the up side of exoticism

I've talked before about my discomfort at playing to the exotic/erotic thing that people seem to respond to about bellydance, right. The godawful flirting with a veil, sitting on random dudes' laps at restaurants, the "please please put a tip in my bra" shimmy, that kind of thing - ew.

( Cut for length. Like everything else, it gets more complicated the more I think about it. )