When I first started pole, I was a recent college graduate, and decided to treat myself to a pole class. Of course, being naive about pole, I had the same misconceptions about pole that most outsiders do. I was quite surprised to that pole is so much more.
When I was signing up for my first class, I noted that the studio website said that classes were female-only. At the time I didn't ponder the reasoning much, and just figured it was to keep people away who wanted a "show." My pole journey went on without thinking about the restriction, until one day our instructor asked us if we would mind if a male joined us in our Burlesque class. My gut reaction was, "of course I don't mind." The class started and I thought nothing of the male dancing along side us. He was there for the same reasons we were, to learn an art form.