STRIP DOWN, RISE UP

BY: Georgia Davis

If you love Hustlers, then you’re going to love the new Netflix documentary Strip Down, Rise Up. The documentary takes a modern look at how pole dancing empowers its participants. 

At the helm of the documentary are women of different backgrounds — ethnicity, race, body size, age, you name it. In this group, they get together to take back their bodies and celebrate each other through the pole dancing artistry. The film comes from 1998 Oscar nominee Michèle Ohayon, who directed the documentary Colors Straight Up. 

Pole dancing has always been prevalent in film, but it has always been in an oversexualized way. The male gaze was upon it. Instead, now, there is a movement to make it more female focused — to show that women do it to feel good about themselves and go to new heights. Take the success of the Starz series P-Valley for example. That celebrated the art while not shying away from its grit. Then, of course, there is Hustlers, which shows women screwing over the men who screwed them over. 

With so much empowering media coming out that allows women to take back that male gaze, we are looking forward to seeing this stellar documentary.