Hi Colin, I'm not really sure what you're trying to say with your analogy here. Do you mean that people in England are actually more homophobic, and that people in America should accept that because, well, we wouldn't want English people coming here and telling us what's right and what's wrong either, when they don't know our culture and haven't danced here? If so, then you're right, that's a premise I disagree with.
Since people don't always (or even usually) come to contra dances with their spouses, at least here, the entire premise of your analogy doesn't really make sense. So let's try a different one. What if, say, a caller from England came to America, and noticed that dancers here only danced with people who had the same color skin. And the callers enforced this, by, say, never calling a mixer. Should that caller from England also not call mixers, because hey, he can't expect Americans to feel the same way he does about race, so why challenge them in that way? I would say, of course not, since racism is not an acceptable reason to avoid mixers. If I've missed your point, and what you mean is that there might be non-homophobic reasons that male dancers don't like to swing with each other in England that don't exist here in America (using the mixer example, say, it's just that Americans don't like mixers or there are some creepy or dangerous dancers in the hall that some people don't want to be forced to dance with), then I'd love to hear those reasons. But if your point is just that, as an American who doesn't dance in England, I should not expect the English to have the same values as me and therefore should be more tolerant of homophobia in cultures other than my own, that's a point where we're going to disagree. -Dave On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 2:15 PM, Colin Hume <co...@colinhume.com> wrote: > On Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:33:09 -0400, Dave Casserly wrote: > > If men in the UK are so uncomfortable touching another man that > > they don't want to swing (which is, in its essence, simply placing > > one hand on the man's back and one on a hand, not exactly an > > intimate embrace), that is unacceptably homophobic. I know there > > are some on this list who don't agree that callers have any part in > > "social engineering" or letting our calling reflect our values as > > humans, but personally, if I were asked to call a dance where the > > men were that afraid of touching each other, I would have no > > problem with challenging their perceptions by asking them to swing > > with each other (obviously there are some people afraid of touching > > other people for other reasons, but in that case, their fear isn't > > gendered). In that situation, a little "stress" is appropriate; I > > have no problem with causing homophobic people some minor stress > > when it's their own awful views that lead to their stress. > > Dave, I really object to all that. My guess is that you've never > danced in England and yet you expect everybody there to feel the same > way about things that you do. Suppose I called at a contra dance in > the States and said that I expected everyone to dance with the same > partner all evening as I felt that partner swapping in contra was > contributing to the breakup of marriage because people are constantly > searching for new excitement rather than sticking with their husband > or wife? I could then explain that I have no problem with causing > promiscuous people some minor stress when it's their own awful views > that lead to their stress! > > Colin Hume > > Email co...@colinhume.com Web site http://www.colinhume.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > call...@sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > -- David Casserly (cell) 781 258-2761
