By Ej Dickson. Her pole dancing studio, Pole Body and Arts, was one of the sponsors of the event, and had a booth there. Plus, it was one of her first ever Pride after having come out as queer.
When a little boy came by her booth to try out the pole, believing it was a firefighter pole, Whitney says, it was hot, and he kept slipping off. So she did a pole sit to try to hold him up. That is something of an understatement. Maxwell is perhaps best known for leading Freedom House, a megachurch that sent out an email in asking that only white people be at the front door to greet the congregation.
The church later issued an apology. Last year, at the height of the Covid pandemic, Maxwell also gave a sermon flouting state public health directives requesting that congregants mask up. The barrage of hate started immediately. These grownups commenting these disgusting things are sexualizing a kid being on a pole.
The panic over the video was doubly bizarre considering that poledancing is a fairly mainstream fitness trend in the United States, as it requires a great deal of muscular upper-body strength. Though it originated among and was largely popularized by exotic dancers, many of whom have criticized the mainstream appropriation of the sport, pole studios like Pole Body and Arts have since become mainstays in cities and suburban communities, to the point that there are even pole dancing competitions worldwide aimed at children.
If you want to do it to be healthy and lose weight and whatever your goals are, do that. Any context about the history of the sport, however, is likely lost on right-wing groups, who have freaked out about children on poles before: last month, for instance, Libs of TikTok posted a video of a child going down a pole at a pride parade in central Pennsylvania, causing a similar stir in tabloid publications. Despite facing an onslaught of hate, however, Whitney has had no second thoughts about her post.
