I think we are making a bigger deal out of this than needs to be. You go to any other type of dancing and you will have some difficulty finding 2 men dancing together. It is not the social norm and so it makes people uncomfortable. It has nothing to do with homophobia. I will admit - I prefer opposite gender swings - Am I homophobic and just don't know it?
I worry most about new dancers - we try very hard to make them comfortable and same gender swings don't help with that objective. I like same gender swings about as much as 'gents chain'. Both are awkward to all but fairly experienced dancers and should be used sparingly and only at events where newer and less experienced dancers are not involved. Mac McKeever ________________________________ From: Aahz Maruch <a...@pobox.com> To: Caller's discussion list <call...@sharedweight.net> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 7:03 AM Subject: Re: [Callers] Suggestions for particularly flirty contra dances? On Thu, Apr 11, 2013, John Sweeney wrote: > > Anyway, back to reality: I am sorry, Dave, but it seems very silly to me > to accuse someone of a hate crime just because, regardless of how they > feel about homosexuality, they are uncomfortable with close-hold > same-sex swings. Words change their meaning (remember "gay"?), and even within the formal definition, subtle shifts often take place. These days, "homophobia" (similar to "racism" and "sexism") refers to pretty much any instance of discomfort with same-sex interactions that comes from systemic hatred of homosexuality. (And if you're think there's no systemic hatred, you're not paying attention. People still get killed for being gay in the US.) Maia's analysis is pretty much spot-on -- if there were no discomfort with homosexuality, it's unlikely (statistically speaking) that people would have discomfort with same-sex swings. You're right, we're not accusing anyone of a hate crime just for discomfort with same-sex swings. But it all comes from the same source. -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list call...@sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
