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QUEERING SPACES

In the practice assignment you will propose through a process of analysis, observation, critical questioning, mapping and prototyping, a ‘queering’ of an existing space or setting. With the word ‘queer’ in this particular context, we mean the act of diverging from or subverting normative engagement with a given subject matter.

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In progress, notes

SELF DIRECTED STUDY WEEK

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-Everyone brought and wear their own knee pads and “pole dancing heels”
(except me since it’s my first trial)
-Our sight is engaged on the teacher and reflection of ourselves mainly.

- People seem to know each other from outside of the lesson
- 8 participants + 1 teachers
- All female presenting participants
- A variety of outfits are worn from sporty to sensual lingerie
- Everyone is facing the mirror wall to look at themselves
- The teacher introduces us to today’s lesson
- The teacher shows us the choreography bit by bit. First, by counting on 8 times and showing us the steps. We then practice the moves on her count. Then, the teacher shows us on the music, and we practice on the music. Once a segment of the choreography is accepted, we go to the next steps back on counting.
- Movements are on the pole, around the pole and on the floor
- The teacher focuses on communicating us tips and guide us on feeling confident and sexy for ourselves
- People cheer each other up commenting on each other’s sexiness in a way that is empowering and not objectifying
- People speak up if they struggle with a step, the teacher gave me alternatives for moves I could not achieve as a beginner
- People comment on each other’s outfit, complimenting them (one participant made her own)
- The teacher shares a lot about herself, I perceive it as a way to make other comfortable

- Small space +-25m2
- 8 poles
- People select a pole and fix it so it does not rotate
Clothing is minimal to be able to use our body’s texture and heat as a grip
onto the pole
- Outfits are used by people to empower themselves during choreography
- Sound of heels on the floor, heels clapping, legs clapping
- Sound of music and the teaching guiding us
- I can only smell my own sweat

- People take off their shoes and go change in the back room upon arrival
- Students & teacher cheer eachother up with positive attitude.

5 examples of how a space directs a body
Observing invisible rules in a space you've never been before
List all the communities you could be part of


1. Sign prohibiting certain ways to dress in certain public spaces
2. Happy 99 / Digital brand that focuses on digital creation and digital runway, allowing for freedom of shape and design since it is not limited by physical limitations
3. Instagram post by soaking_wet_angel. A video of a person kissing another person’s foot, where digital editing is used to distort real physical space and create power play.
4. Michael Jordan wearing the shoes that were banned by the NBA for not following court
5. Natural environment affecting the choice of footwear used for specific activity.
regulations.

OBSERVING POLE DANCING

My own position



Others












Setting

Rules

Why do people follow these classes? What does it fulfill in their lives?
Do people wear what they wear outside of these lessons?
How would the dynamics change in mixed classes?
How would the choreography change if performed by other genders?
Why are clear high platform heels exclusively used for these exotic pole dancing lessons?
What elements makes them comfortable wearing such outfits without fearing harassment?
How does a class setting differ to a performance setting?

I am highly interested in the intersection of gender expression, equipment (shoes, clothing, protection), sport and safe space.

First observation

- There was a warm up moment with aerobics movements. People put their shoes on after the movement.
- People wanted to film themselves before getting tired
- Space was an issue for some motion as the leg motions would hit other participants. People had to take turns to dance.
- The teacher & student talked about shoes
- They say shoes are made very cheaply and the plastic rips
- Shoes need to offer support
- Clear vinyl sandal, vinyl boots, Faux leather boots
- The teacher gives alternatives to motions that not everyone can do

During my second visit, I had the chance to observe further interactions & interview the teacher, Jill.

- Who cares? attitude
- "I always feel like I can do anything!"
- Jill started pole dancing after doing roller derby for 2 years. She wanted to train her arms, do something different that wasn't a team sport.
- Jill is very feminine inside and outside of pole dancing.
- " Femininity is a loaded gun. I don't care too much about it, but when I understand how the world reacts to it I said yeah, I can use this. "
- She feels comfortable in her style (Heels, loose hair, sexy)
- "Never in my life have I compromised my femininity to be taken seriously. I used to be called threat on heels."
- Jill always felt comfortable in her own skin. It became natural for her to make others feel as confident once she realized not everyone feels like this.




