Bill: May I have a word? (On History and Harems)

[A response to a comment posted in response to this article.]

Your concern is duly noted and logged. However, I must point out a few facts.

You mention that "We should not portray women and young girls as instruments of pleasure for men" when, in point of fact, the raqs shaquri form is driven by women, and mostly for women. As a male dancer, I'm happy to tell you of many, many times I've attended dance functions, as was one of, if not the only guy, in the audience. One reason the dance is as popular as it is in America is that women coming up in the 70's found it a way to express their femininity without being beholden to the very sexist and lecherous values you express disgust in. In short -- don't let the costume fool you, these are strong, talented, and intelligent women, far from sleazy or dishonorable.
Musri's comment about the origins as being "for women, by women" is accurate in some contexts, in my opinion; some of my research shows other "origins", as well -- but nothing about performing in harems. I strongly suspect that's just, well, crap.
Then you say "Maybe this is acceptable in some Muslim countries." To which I'll simply point out the VERY painful truth, that this form of art is under serious persecution in it's home countries, because they are as unable to see past the "sexuality" that you touch upon. Native forms, such as the Ghawazee dancers, are under serious threat of being lost. To argue that native dance forms are encouraged "over there", much less encouraged in sinful behavior, overall, is simply untrue. That's not to say these things do not happen, but it is not a core point of the cultures at hand, and, from a Western POV, they go far overboard to restrain this issues.

See these two articles for more on the topic:

"An hour for God and an hour for the heart": Islam, gender and female entertainment in Egypt

Khairiyya Mazin Struggles to Preserve Authentic Ghawazi Dance Tradition

As to your commentary that compares Christianity and Islam, know that you miss the meaning of "harem", and therefore a great deal about the nature of women in Islam, both in history and today. It's understandable, because we've been fed, in the West, a fantasy about the Middle East. But Harems are not, nor ever have been, about sex, and licentious behavior. The best translation of Harem is "family place", or "private space", and it is "owned" by the women, just as the public space is owned by the men. Even some dancers misuse the terms, and all I can ask is for your forbearance in this.
In the period of time I do most of my research in (the early Ottoman Empire), harems were areas where women were trapped. However, there are no reports of dancing, no "seduction" of men in general, or the Sultan specifically; the rules and regs for the Sultan "lying abed" with a women were strict, and, by modern Western views, downright Amish; the point was not pleasure, but child-production, which is it's own evil -- but not one of Lust, as you imply.
Moreover, women have, traditionally, been discouraged to be in public -- another reflection of the truth of the nature of the Harem. One can, such as myself, have a severe distaste for such segregation, while acknowledging that it produces the opposite of a culture where women are "forced them to dance in front of muslim men and later used as prostitudes(sp)." Prostitution did occur, and women were forced into many horrid activities, yet it's also true that that was NOT the norm for most women, even most women of the Harem.

Sadly, there are few good articles I can point you to on these topics. Most of the data is in books, two of which I'll recommend to you, Bill:

VEILED HALF-TRUTHS by Judy Mabro
ORENTALISM by Edward Said
HAREM by N.M. Penzer

I hope, Bill, this helps clarify some of the core issues you have with Belly Dancing as a form of art. I've attached my email to this post, so if you happen to read this, and have additional questions, feel free to email me, or stop by my dance blog, http://apostate.raqsstorm.org/ , where I talk about some of these issues in more detail (and will likely be posting a copy of this response).