Bumping and Grinding

If you went to a public high school in the United States, you probably went to a school dance at some point in time. There is a lot of hype, perpetuated both by students and faculty at high schools, about dance parties, which C. J. Pascoe’s ethnographic research frames as “rituals” – essentially, events that people use to sanction shared beliefs and values. High school dance events, such as one dance at that Pascoe studied at River High School in California, reflects one major type of ritual.

At the dances themselves, a double standard exists between male and female outfits. High school girls tend to skimp on full skin coverage, where boys wear baggy pants and shirts that reveal much less skin than the girls’ clothing. The popular music played at school dances reinforces this standard: lyrics are about women’s bodies, and students often sing along, especially the girls, who yell out the chorus to Nelly's "Hot In Here": "I am gettin' so hot/I wanna take my clothes off." Supervising faculty members allow very sexual music to play at dances, but when students' actual dancing becomes too sexual, their activity is more heavily monitored. For example, adult supervisors remove chairs from the dance floor to discourage teens grinding or participating in "lap dancing"-type activity. School staff members even threaten to eject students from the event for their inappropriate dancing. Even though the sexual hostility in music is overlooked, actual sexual activity between teens is, presumably, unacceptable. As a result, faculty members are expected to intervene.

However, upon talking to faculty members, Pascoe has found that - at dances, at least - their bark is worse than their bite. According to the staff members who supervise the event, only one student has ever been escorted off the premises of River High for dancing too promiscuously. This student "pinned a boy against a wall, backed up into him, and bent all the way over, rubbing her behind into the boy's groin," and after being asked multiple times to stop, she was removed from the dance. The boy she was dancing with, however, was allowed to stay. Despite what adults at River High preach about teen sexuality, they will continually make seemingly benign jokes with kids about their sexual activity with each other. For example, two of the school's vice principals called out to one boy/girl couple, "You two goin' to a hotel or what?" The nature of these jokes may be light-hearted, but they only serve to perpetuate the double standard of perceived sexuality versus actual sexuality.

Ultimately, high school dance events not only reflect but also reinforce gender inequality among teenagers, as well as adult perceptions of teenage sexuality. Both students and faculty are responsible for carrying on these standards.