- At the start, student feel shame and she has to push them to stick their butts out
- "When I came to my first exotic pole dancing class, I had 5 panic attacks. Coming to your class makes me feel good!" a student.
- There is a noticeable change in the students after the lessons. They hold their head high, feel confident & are proud of what they've achieved.
- Why do people feel such shame to ben exotic is about not looing sexy, distancing themselves from stripper culture and being closer to a form of break dance.




- You cannot wear a lot of clothes for pole dancing because you need grip.
- Students who took exotic with the previous teachers dressed in leggings, sportsewar, ponytails. Once they saw Jill teaching in fishnets, they felt free to dress more sexy as well.
- " People say to women that have authority and power "she's a man" but they cannot say that about me because I present myself very feminine, they find that very confusing."

Jill is a psychology student & self taught pole dancer & instructor. I first heard of her and her classes through KLAUW collective, a queer & BIPOC collective in Rotterdam.
After class, we had a discussion/interview session where she told me more about her and her vision of pole dancing as a performer and a teacher.

@dr.bitchcraft_

General observations

Style

- Jill would not change her lessons based on what genders are in class. She only offers her own style no matter what.
- " I have no choice, this is who I am"
- The owner suggesting toning down the moves and Jill responded " Hire me for who I am or don't hire me at all". Later, the owner thanked her for standing her ground and offering authenticity in class.
- The goal is to teach things like confidence and power through dancing, but it's not only about the dancing.
- When teacher in a school where exotic classes are new, Jill pushes the students to accept themselves. "LOOK at the woman in the mirror, you have to live with her for the rest of your life! Make eyes contacts, love her!"
- In this class, you are free to do everything society says you can't do.




- It's about feeling good about yourself.
- Ituitive dance style, Jill makes her choreography the night before class as it has to fit her mood.
- "Who cares about technique? You look like a robot. I wanna see people in their dance!"
- American exotic is linked to stripper culture. Jill thanks stripper for giving her pole dance, she does not want to distance herself from them.
- Russian exotic is about not looing sexy, distancing themselves from stripper culture and being closer to a form of break dance.




- "I find it boring to watch pole dancing [of myself or others]. I like to film it, post it & never watch it again."
- People who look at pole dancers online are distracted by the nudity, they do not look at performance or technique.
- jill sees a very capitalist approach to it; some people jsut want a hot video to post online. It's also fine, but makes the people focus on how it looks vs how it feels.
- Jill makes students pole dance facing the wall so they realized that they are stuck in the mirror. She wants them to be mindful of how it feels in their body.
- "Pole is very complex. It's avery pretentious thing. People post long captions to justify being naked on Instagram. Why can't they have their butt out just to have their butts out?"
- This need of justifying is maybe linked to a desire to detach themselves from strippers by writing paragraphs about why they are naked.

Being a teacher

Students

Performance

Clothing

Social medias

Arriving in class through selected transport mode.
Wearing layers of clothes to cover the body but easily uncover once arrived in class.




Taking space around the room & following aerobic movements of the teacher.




Taking off & adding elements of clothing.
The teacher explains the choreography while giving tricks about performance, timing & style of movements.



Practising to the music. Cheering each other up as we do. Understanding the link between motion and music.



SHowing each other individually the result of the class and getting filmed on our phones to track progress, remember the dance & to post on social medias


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Dressing up to go back out but considering the body is warmer.

Coat
Pants
Bycicle



Yoga mat
Tank top
Socks off


Pants off
Pantie
Fishnets
Compression socks
Booty shorts
Knee pads
Thigh hihg socks
Heels



Phone
Social medias




Coat
Car
Outdoor shoes

Public transport
Streets
Weather



Mirrors
Floor
music


Pole
Floor
room temperature
lighting













Public transport
Streets
Weather

Arrival

Warm up

Learning

Practicing

Showcasing

Leaving

Car
Outdoor shoes




Legging
Towel




















Pants
Bycicle

Objects

Space

What/how does gender expression vary within poel dancing?
What are the dynamics between pole dancing communities (athletes, students, strippers, viewers)?
How does the key attitudes of pole dancing is linked to the clothing, footwear & style of dance?

