Organizers of the Take Back The Night march in London have blinked in their face-off over the possible inclusion of a pole-fitness demonstration.
The Women's Events Committee announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that it will not proceed with the demonstration at Thursday's event. The decision comes after the London Abused Women's Centre said it would not support the Take Back The Night events because the committee was considering allowing The Pole House, a fitness centre that offers pole fitness classes, to give a demonstration before the march.
"WEC serves the broader community and TBTN is about re-claiming space that is safe for all," the Facebook post says. "We want the event to be as accessible as possible, emotionally and physically."
Heather Wharram, program manager with the London Abused Women's Centre, told BlackburnNews.com on Monday that a pole-fitness demonstration would not be appropriate for Take Back The Night.
“If you look at the context of Take Back the Night, it’s supposed to be for safety and the promotion of equality for women”, she said. “In that context, having pole fitness is antithetical to what it stands for and its purpose. Pole fitness came from pole dancing in strip clubs and strip clubs are places where women’s bodies are on display for men. They’re there to be leered at and groped and they are presented as objects for men’s sexual gratification. You cannot separate pole fitness from the context of pole dancing.”
Despite the decision to exclude the pole-fitness demonstration, Wharram says the London Abused Women's Centre won't change its position on supporting this year's Take Back The Night Event.
"While we support this decision of the Women’s Event Committee and feel it is the right one, the London Abused Women’s Centre will not be participating in this year’s Take Back the Night," Wharram says in an email sent to BlackburnNews.com on Tuesday afternoon. "We remain concerned about how the proposal was presented to the public on Facebook (biased towards the inclusion of pole-fitness) and feel that the London Abused Women’s Centre’s views around the issue were dismissed during the decision making process. For these reasons, we will not be participating this year and need time to discuss our ongoing involvement with the Women’s Events Committee."
