excerpt from this article.

Much of the image problem for this dance can be traced to the fact that "the victors write the history books." Thousands of years ago, when patriarchal hordes destroyed the ancient Goddess-based cultures around the world, great effort went into demonizing these earlier belief systems and religions. The Goddess and those who danced in her honor were now portrayed by the new religions as whores (from the word "horae," ancient priestesses). The female body and the dances that once celebrated its creative functions, became evil temptations to lure men away from the religious demands of the new male sky Gods. Gradually, throughout the centuries, the concept of women publicly performing solo dances became associated with shame and lewd sexuality. But sexually repressed cultures only serve to make sex and sensuality all the more desirable, due in part to its very forbiddeness. In the 20th century, entrepreneurs of all persuasions have realized that "sex sells." In Hollywood movies, night clubs, and other performance venues around the West, exotic "dancing girls" became a common feature and their focus was often on sexual titillation rather than the dance as an art.

The English introduction of the term "belly dance" is credited to Mr. Sol Bloom. He was an entertainment impressionario considered to be the first to popularize the dance in the United States by bringing authentic Middle Eastern dancers and musicians to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair (he was actually not the first to bring the dance to these shores, but earlier stage shows in the U.S. did not capture the attention of American public as his did). Some will say that Mr. Bloom's coining of the phrase "belly dance" to publicize his shows at the Fair was done with sexist, racist, and malicious intent explicitly to cause salacious outrage in the Victorian public of the day and to generate headlines (in Victorian times, polite society did not use the word "belly", or many other words that are acceptable today). In actuality, Mr. Bloom was not making up the term, but simply translating the French "Danse du Ventre" into English. It appears that the French had been using that name for the dance since the time of Napoleon's conquest of Egypt in the 1700's (and there is no documentation on exactly what date the French started using it, or exactly what regional ethnic dances they were originally referring to - Ghawazee, Ouled Nail, etc.). Unfortunately, Mr. Bloom is not alive today to tell us what his real motivations were for popularizing the now infamous name. But judging from his writings, he respected his Middle Eastern performers and their beautiful traditional art, and while not being above provoking a response from the straight-laced society of his time, it is doubtful he was being malicious in his intent. In any event, he was certainly successful in drawing attention to his dancers and the name quickly caught on.

After the great success of the Chicago World's Fair and the intense interest shown by the American public to the Middle Eastern dancers, the dance became popular entertainment. Unfortunately, many of the newly minted dancers in the West knew little about the authentic dance and faked it as best they could in movies, vaudeville, and stages big and small. Different dancers used different terms to describe their dance, but the moniker "belly dance" became the most widely recognized in the U.S.

Despite the wide range of dance ability and authenticity apparent in the dancers, a standardized image started to emerge: a dancer in a belly-revealing costume, executing snaky moves and shimmies became the alluring and mysterious 'belly dancer." It is this IMAGE, not the terminology, that has been the real source of discomfort concerning this art form. No matter what a dancer calls herself, if she wears the belly-revealing costume and does the serpentine and ecstatic moves of the ancient art, she is invoking all the centuries of propaganda against a woman moving freely and publicly to music.