Summer is coming. In Portland, it feels like it's already here! And you know what that means: the flood of articles and posts exhorting us to get to work on our summer bodies has begun. This time of year seems to bring on even more of what we hear every day: we'll be happy when. We'll be happy when we flatten our tummies, tone our arms or finally get our eyebrow game figured out. Or we'll be given advice about our bodies that masquerades as concern about our health, when the underlying message is truly your body doesn't fit the standard image of beauty.

Frankly, we think that's a bunch of baloney.

This weekend, we threw a party with Ecdysiast (our local pole dance studio!) to celebrate one simple thing: our bodies, exactly as they are. Right now. Today.

And lemme tell you, it was excellent! Award-winning pole dance team the gRip City Polers performed, Ecdysiast instructors taught some simple spins and booty-shaking moves, and the champagne flowed freely. We asked our guests to bring unused disposable pads and tampons to donate (in exchange we gave them a free GladRags Pantyliner) and collected 112 products to donate to local menstruators in need.

Here are a few of our favorite pics from the evening. You can see the full album on Facebook!

[caption id="attachment_4338" align="aligncenter" width="500"]IMG_2883 gRIP City Polers performing to 'Intergalactic'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4339" align="aligncenter" width="500"]IMG_2920 Pole moves are easier when you have cheerleaders.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4340" align="aligncenter" width="333"]IMG_2966 Love at first Fireman Spin.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4341" align="aligncenter" width="500"]IMG_2977 Explaining how menstrual cups work![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4342" align="aligncenter" width="500"]IMG_2990 Most exciting prize in the raffle: Cuterus.[/caption]