you for having the courage and ability to see how they're exploiting children. But, it's not just the children; grown men and women are being abused with similar techniques, and I hope you see that too.
In a world where most people are completely sedentary, a form of exercise that encourages full body movement and stretching of deep connective tissue/fascia is healthy. And the meditative and deep breathing aspects and just simple body awareness are positives.
I'm not personally a yoga person, the trend of it never appealed to me and it's been commodified in a way I've always found obnoxious. The way classes are conducted and the general energy of the entire yoga movement was just never something I felt drawn to.
Like most things, it exists on a spectrum. And there is definitely a lot of exploitation that takes place in yoga communities. Some of it sexual, some of it spiritual, some financial, and often all 3.
In general the idea of connecting deeply with ones body and breathing/stretching is healthy. I was aware of Bikram and the abuse side of things and certainly dont think that went away with him, plenty of people still exploit that realm.
I do think it's a stretch to say all body movement is evil. These are our bodies, beautiful and amazing things they are. Moving them is crucial to our existence.
In general, I agree with you here. Stretching and exercise are very important, especially given the obesity crisis we face in the west.
When I speak of the satanic nature of yoga or dance, I'm referring to the institutionalized, commodified versions of these activities. I'm focusing mainly on yoga here, because dance is a much broader term and I can get behind the idea that there is something "fundamentally human" about engaging your body to a rhythm.
Yoga is not a catchall for "stretching." Will you burn calories doing it? Sure, but you can also get your cardio from doing any number of physical activities - it doesn't have to be degrading. Point is, yoga was not created with scientific rigor in mind. There are better ways of training your body that don't involve "downward facing dog" (even the names are degrading...)
EDIT: Here's a good article that goes into more detail about the scientifically unsound nature of modern yoga:
https://www.advancedhumanperformance.com/blog/truth-about-yoga-flexibility-mobility-training
I haven't read the whole thing, but I don't think it goes into yoga's satanic origins or anything like that. I just wanted to back up my claim that yoga is not a great exercise.
Anyhow, the human body is an incredible thing and physicality is not intrinsically evil, but it is being exploited at a cultural level. Let's go with an obvious example: sex can have a positive, crucial role in our lives, but how does it manifest in the culture? Porn. It's done incredible damage to the male psyche. In a way, I'd say yoga is to exercise as porn is to sex. They take something positive and spin it in a perverted way, that's the whole idea.