Posted on 10/17/2006 5:11:25 AM PDT by John Carey
The grainy high school dance video is lurid.
A teenage boy dances behind his winter-formal date, hands on her hips, thrusting his pelvis against her while she hitches up her satiny gown and bends at the waist. Another couple dance facing each other, their bodies enmeshed and their hips gyrating in a frenzy. A boy approaches a third couple, nearly sandwiching the girl between himself and her partner.
ADVERTISEMENT Teenagers call it "freaking," a style of dance made popular on MTV. Educators call it "simulated sex" that has no place at school dances. This clash between outraged adults and sexualized teens is being played out at homecoming dances, winter formals and proms across the nation, most recently at Aliso Niguel High School in Aliso Viejo.
After a jungle-themed dance in September, Principal Charles Salter canceled all future dances until students, parents and administrators craft a plan to stop freak dancing.
For months he'd implored parents to get their children to stop freaking, and even showed a video of the school dance to hundreds of parents at back-to-school night.
"The 'dancing' of our youngsters today is one step from events that should be occurring on wedding nights," he wrote in an e-mail to parents.
Though forms of freak dancing — also called "grinding" or "the nasty" — first appeared years ago, so many students are doing it now that educators nationwide are drawing up rules of behavior, changing music formats away from freak-friendly hip-hop, and banning from dances students whose movements are deemed too sexual.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Hahahaha, morning Linda! Why, of course, and the white eyeliner above the black eyeliner and two sets of Twiggy Lashes!
Yep. I remember. We all seemed to be under the impression that we were going to have lucrative careers as "Hullabaloo" dancers. And just think what we did to the ozone layer, wearing gallons of "Oh! de London" cologne. ;-D
I wasnt around in the 1950s to see "grinding coffee" but I recall the 80s and I dont remember any dirty dancing that had a girl bend over and hike up her skirt while the boy grabs her hip and thrusts against her raised butt repeatedly.
You really have seen that previously?
I agree that it is the parents responsibility. I also believe that most parents would dismiss this as "dirty dancing" or "Elvis redux" and not realize what exactly is going on.
I understand that each generation tries to outdo the last, but if this is allowed to be the norm for the current crop of teenagers, then we are 5 years from foam dances being acceptable. From there, clothing is not an issue anymore.
~snorrfle!~ I'd forgotten about the cologne! But every skirt was hemmed to just where my fingertips touched my legs. And I had lots of colored stockings to match!
You're way ahead of me on knowing about distateful things, then; I have no idea what foam dances are.
I'd assume you could dress up most women in a burka, and young men everywhere would still try to figure out a way to get a peek somehow. If today's young women are willing to put it out there, of course a guy's going to check it out. It's not a matter of needing that much encouragement, it's more a matter of pop culture saying it's okay to act in public like you'd act in private.
forgot an "s" - "distasteful".
They are in College's right now. You spray soap foam out onto the dance floor several feet thick soon after it starts. Soon, everything is covered in foam.
Clothing + foamy soap = College "fun"
I hear there are 300 million Americans now. I bet we need more foaming at our college campuses.
article is way behind the times. we were getting dances cancelled due to doing this type of dancing 10 years ago.
Things have sure progressed. All we had for college "fun" were beer and marijuana. :) At least they get their laundry done while they're dancing.
Wow - the most permissive posts on this thread seem to be from people OLDER than me (I'm 42). But they are bringing back memories.
As I said on the OTHER thread (doesn't anybody search anymore?), this is a far cry from "the day" - when slow dances could be a nightmare for a boy. Here you are, a pubescent boy, hugging and swaying with a female and, well, nature takes it's course. The whole second half of the song, you have dancing in you head: "Think about baseball, think about baseball..."
Ahhh, innocence!
OMG! you just made me snort coffee through my nose!
Ah yes, the ol' shrinkage/delay trick.
I'm old enough (38) to remember when putting your hands on a girls' arse during a slow dance was pretty heavy behavior. Grinding into a bent-over tootsie was something we reserved for later on . . . in the conversion van.
It is not whether kids will dance like that, or whether they, or at least some of them, will have sex after getting worked up by dancing like that. The issue is whether adults and schools will sanction this kind of dancing, thus saying, in effect, "It's ok by us if you do this."
This same argument is used by some parents on prom nights, when they allow alcohol to be served in their homes, on the grounds that "It is better for them to drink here than to risk them drinking and driving out somewhere else." Kids have always had alcohol out of the sight of parents and school officials. That is going to happen. But if it is sanctioned and permitted, kids have to move on to something more rebellious in order to get a rise out of us. That is the nature of youth. (IMHO)
You're correct on that: We did it from the front.
I think you're onto something. And there's also this: the kids NEED the adults to be outraged. Kids test boundaries from the day they can walk. Their protestations aside, they fully expect, and desire, adults to show them where the boudaries are. Without this, the world is a wide open and scary place. They'd never admit it, but that's the way it is.
We owe it to them to be outraged. It's all part of a dance that has been going on since Time Eternal:
The Child dances away, looks at the Parent and asks "Is it here?"
Parent sees there's plenty of room. "No, child. Keep dancing."
Child dances more, getting close to the ledge. "Is it here?".
He can't tell if he's gone too far. He needs Parent to let him know.
"Yes, Child, that's far enough".
Child is discouraged, upset that he's reached The Boundary, yet deep down he has the assurance that Parent wouldn't let him go over the ledge.
Innocence ... once lost you can never get it back. Best to retain it as long as possible.
Bet if that's the case the "foam" has soap properties & unbeknownst to the dolts, they're being bathed.
Stealthy our way healthy, that's the ticket.
Not as bright as they feature themselves; which, honestly may be the only commonality.
... between this & generations past.
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