Pole dancing classes for seven-year-olds creates fury Down Under

Family groups in Australia have expressed disgust over pole-dancing classes started for kids as young as seven.

Melbourne, Oct 8 : Family groups in Australia have expressed disgust over pole-dancing classes started for kids as young as seven.

The classes in Sydney impart pole-dancing classes as strengthening and flexibility workouts for teens and pre-teens.

Critics have slammed the move and called them as "sexualising young children" and risking exploitation by paedophiles.

The Australian Family Association criticised the classes, stating that they are inapt.

"There are plenty of exercise tools out there. Why choose a pole, the classic phallic symbol of the pornographic world," spokeswoman Angela Conway said.

"By putting children in a pole dancing exercise class you're teaching children a sexual body language that they don't know the meaning of but adults do," she said.

Kids who have started taking up classes have defended the dance form, calling it an exercise.

"It's really fun and you get to learn a lot of different moves. People think it's pole dancing but it's not. It's great exercise," News.com.au quoted 11-year-old Angela, Perry as saying

The girl's mum Julie said that pole dancing is being used as healthy exercise.

"It's not slutty or anything. I've seen pole dancing on TV and they don't do anything like that here. It's building up her strength after she got ill and it doesn't put too much pressure on her muscles. She's much stronger, healthier and more confident," she added.

Australian Federation of Parents and Citizens' Association head Sharryn Brownlee said that parents have to be careful about what they are making their kids do since the dance form has a bad reputation.

"Normally the P and C supports any sort of fitness regimen to help kids get healthy but with the reputation of this industry, parents need to be very careful," she said.

ANI