The 'men are from mars, poi are from venus' thread

I can't help but wonder why it is that:

when a guy can do poi well, he looks really really cool without any doubt cool

but
when a girl does poi well, she is instantly the most spectacularly beautiful, talented and fascinating person in the whole world regardless of what she looks like or who she is (or indeed whether i can speak the same language as her). and i come over all shy redface

I don't know if this is a personal preference issue, but if so, do you prefer to watch men or women doing poi?

ubbidea

here goes a little late-night hypothesis... (ignore at will, of course)

It all starts with the most intrinsic differences between men and women (use your imagination!). through a string of connections we go from the idea of the fertile or the maternal through to a link with the natural in all forms (note that nature is characterised in western mythologies as a woman, and a mother).

as we know from pre-school art classes, natural forms are round (feminine) and often fluid. fruit is round. petals are round. when a car is made 'sexier' it is given curves. you can spot a 'natural' or 'ergonomic' keyboard because it's curvy. Those qualities we, as a society, celebrate most in women's physical appearance tend to be based around curvy shapes.

maleness is more associated with harder, more angular forms and with aggression and the imposition of straightness on natural forms. A telephone pylon surrounded by trees is a potential world of gender conflict for the budding romanticist. straight lines are 'funtional' and 'manly'. physical bendiness, willingness to depart from conventions, and emotional flexibilty in men are all somehow 'effeminate'. bent is gay. straight, rigid and unyielding are male.

The associations of each sex with whole fields of definitions have caused enormous problems and continue to do so. you will no doubt all have your own ideas about the moral correctness of all of this, yet these remain the predominant social connotations of maleness and femaleness and masculinity and femininity, and they colour and inform the majority of our ideas and debates about gender.

I am a child of a world where (rightly or wrongly) simple geometry itself is part of the big debate over gender roles and associations. I think curves are sexy. poi surrounds the spinner with curves of all sorts of complexity. in addition, poi enhances and exaggerates fluidity of movement, or, if you like, grace and elegance.

It's hard to tell whether the conclusion of all this rambling is: 'all girls with poi in their hands are beautiful', or 'all girls are beautiful with poi in their hands'. both make me smile. smile

tell me what you think.

Ben

girls who do poi?
ubblove

(blame society!)

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