The difficulty of assessing if a dance form is gendered is very difficult. Many, many bellydancers, including almost all egyptians, will state categorically that men have never bellydanced.

The fact that it isn't true and the evidence is plainly and easily available shows how often a preferred mythology can trump reality.

Plus, when do you freeze truth and say that is how it should be. Ballet has its origins in a spanish folk dance of the 15th century that was exclusively male. I'm not sure that has any relevance now.

Equally in a world where artistic, cultural and gender boundaries are being challenged it seems perverse in the extreme to declare that some things just are and that we can't tinker at the boundaries.

All in all, I generally find exclusionary principles to be flawed and less rooted in unchallengable reality than those who state them would like to admit. But they do it anyway because it's not a reason, it's an excuse. An excuse for darker inadmissable reasons.

keep to the Fen Causeway