What do I want to visualize?

The pole dancing classrom's spatial organization
The tools, clothing & objects used
The interractions of the body with space & objects
The general social perception of pole dancing as a sport, a hobby or a job.

Potential inspiration

Physiotherapy drawings
High performance product designs
Choreography maps
Motion tracking
Erotic illustrations
Dress up games
Sports plan of action

Second observation & interview

Timeline of a pole lesson

Sports

Movements

Social perception

Style

Trials with Adobe after effects

Finding tools to create a map

After Effects offer a motion tracking tool that could pontentially help me map out pole dancing movements.

Getting to know the software was helpful as an introduction to motion graphics, but I need to practise further to use it the way I want.

It is also improtant to note that the source media needs to be well shot and must consider the motion tracking for best results.

Mid term presentation

Stritopia is an app developped by a former stripper & designer Maggie Laylon Saunders to modernize th strp club for millenials.

The app allows the digitalization of strip club, where strippers can create a pop up show wherever they want and get viewers online.

Not only bridging a gap with the digital world, this app allows strippers to be 100% independant. This is a solution to the oppressing power structures that exists in common physical clubs.

Feedback

Stritopia (app)

P-valley (series)

This project tackles the themes of power structure, oppression, sex work & cultural appropriation.

What are key elements that I must consider in the development of my project? 

THEORY

Parallely to the assignement, the theory class will offer support & ressources to fulfill a meaningful research.
There will also be an essay written for this course

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Links

In progress, notes

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INTRODUCTION CLASS

Digital ethnography






Sociology




Emperial research
(methods)





Ethnography



Researching

Less intrusive (ex: social media analytics
Don't focus on making lot & analyse later.
Stay present in the moment of making and the relations you establish ^ what can you learn through them.
Let go of expectations of images you produce
Different processes of exploring vs knowing exaclty what you want to find out.


Studying people
Observe
How do they organize themselves?
Use research methods as tools.

Based on actual experience & observation
- Interview
- Mapping
- Photography (VIsual ethnography -> repetion)
- Tools to build data for large, complex udnerstanding


It started with priviledge rich men going to other cultures & making travel logs
Role of teh researcher: the way therse men saw thse cultures as less than, exotic
You need to go in their settings to conduct research

Long term multi level correlation of you/your research

- When doing research, you are undercover
- Auto-ethnography: all these moral questions & ask myself while studying people
- The age of high ethics affect our auto ethnography
- Long covnersations on pros & cons of intruding privacy
- You msut reflect to know that you have worked ethically
- Ethnography is immersive & long term
- Different people react differently to being studied

Neutral languages doesn't = neutral observation.

1. Be reflective
- understand your position

2. Ethical
- respect & enage with participants.
- Collaborate as part of the research

3. Establish relations between product ^ research progress
- Is the product part of the research( then product then evolves as the research evolves)
- Do you do the reserach FIRST and then decide the story/product?

Bad Feminist /2014 /Roxanne Gay
European Others /2011 /Fatima El-Tayeb
Black Skins White Masks /1952 /Franz Fanon
Doing Ethnography /2010 /Giampetro Gobo
Street Corner Society 4th edition /1993 /Willian Foote WHyte

Book recommendations

READING MATERIAL

Togethering
Carmen Winant


The women's Liberation Movement
Rosalyn Bxandall & Linda Gordon

Guide for a DIY Queer Matriarchy
Maria Llopis

Queer technologies
(Zach Blas)







Transgender History
(Susan Stryker)


Paris doesn't have to always be burning
(x)

Using weapon language as a way to communicate the power Queer technologies can have.
"Disdentifying with technology cuts open interstices that form the groundwork of queer technologies"
Do not accept a world that was never built for you.
Technology is cultured and gendered: Binary. We must hack the devices.
"Technology is social before it is technical" Deleuze.
"The discourse of queer technology operates as a rhetoric of freedom for those positioned outside heteronormative configurations.



