Body image in belly dance: integrating alternative norms into collective identity

Abstract

This research presents survey data from a sample of 103 belly dancers in Salt Lake City, Utah, addressing issues of body image and gender identity. While research on various forms of dance has emphasized unhealthy body image influences, belly dance offers a counter-example, indicating broad and inclusive body image norms, lack of pressure for body image conformity, and high levels of body satisfaction among dancers. Data also indicate that those norms are linked to more generalized challenges to gender roles and structures. Explanations for the maintenance of alternative collective norms focus on two institutional influences: processes of socialization to collective values, and the free space provided by a gender segregated activity.