Blogger On Pole

I’m a blogger, author, pole dancing academic, PhD student, speaker, writer, freelance journalist, pole dance performer and instructor, UN #GenerationEquality ambassador and the Activist of the Year 2019 according to the Sexual Freedom Awards (which means I now own a gold flying penis that I can stroke at my leisure. Sue me.).

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Yeah so… not always a dick fan but I’ll definitely treasure this beautiful trophy! Still can’t quite believe it bit it turns out I’m the winner of the 25th edition of the @sexualfreedomawards 2019! I’m incredibly grateful of having received this award on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. As an abusive relationship and sexual assault survivor who was able to love herself again through #poledancing and excessive nakedness, this award means everything. It also means we have so much more work to do. I am nothing without my @everybodyvisible team who have been tirelessly campaigning against the Instagram censorship which would have prevented me from finding self-love like I have now. And also, as we saw during the ceremony, we need to work so much harder to make sure that consent and correct expression and gendering of minorities are upheld in our society. This beautiful flying penis trophy, made in one of my favourite places – Bali – will be a reminder of the beautiful sex posi community and all the work we still have to do. Keep slaying – we are all winners and congrats to all the nomineees and winners! Thanks @frankicookney @ethicalstripper for the support tonight – and congrats to the gorgeous @sashadiamond_pole too 😍😍😍😍 picture by: @danmckc from my amaze team of film-makers including @misez_baby and @monikwi

A post shared by Carolina(Caro-leena)/ Hades™️ (@bloggeronpole) on Nov 25, 2019 at 2:37pm PST

WTF Is Blogger On Pole?

This is an About page so it’s all about me. YAY. You’ve clicked through so now you’ve got to read it. My name is Carolina and I’m a twenty-something Italian Londoner. This blog is my space to showcase my passions: food, travel, events, fitness, activism, academic geeking and pole dance.

Originally from sunny Sardinia, I left my hometown of Olbia at 18 to live the London dream. I have been actively blogging since 2011, at first while gaining a degree in journalism and then through to working in PR and freelancing in journalism and social media consulting.

Looking for a change of direction, I moved to Australia for a Criminology MA at the University of Sydney. I am now back and still very much looking to a pursue a career as an academic, but closer to my favourite places: London and Italy.

I know what you’re thinking. A lecturer? We’ve seen your butt way too many times on Instagram to take you seriously. Well that’s what this blog is about: it’s a space for me to be my old awks self, talk about all the food I end up eating, my random holidays, all the mindfucks I end up having and about my life as a pole dancer… just to show you that people can be versatile, and that shaking your ass in a headstand doesn’t mean you can’t do research on cyber crime. ‘Cause I can. #getyouagirlwhocandoboth (or everything, and get a panic attack in the meantime).

Pole Dancing

I started dancing at the amazing place that is Sydney Pole in 2016, at a really low point in my life. Having just left all I knew to move to Australia, I was coming from a break-up, an abusive relationship and years of unresolved and accumulated anxiety, depression and PTSD. Pole pretty much changed my life giving me my body and my head back, giving me strength and a purpose. Sometimes showing your butt is just the way forward. Want to find out why many women find pole empowering? Read this page and my blog in general, but for now this should give you a quick idea. 

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As an educated woman with a professional-ish life and plans to become a lecturer and researcher, I often get asked why I pole dance. I never feel I have to justify myself, and my reasons to go into pole were personal rather than scientific, but while nerding out at City Uni’s library I found this paper so I’ll give you an academic explanation. This study (which I found on @poledancingresearch’s Insta) compared uni students w/ recreational pole dancers and found those who poled felt more positive about their body image than the former who didn’t due to sexualisation. It says enjoyment of sexualisation is a multifaceted construct, with both negative and positive aspects. Both students and instructors found pole embodying – meaning an activity that gives you a stronger sense of connectedness with your body, which becomes a tool of self-expression and empowerment. Embodying activities lead to positive body image. In short, pole might be contradictory to whoever you think women who do it are, but the fact that we choose to sexualise ourselves doesn’t make pole dancers dumb, easy or nuts. Or, in #CateBlanchett’s words:”We all like looking sexy, but it doesn’t mean we want to fuck you.” Such an interesting read. 🍪

A post shared by Carolina(Car-o-leena)/ Hades™️ (@bloggeronpole) on Oct 26, 2017 at 12:24am PDT

But wait a minute… who is this chick? Why does she sound familiar? No, I didn’t do any sex tapes. I did however create (and write for) a bunch of other blogs. Here they are.

Couchsurfer Reviews

In 2014 I completed my mission: surviving – and most of all enjoying – my first-ever Couchsurfing trip across the United States of America. This blog started then, during a trip was my last chance for an adventure before I became a real person with a real job. Since working in social media scarred me for life, I decided to remember my journey across America in full 21st Century style: through Internet over-sharing. Which was incidentally a viable tracking system in case I ended up in the next Ted Bundy’s hands.

Couchsurfer Reviews has now however fully re-branded and morphed into Blogger On Pole. When you Google couchsurferreviews.com, this blog will come up. The oldest posts will be very lo-fi because I posted them from my old iPhone 4 while travelling across America, and that’s ok. Tryna to be real here.

Why the rebrand? Because of my anxiety and depression I have struggled to continue being a Couchsurfing host or to Couchsurf when I travel. Even though Couchsurfing pretty much saved me from a really dark place I was in when I went to the US, in my crazy busy, slashie life in London and Sydney I often need time to breathe, be alone and switch everything off – including my social skills. Hence, I felt like calling this blog Couchsurfer Reviews wasn’t accurate or fair, and I’ve changed it to unify it under my Insta name and my current passion.

London’s Calling – Londra Chiama

I’ve stopped paying for this blog so all you can find is its Twitter account, which I’ve left to show that the blog can’t come to the phone… why? BECAUSE IT’S DEAD.

London’s Calling – Londra Chiama started right before the beginning of my journalism degree here in London. When I saw all my fellow classmates had done some work experience at a newspaper, radio, TV station and the like, I realised I had done fuck all and pretty much panicked. So I came up with the blog, which begun as a step-by-step guide to help Italians apply to university in London – and, I’ve recently found out, was responsible for most of the Italian population enrolling into my uni’s degree (#humblebrag) – and slowly morphed into a lifestyle blog.

I got sick of just writing in Italian so I then set up Couchsurfer Reviews.

Find Me Elsewhere

I used to blog for The Huffington Post UK, where I had a profile I used to ramble on about food, my twisted political views or my entertainment obsessions. For the Huff Post, I either went on a long tirade about something or wrote in a list format. Please be aware that:

• As I mentioned, I had a profile on the Huff Post UK blog, which meant that before they stopped having contributors I could write a blog post there and the team approves it or not.
• I was not a paid member of staff in the Huff Post Newsroom.
• I posted on it as per the blogging guidelines and FAQs.

Other Writing Thingies:

• Find me on Medium.
• Travel and foodie guides for BoE (The Business of Everything) magazine
• Travel and foodie guides for Hip & Healthy
• Restaurant reviews for Broadsheet Sydney
• For TimeOut Sydney

Want to work with me? Click here.

Find Me In The Media Here.

Oh, and buy my novel please.