Homonormativity: doesn't challenge heterosexist institution & values, rather uphold & seek inclusion within them.
"Homonormativity lies in misconstructing trans as either a gender or sexual orientation"


There is an issue with the way the narrator determines who is "sobeboy" and who is not.
By highlighting the extraordinaries, charismatic, the documentary dismisses "boring" members of ballroom.
"How else could this documentary have looked? What might have been different if we had been able to pay attention to the queer-of-color ordinary?"
The documentary does not show the Nuyorican heritage of the Ballroom members. If it did, it could have been an opportunity to show the intimacy and everyday life of Puerto Rican new york culture.
Black trans and queer styles and cultural production have been abstracted into the general “queer culture,”
That causes the loss of the historical specificity and material labor that created them (Black & Brown trans femmes of NYC, for example)
Paying attention to the ordinary joy, pleasure, and boredom of marginalized lives can help address the constant flattening of social differences, as well as the appropriation and exploitation of people and cultures.

POLE & SPORT

Making pole dancing a sport is offensive to strippers














Pole dancing in the olympics?






















Interview with east london stripper collective

How does a technology function in the world? 
What does the notion of functionality convey?
What does the queer user desire a technology to do? How does/can queer desire manifest in technology?





How can I use footwear design to challenge heterosexist instition without seeking inclusion within them?

#notastripper highlights the divide between who dances for sprot and sex workers.
Stigmas associated to pole dancing target sex worksers and is rooted in whorephobia.
#yesastripper is a political movement/response pro sex work.
Pole fitness gyms taught by non stripper is making money off stripper culture, and even more so by detaching themselves from it. By taking sitance, they make pole dancing edgy but not "bad" like actual strippers.
They make pole dancing socially acceptable to the detriment of actual sex workers.
A research showed that anti-prostitution stigma affect sex workers on several aspect: quality of life, employment, income, social isolation & health.
Stigmas perpetuate the idea that sex work is not work, preventing strippers from basic labor rights and putting their lives at risk, all things that pole dancers that are not sex workers will never face.
Strippers are protesting for labor rights and against the racial discrimination within the industry,
Pole dancing need to be recognized as a job, not as a sport.
"There’s no thing in the world like positive sexual human energy, and my clients know this.”
Pole fitness and stripping are both forms of entertainment.
If you want to learn pole dancing, pay the lesson from an actual stripper and make sure to defend sex workers right beyond you wanting to dance on a pole, fight for those more marginalized and oppressed.


Pole dancing is now a recognized sport by the GAISF
“Pole Sports is a performance sport combining dance and acrobatics on a vertical pole,”
It defines it as a sport due to its great physical and mental exertion, strenght, endurance, flexibility and techniques.
The author says the competition are now family friendly - highlighting its detachement to stripper culture.
"In the early 2000s people started doing it as fitness and taking away the sex stigma, so no high heels and making it accessible for average people. " , Katie Coates, President of the Pole dancing federation*
This statement highlights that the President recognizes the stigmas of erotic movements & shoes.
She also divides people that do is erotically with such shoes as excluded from average people.
This feeds into the stigma that sex workers are not average people.

" if pole dancing was to be recognized as a reputable form of dance and fitness it needed to have some guidelines like every other sport/fitness/dance does."
This is exactly what sex workers are asking for as a job, recognition through guidelines like every other sport.
The president of the organization says she wants to take the stigma of "seedyness" from its origin and to push it as a sport.
This shows the association is only fighting against stigma exclusively for those who do it as a sport, and admits to appropriating the culture of stripping while continuing the stigmatization of actual sex workers endangered by it.
The author mentions that Katie is "cleaning up the image" of pole dancing, meaning that erotic and sensuality are dirty things and should be erased from the sport. Why?
Katie says "The problem with pole dancing is its a 99% female activity and this unfortunately brings jealousy, bitchyness and back stabbing, people would rather be nice to your face and then talk about you behind your back or on forum"
Thsi highlights the foundation's myssoginy and attitude of putting women against each other.


