Why do women dance???

In My Humble Opinion
1

This may strike people as a strange question, but still…

I have been to many different bars and clubs over my short life, and I have met many different types of women, girls, ladies, whatever. I have been in and gotten drunk in bars on five different continents, and as I sat in one tonight a thought occured to me…

Why are girls more likely to dance than men?

It may be my crazy mind, but as far as I can tell, many women seem to derive some actual pleasure from the act of dancing. They dont just dance with guys on a dancefloor, They have fun dancing alone with their friends on the same dancefloor, or they will dance in front of a mirror while dressing up. In my experience men are less likely to be found doing either of these activities, so the question is,

Is there any specific reason why girls LIKE the act of dancing in and of itself, and is it true that they like the act more than men commonly do?

2

I’m a guy and I like dancing. I know many women who don’t like dancing. I don’t think dancing is some innate gender inequality.

I think it is just more acceptable in our society for women to enjoy dancing, so they do it more easily and more often in public. I don’t know why our society is this way.

3

Hell, I’m a guy and I love dancing-- for the sake of dancing alone-- and I wonder similarly.

4

WAG #1 - It’s really easy to look like a tool when you’re dancing to something that has no set moves. In my experience, men tend to worry a little more about that than women do.

WAG #2 - Women, in addition to enjoying dancing, know that their target audience enjoys watching them dance, and find it a good non-intimidating way to attract attention.

WAG #3 - It’s more fun than aerobics and just as good cardio, plus you can drink cocktails in between songs.

5

That’s like asking whether there is any specific reason why people like listening to music. And the answers to both questions are probably related.

6

Culture.

That’s the whole answer. You can find tribal societies in which only the men dance, and societies in which the whole family dance.

In western societies, women soon learn that they have the freedom to dance as a sexual signal, as **Daerlyn ** mentioned. (Probably why gay men have equal freedom to dance and why straight men are inhibited from doing so in some circumstances.)

It’s relatively recent as well. For much of the 19th century, women were barred from places were alcohol were served in the U.S. Men did dance to various kinds of music, from fiddling to accordion, but these were athletic dances that the clothing women wore wouldn’t accommodate. The cakewalk was a musical competition among blacks, in which they made elaborate moves seem easy, from the which the term “cakewalk” for an easy victory emerged.

Other dancing was more formal, usually in groups, such as reels or square dances, in which individual dancing would be meaningless.

You need to get into the 20th century before you even get to nightclubs where there was a special purpose to go to for dancing. Most bars still didn’t have that kind of music or floor room.

Jukeboxes helped launch dancing among teens. They were places in soda shops, where teens congregated after school to have ice cream and sandwiches. Girls would put on fast music and move their bodies. Couples dancing was still the norm, but girls would dance with each other if no boys would participate. Boys wouldn’t do this for fears of gay accusations.

Dancing just for the sake of moving a body to music hits with the rise of roadhouses after the auto became the norm. These sold illegal liquor during prohibition, illegal other substances after, allowed people to meet partners other than their spouses, and generally had bad reputations for depravity and sexual license. Speakeasies, and then nightclubs, in the city matched them. In the post-war era, music was faster and more of a norm, and moving one’s body to the music without formal dancing was a natural response. Clothing also changed so that women wore less clothing with less restrictiveness - try doing some modern dances in a girdle, stockings, and high heels.

But the whole culture **bucketybuck ** talks of is something so new for the mainstream that I’ve seen it develop in my lifetime. He may think it’s some kind of norm for the world, but it’s just the latest development in western societies, a mixture of sexual freedom, easy access to stimulants, casual dress, the fading of formal structure in dancing, and sexual freedom. Yep, it’s really all about sex.

7

We have some very good pole dancers in Bangkok.

8

I don’t know why, but it has long been recognized that Most of the Girls Like to Dance but Only Some of the Boys Do.

9

While I agree with the first sentence, can you back up the second one with cites? Are there cultures where one gender never dances?

10

“Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire.”

–George Bernard Shaw

11

Which is caught up with our pole dancers in Bangkok. :smiley:

12

“And we should consider every day lost upon which we have not danced.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

13

Some comedian whose name I’ve forgotten put it well:

“Men hate dancing. But we do it because there’s a slight chance t might lead to sex. Cause let’s face it- if we LIKED dancing, we’d do it with other guys, wouldn’t we?”

14

I’ll go with culture on this one too. The behavioral latitude allowed to adult females is accepted and common for very young children of both genders, but the childen are not many years older by the time boys are expected to start acting like little men. In terms of behavioral expectations, the boom begins to lower on boys in a variety of ways, and this continues into and through manhood. Without going into all the aspects of this phenomenon dancing seems to follow that pattern. It’s an expression of one’s feelings, which, again, is not encouraged for males. A three year old boy, having just met Mickey Mouse at his ‘house’ in Disneyland, can burst into a spontaneous dance of happiness, but a ten-year-old, no.

As for liking and enjoying the actual act of dancing, I did. My college years were 1975-1980, and there were a lot of parties. Although it was the disco era, it wasn’t very popular at my school, and we tended to prefer basic four-on-the-floor rock that was popular at the time. I really don’t care all that much for the bands that were huge at the time, like Led Zeppelin and Foreigner, but the music was fun to dance to. But I wouldn’t dance except with a girl.

I don’t “get” the music played in clubs now. It doesn’t make me want to dance. It makes me want to leave.

15

See the girl with the glasses and a nice dress and tiny feet who is dancing in a weirdly distractedly way beside her friends? The one who loves the music but looks a little uncomfortable until she smiles but you love the way her arms are like straws with little bits of ribbons? The way she moves as if she weighs nothing, dancing on light - she really can walk - it’s like a thud upon your chest That’s the woman you should be talking to, and marrying.

The divorce is unpleasant of course.

16

Moved from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.

Gfactor
General Questions Moderator

17

It’s enjoyable like exercise, but without exertion or competition. So it feels good in a “gets the endorphins going” type of way. And, of course, you can do it to good music. To me it’s pleasant in a similar way to going on a brisk walk with nice scenery and good weather.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who, as a teenager, was happy to dance alone in my room (with my Walkman or boom box [ ime capsule]), so it’s not always a social activity.

18

…which may be seen as an advantage by the (stereo)typical woman and a drawback by the (stereo)typical man, helping to explain, a little bit, why it’s something women do.

19

Guys don’t dance for 1 simple reason: Unless we’re John Travolta, Michael Jackson or Mikhail Baryshnikov, we look stupid doing it.

20

Exapno Mapcase, that’s one of the best posts I’ve read on the Dope in a hot minute.

One of the only benefits that I’ll give to the use of hallucinogenic substances in my life is that I realized that almost everyone looks like a moron when they’re dancing, so you shouldn’t worry about it and just get down. Before that moment I had never shaken a tailfeather in public. Now I can’t stop.

Also, you can tell how people are going to fuck based on how they dance. People who can’t move their bodies to music don’t move their bodies while doing the hibbity dibbity either. People who know how to swivel hips and where to put their hands, well… :wink: