[zumarrad]

The thing is, a lot of people who know nothing much about BD think that. Before there was a lot of tribal there was obviously still a split in some BDers minds between (Evil) Cabaret, designed for the male gaze, and beledi which is the ancient wimminz dance (o hai Suraya Hilal). I read an article about BD by two nonBDer Australian academics, who looked at some classes where the dancers had told them of this stylistic difference. What I found interesting, and frustrating, was the way that the academics just *assumed* that, for example, a two-piece costume was designed *and worn* solely to attract men. Yeah, sure, it might have started life that way but most BDers don't put on a bedleh and think "tonight, I'm gonna score!!" They also thought that the heterosexual dancers danced differently than the lesbian ones, more seductively. I *wish* there had been footage or more detailed descriptions of why they came to those conclusions.

Articles by non-BDers almost always assume that bedleh is entirely for men. Presumably because women's bodies are entirely for men, unless they are in some kind of homespun all-women commune.