The author starts the text by claiming that what she originally knew about stripping came from fiction, not real life.
She started to do her own research, following, listening & discussing with professional strippers.
She realized her ignorances, and wants touse her pole fitness platform to amplify the reality of strippers.
"After all, how dumb is it that so much of the music, entertainment and art we consume portrays strippers wrongly when they’ve been talking about their job with their own voice so openly?"
Stacy, being interviewed, is a member of this collective fighting for workers' rights in the sex industry.
The priority is to protect strippers from exploitation: huge house fees, commissions, fines, no job security & more
Whorepobia: the hate & opression of sex workers
WHorearchy: WHorephobia within sex workers. Ex: strippers shasming prostitutes.

We have been conditioned for millenia to think female sexuality is immoral, that using our sexuality is bad and that prostitutes are bad.
This conditionning is expressed in capaigns to shut sex slubs or criminalize sex work.
"he fact is that people who work in the sex industry are on a spectrum of choice – some of us are very privileged, with a lot of freedom and options, some have limited choice because of social and legal restrictions (immigration for example) and some have little or no choice (dependency or coercion). All these people have very different needs and so policy on sex work needs to be designed to reflect this – criminalising sex work makes those who are the most vulnerable, even more vulnerable. "
These are all nuances that most people that are not in the insutry do not see.

The author ask about toxic clients and she responds "I’ve seen toxic masculinity in strip clubs, on the street, on my dating profile, in the local supermarket, on TV, in my relationships – it’s everywhere."
" It’s my belief that sex workers actually fulfill a need by providing a service to people where they have a lack of companionship, intimacy, freedom and control in their own lives "
There are plenty of male sex workers as well.
Cultural appropriation: stealing or adopting elements of culture from a marginalised group, without giving anything back
"for a pole dancer to wear pleasers, dance stripper style and throw money around without bothering to champion the voices of strippers and sex workers is kind of insulting."

P-Valley is a series created by Katori Hall showcases in a drama the life in the stripper culture in the South of the US. The series wawss created by women for women.

"At the end of the day, the show is about Black women who happen to be strippers. And I feel as though to center our show or any narrative around the Black female experience is an extreme political act. Because you know, not everyone exists at the intersection of race, class, and gender. These women do. And they may be especially vulnerable because of the fact they are participating in a kind of sex work. And so to be able to kind of look at the collision of identity within this space kind of shows how politicized everything is, whether you like it or not."

source: https://www.salon.com/2020/07/26/p-valley-katori-hall-showtime/

Power dynamics within poledancing (brainstorm)

Pole teachers have power over students
because the students look up to them, trust & learn from them.
The teacher can recommend things/attitudes and the client is paying for it.



Strippers have power over the spectator through their performance. They can affect the spectator's pleasure & leisure, as well as convince them to spend money through their work.




Brands have power over consumer as they can impact the way they can express themselves or perform during pole dancing. They also control who they want to design for, who can access their products and impact consumption habits through marketing.



Studio owner have power on teachers as they hire teachers to fulfill a position they created, thus creating a set of boundaries the teacher has to perform within. The owner also has a power over the pole teacher's



Clubs owner have power over strippers as strippers have close to no workers' right protection. The owner can discriminate on who gets to work, how much of a cut do they get from strippers' tips, how strippers are asked to behave/perform. They have the power to fire without warning or compensation, can punish workers that speak up or request better work conditions. They also have the power to impact strippers' safety thrhough club regulations.



The association has the power to define who is deemed to be an athlete based on the regulations they set. They also have power over the image pole dancing has, thus affecting how pole dancers are perceived, where athletic pole dancers are more mepowered than pole dancers who do it to earn money. The association has power over how pole dancing will evolve, as it creates standards that athletes aim to fit into to win competitons.

Workers - clients




























Boss - employee

pole teacher - student





stripper - spectator






(pole wear)brands - consumer





Studio owner - pole teacher





Club owner - stripper








Pole association - athlete

Students can give review, quit the class if it doesn't match with their expectation/satisfaction.The worker is dependent on the clients to earn a living. Because of the money exchange, the teacher owes the student a certain service & has to comply to please the student to a certain extent.


