kanelli wrote:Bellydance is not moral decay. It is dancing! By your logic, modern dance and ballet are also moral decay because the dancers are moving sensually and wearing revealing clothing.
Fair point - and yes, that is the logical conclusion.
(You could also include some dances from the Indian sub-continent - eg some Bollywood dance sequences, modern and older. )
The acceptance of the normalcy of sensual dancing for the visual pleasure of strangers - rather than intimate partners - is what I would consider as +an+ indicator of moral decay. I concede that this is a 'prudish', 'Victorian' or 'old-fashioned' view. But I was asked whether I would be happy for my wife or daughters to belly dance (presumably in public).
However, on the scale of 'indicators' it is towards the benign end of the scale - the thin end of the wedge, if you like.
(Oh, and just to clear things up - my reference to 'camel toes' was in the context of what society deems appropriate. The fact that in the USA there is such a term, speaks volumes. It isn't a nice term or one to be used in polite society, but it exists. I only heard about the term when it was featured in a 'I wish I could forget it' sequence in the film 'weather man'. IMDB even has a reviewer commenting on it:
"For instance, Michael Caine, who plays Robert Spritz, tells his son David Spritz (played by Nicolas Cage) that David's daughter is getting teased at school and called "Camel Toe". Just to hear Sir Michael Caine use the expression "camel toe" is pretty unexpected. But then various shots of camel toes pop up on the screen to illustrate this phenomenon to anyone in the audience who's unfamiliar with the concept. I found it all absurdly hilarious, but I don't think many of the grey-haired audience shared my sentiments."
)
Cheers,
Shafique