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Your Personal Safety As A Belly Dancer

© Shira

The vast majority of people who call belly dancers to hire us for private parties are legitimate. But we need to remember that there are predators out there who are looking for women to stalk, rape, murder, or harass with crank phone calls. They'll target any women who have jobs involving visiting people's homes: real estate agents, insurance saleswomen, and yes, belly dancers. This article will explore some ways to guard your personal safety.

What To Beware Of

If a prospective male customer asks the following questions, keep your guard up until you're absolutely certain the call is legitimate!

• Will You Do A Very Private Party? If he's hiring you for a party, find out how many guests he expects to be there. How would you feel about dancing for a party of one person, especially if he wants to do it in a hotel room he has reserved for the night?
• Will You Teach A Private Lesson? Many of us teach private lessons, in our own homes, to women. And before the student arrives, we often arrange for ourselves to be the only ones in the house to avoid distractions. What if the caller is a prospective rapist or home-invasion robber?
• What Do You Look Like? This can be a legitimate question, since some people have a certain "look" in mind that they want in their performer. But if he asks how big your breasts are, whether your navel is an innie or an outie, or how skimpy your costume is, be careful!
• Anything Else That Seems "Odd" or "Wrong". If he seems intensely knowledgeable about belly dance (to the point where you suspect he is obsessed), comes across as somewhat strange, refuses to give you a telephone number you can use to call him back to confirm the gig, talks about how erotic he thinks the dance is, etc., be cautious!

When a dancer whom I'll call "S" was approached by a man seeking a private performance for him alone in a hotel room, she asked other local dancers if they had heard of him. She learned that yes, he had told other local dancers that he had an obsession with a novel which centers around a belly dancer who gets raped. He had confessed to one dancer that he found this scene particularly erotic and read it over and over.

False Sense Of Security

Some would-be predators may try to lure you into a false sense of security by saying all the "right" things. The wilier ones might:

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