Spectators have power over strippers as they affect a stripper's salaray depending on how much they are willing/wanting to spend.Their preferences and desires also affect how a stripper might behave due to the monetary power clients hold. Spectators also have power over strippers as they do not face stigmas for beign a viewer, but stirppers facestigma for beign a performer.


Consumer impact brands as the way they consume will impact the decisions a brand take. They also have the power to inspire brands for products, and also have an impact on the brands' perceived value



The teahcer has pwoer over the studio owner as it will impact how the studio is perceived by clients.




Strippers have very little power over club owner as they depend on their relation with them to be able to gain a living. The have power on how they perform and impact consumers, therefore impacting the clubs' reputation & profit.






Athletes have power to impact how the sport of pole dancing is perceived by Sports institution. They can also impact the popularity of the sport through their own development?

Appropriation within poledancing (timeline)

1100s







1950s
















1980s








2000s








2020s

Little Egypt were travelling shows where south asian, middle eastern and eastern european who performed in clothing that was revealing for the time. They performed in tents,dancing with fluid and hips movements,. They would possibly use the pole of the tent as a prop to their choreography



Elvis Presley sung about these iconic Little Egypt shows The song was first sang by the afro american group The Coasters before being used by Elvis as part of a soundtrack for a movie he was starring in. The movie talks about a struggling carnival. The role of little Egypt is played by Wilda taylor, a white amrican actress. Elivs also appropriated the style of dancing around pole in his video of Jail House Rock.






As strip clubs became popular, the first Pole dancing teacher fawnia mondey moves from Canada to Las Vegas to start teaching future strippers. She is a porn actress,body buiklder & model.



Pole dancing is recognized as an official sport and is competed around the world.

1890s









1960s














1990s








2010s

Mallakhamb (translates to wrestling pole) is a sport performed by men to showcase strenght and endurance around a wooden pole as a training for werstlers.




Burlesque dancers & the entertainment industry caught onto the popularity of these dances and started to appropriate its style and success. By this time, the style of dance is popularized in cabaret poles where they install poles. Full nudity starts to appear by the 1960s.











Strips clubs are spreading from Canada to the USA







The emergence of the term pole fitness emerges, which aims to detach the motion from strip clubs towards beign recognized as a fun exciting workout.





Stripping culture is commmonly reffered to in pop culture. Although it has been used for long, now is an emergence of narratives empowering the strippers and not only using them as props.

"solid basis for further research. You approached an interesting and complex topic. Your mappings are simple but clear. It’s very good that you already started to interview pole dancers and instructors however as you research question is still a bit too broad it does not allow you to draw yet specific conclusions from your research.Does everyone perform in the same way in the class? Is there a hierarchy in the group?"

Oral feedback

Where does the relation between acceptance & clothing happen & who are the players?
Is it in the class? Between dancers? Does it relate to the location? Explore further.
About appropriation: On what levels does it happen? Who is involved? What is at stake?

References

Striptopia a project by Maggie Laylon Saunders that aims to endorse the prospect of male dancers, female viewers, mixed gender audiences, couples, and trans/queer participants within the culture of strip clubs. (English article about it ->https://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/378012/striptopia).

wearables projects of Josh Wolford (https://www.joshwoolford.co.uk/about).

Spornosexual series by Jonathan Ho http://chintzd.com/spornosexual-2017/

6 OBJECTS - Projecting Identity Expressions by Debora Dax (https://www.deboradax.com/work/6-objects_projecting-identity-expressions).

THE VANTAGE BODY

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About the event

The space

Lecturers


Notes

References

How does this research affect my project?

How does this research affect my project?

PABLOS' REFERENCES (UP TO OCT 30 2020)

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https://www.lensculture.com/articles/pablo-lerma-greenfield-the-archive

How does a technology function in the world? 
What does the notion of functionality convey?
What does the queer user desire a technology to do? How does/can queer desire manifest in technology?





