Welcome Khanjar! Keep at it - I don't think there is no hope.
There are well known male dancers who perform and teach regularly at belly dance events in the UK - IMO any teacher who has seen them dance or been to a workshop ought to be thinking very carefully about how unfair a No Men policy is. I think the profile of male dancers is growing here.
Maybe there is less of a problem in the USA because people are more aware they might get into trouble for it. Found this on a UK government site (so it must be true!)
Quote:
When discrimination is lawful
Under certain limited circumstances, it is lawful to discriminate when providing services. These circumstances are usually linked to the specific nature of the service or the provider. Examples might include:
- services which are single-sex for reasons of privacy and decency, or which would cause ‘serious embarrassment’ if members of the opposite sex were present
- services by voluntary groups or charities whose primary purpose is to provide services to one sex
- services offered by a religious organisation, if they are offered in a place which is used by the organisation or if restricting the services to one sex is in line with the doctrines of that religion
- circumstances in which the service provider would be otherwise unable to provide the service
- if the service is provided in the interests of national security, and can be justified as such.
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I don't see how your
average belly dance class could cite any of those - except possibly that learning belly dance with a male student in the room is an affront to decency or privacy, or constitutes "serious embarrassment". (
I must go to really tame classes then...). It is up to the teacher to show it would seriously embarrass the other students.
I can't speak for others, but for me as a student, guy in class is just another student. If it's a friendly class and he is friendly in an appropriate way he will probably get looked on as an honorary girl
