In this photo taken on February 25, 2024, a student performs during a class at Chairlesque, a burlesque and chair dancing studio, in San Juan, Metro Manila.
“I’ve been bullied since I was a child for being chubby, so I became insecure,” Guno, 29, told AFP during a class.“I chose this because of the safe space and I feel it allows me to express my emotions more,” she said.Noreen Claire Efondo, who runs the chairlesque classes in Manila, began teaching the style in 2017 to help women “feel sexy”, challenging Filipino society’s taboos around sex.“It’s very important for us to feel sexy or sensual because our body needs a release,” Efondo told AFP.
Single mother Henna So, 50, enrolled because she wanted “to express” and “explore” herself after her child had grown up.“After everything that I’ve given, taking care of my son, I think it’s time to love myself. You need to love yourself first before everything else.” She signed up anyway in a bid to “nourish” her sensual side that she often set aside in her role as wife and mother of two children.Clinical sexologist Rica Cruz said women were discouraged from discussing or expressing their sexuality in the Philippines, where nearly 80 per cent of the population is Catholic.“You’re vulgar when you’re just talking about sex because the expectation is as a woman you shouldn’t be talking about it,” she said.
Source: Education Headlines (educationheadlines.net)