Pole Dancing for Little Girls Is Nothing to Freak Out About (VIDEO)

Pole dancing is something most parents don't like to imagine their daughters doing (in fact, Chris Rock even dedicated an entire bit to the goal of keeping daughters "off the pole"), but maybe we need to reconsider. A recent video of three young girls displaying their pole fitness skills on a morning show has reignited the debate over whether this form of exercise is appropriate for kids, but is it really much ado about nothing?

In the video (from ITV's This Morning), two 8-year-old girls named Tilly-May and Timea and one 11-year-old girl named Mia take turns performing a series of moves for the cameras (as well as for the rather bemused and/or incredulous anchors). And while the girls definitely know what they're doing, there's certainly nothing salacious about their routine — check it out:

Impressive, right? It's an artful mix of gymnastics and dance, almost reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil choreography. In fact, if you'd never seen a stripper dancing on a pole, it probably wouldn't even cross your mind that there was anything inherently sexy about what these little girls are doing. Unfortunately, a lot of people have seen strippers dancing on poles, so a lot of people thought there was something very sexy about what these kids were doing, and they naturally took to Twitter to express their disapproval. (Among the criticisms were comparisons to child pornography and the complaint that it made one viewer just plain "uneasy.")

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As the mother of a daughter, I get it — on the one hand. We live in a society that's all too eager to sexualize young girls, which is both disturbing and inescapable. And yes, there is something to the argument that even though these girls might be too young to understand the sexy subtext of their moves, there are plenty of people (grown men, ahem) who understand every bit of that subtext, and that's just gross — not to mention potentially dangerous.

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But at the same time, we can't let our fears and preexisting notions surrounding the definition of "sexy" hold our daughters back from having a little innocent fun. Plus, these girls are getting exercise and learning how to use their bodies in a positive way, which can only boost their self-esteem … and if there's anything we can give girls that might truly serve to keep them "off the pole" in the future, it's high self-esteem!

Image via The Daily Mail