How can I use footwear design to challenge heterosexist instition without seeking inclusion within them?

How does this research affect my project?

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How does this research affect my project?

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During the first segment of this assignment you’ve done research into the chosen location and have mapped out in one way or another, what the social rules / groups / history / context / experience of this space is.

For the second part of the assignment, we ask you to
(1) redefine your research question more specifically and reframe it towards a proposal
(2) propose an intervention that queers your space in any form (using performance, installation, visual campaign, fashion etc...).

You can queer a space by challenging its politics and social dynamics or by making the social norms happening there visible.

For your final presentation, you will present
(1) research and findings through your mappings,
(2) a series of experimentations and tests that help you to design your intervention
(3) your final proposal for queering your space.

How can footwear express the message that sex work is work?
How can pole dancing gear be designers as a working tool for sex workers?
What makes stripping a job? How can I represent that in footwear?
What are the inequalities that strippers face compared to any other career?
What power dynamics needs to change to improve sex workers' rights?
How would other careers look like if they had the same workers rights as strippers?
What are the stigmas agaisnt strippers and how to combat against them?

The brief

Referining the research question

Essay preparation

Subject

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https://www.lensculture.com/articles/pablo-lerma-greenfield-the-archive

Marche & Demarche is an exhibition I visited in Paris in February of 2019 where the focus was on the cultural importance of footwear and how does culture forms the shape of shoes.

This exposition looked at this essential accessory and how it transformed through time & place. The fact that such establishments highlights the cultural importance of footwear can indicate that shoes can be a powerful tool to communicate, particularly for this assignment.

What are the key elements of culture that can define shapes of shoes?
What are key elements of shoes that can define the shape of culture?

1800s
City shoes in England and France are made narrow & delicate with materials such as leather & silk to communical social class and differentiate from countryside footwear

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1900s, Pakistan
Sandals adapted to arrid valleys. The leather sole isolates from the hot ground, the narrow back allows sandl to evacuate & the pompom serves as decoration & protection of the toes.

1930s, vietnam
Sandals adapted to countryside work & ground. The height of shoes was used to avoid stepping & mud.

SEX WORK IS WORK

1
Using the cultural code of "good work" shoes mixed with sex working/pole dancing shoes

2
Making a professional stripping shoe the same way a professional sport shoe or professional labour worker shoe is made for performance.

3
Use footwear as a platform for political messages that aims to communicate particularly to those who like the aesthetics of strippers but do not support them in their fight for equal work rights.

The conclusion of my research on pole dancing and it's power dynamics with strippers is that strippers need pole dancing to be recognized as a job more than for it to be accepted as a sport.

How can I use footwear as a method of communication to empower the message that sex work is work?

QUEERING SPACES

- Consider the gender dynamics within stripping & how they impact working rights & clothing/footwear

- Consider the class dynamics & how they impact working rights & clothing/footwear

- Consider the racial dynamics & how they impact working rights & clothing/footwear

Class with Pablo 6 nov

Why White People Don’t Use White Emoji
(The Atlantic)















Color Film Was Designed
to Take Pictures of White People, Not People of Color: The Unfortunate History of Racial Bias in Photography (1940-1990)
(open culture)


Citizen
(Claudia Rankine)

Black people are more likely to be active on Twitter than white people, according to Pew Research.
most default emoji, although they appear yellow, are actually white.
it felt awkward to use an affirmatively white emoji; at a time when skin-tone modifiers are used to assert racial identity, proclaiming whiteness felt uncomfortably close to displaying “white pride,”

It’s worth noting the unpopularity of white emoji tentatively appears confined to the United States. Elsewhere in the world, including the Middle East, white emoji are more common.

“Every time I use an emoji, I have to make a choice: Do I use a colored racemoji, and draw attention to my ethnicity (even when it's not pertinent), or do I use a default emoji, which may misrepresent me altogether?” he wrote in an email. “It’s disempowering because people of color are uniquely burdened with this choice.”

White people don’t have to use racemoji or risk denying their identity, as Mukerjee does; the default works fine
When white people opt out of racemoji in favor of the “default” yellow, those symbols become even more closely associated with whiteness—and the notion that white is the only raceless color. But that, of course, is already a foregone conclusion in American society. The Internet cannot escape the bonds of our minds, as much as people may want it to.


xxxx








The wrong weord enter your day like a bad egg in your mouth and puke runs down your blouse
(how it feels & how lonely )
What did he just say? Did she really jsut say that? Did I hear what I think I heard
(compares to the need of wearing glass, having to identify and looks twice )
The whole text reflect on the blame of one's reaction & how to behave whneere facign racism by fear of further persecutiuon.
"As usual you drive straight through the moment with the expected backing off of what was previously said" (Wish to stop these conversation but goes on)
Mentions the intrusive ness of "microagressions"
"a dissapointment in the sense that no amount of visibility will alter the ways in which one is perceived"
"what does a victorious or defeated black woman's body in historically white space look like?"
"Nether her father nor her mother nor her sister nor Jehovah her gor nor NIKE camp could shield her ultimately frm people who felt her black body didn't belong on their court"
Test about seran william: the scrutitnity of being a black woman, successful in a white male space.

PHOTOSHOOT MOOD BOARD

You can enhance the concept through photography.

Don't make it too litteral (objects/work)
Exagerate the visual elements
Combine sex and work in one shoe

SILOUHETTES

APPAREL

To reflect

Who am I commincating this to?
Fitness people? Generl people that are not sex workers?

When is the shoe used?
While working? During protest?

What element are you bringing in?
How is it "queering space"

What is the urgency behind the need of a new shoes?
Is it purely aesthetic or is it functional?

What position do you want to take?
Activist?
Aesthetic?
Pole Dancing?

FEEDBCK WITH MAGGIE FROM STRIPTOPIA

Too litteral

It's offsenive to use the stripper heel nd redesign it as this shoe is strippers' workign shoe, not something for you to take.

Your intention and the link to your research are not clear enough.

To get in touch with workers, say something like " I m doing project about sex work activism and I would be interested to know what you are looking for in your work shoes.

Pole fitness need to get their own thing

It's good for pole to be recognize as a sport as it might break stigmas...

you are in a very privileged position before you go ahead and reach out to other sex workers. You have had access to me because I am in the design field. It is important that you are well informed on stripper culture, influencers within that culture (@thestripperwriter), and political movements within that culture, before you begin reaching out to other sex workers.

. Your research is still lacking the understanding of basic stripper culture and important figures within the community. I suggest you start following more stripper accounts on instagram to grasp everything that is happening before just blindly reaching out to sex workers and seeking information; do some more leg work in order to gain some of their respect, otherwise it can make people feel uncomfortable.

After seeing all your research on just pole fitness and then ending with a question on how to convey that sex work is a real job, I don't feel like you fully grasp the position you have taken with that question, and the lack of empathy behind it.

While I understand your intentions are good, others might not, so I suggest you reframe/rephrase that question before reaching out to ELSC, especially

I am saying this to help you. I think your work has potential, but you have to put in the right amount of effort to gain the respect from the community in order to ask for their help. Show me some deeper research, your new position and then I'm happy to help.

Elle Stanger's instagram

Pleasers "rebranding" themselves as fitness heels

East London Stripper Collective

She can put me in touch with 2 girls

Feedback

Reference

Footwear feedback

Loves her work heel as they are
Plastic upper is used to climb up the pole, which is lost when using other mterils like suede
Loves that the heels are sexy
extention of the body
make you look taller, leaner

The basic of the shoes: clear heel, cushion, clear upper. all functions well.

Wish there was more expensive heel as it's part of the luxurious/lavish lifestyle

People sell customs on esty, which is something she sees could be more interesting for a lot of dancers

Black heels make you look shorter.

The heels are for her part of the culture & identity of her job & it is offensive how it's being taken away from them

For pole dancers to get their own gear and professional stripper to keep their work shoe is about preserving space for sex workers.

The needs of pole dancers are different than the need of strippers, and highlighting that is a way to reinforce that strippign is a whole job in itself, not just pole dancing.

MY NOTES