I have been a dj for five years, and during that time, I have provided my services (Lucky Se7en Mobile DJ Services) for more than 20 high school dances.
At each dance, the students enjoying the music with their friends have danced the same.
They grind on each other, generally with the girl standing in front of a guy with the female’s behind gyrating against the male’s crotch.
It is dirty dancing. There is no question about that.
Because of this, many schools in McPherson and Harvey County, as well as across the state, have implemented a “no front to back” dancing rule because they feel they are deterring sexual and immoral behavior.
I strongly disagree.
For the students, dancing this way is just how it is done. Stepping into any club or watching any music video on television, one would see everyone on the dance floor dancing this way.
Just because everyone else does it this way doesn’t mean it is necessarily the right way to do it; however, banning such dancing on the grounds of preventing sexually explicit behavior is missing the point.
Isn’t it better to have the students dancing like this, fully clothed and within sight of others, including teachers and chaperones, better than the alternative?
I think so.
Besides, banning the act will make the students want to do it even more just in the effort to be rebellious, so at the very least they will gather in a mass in the middle of the dance floor so the sight of their dancing is obstructed by those not grinding on the perimeter.
What I fear will happen if schools continue to implement such restrictions will be students will no longer attend school dances.
Obviously this would be bad for my business, but it could also be more harmful for the youth of the schools.
Instead of just rubbing on each on the dance floor, the students could conceivably begin to skip the dances and actually go begin having sex.
Rather than taking part in school related functions, horny teenagers could begin having sex in the backseat of the car they borrowed from their parents.
Which is worse?
To me that answer is obvious.
Grinding might promote sexual thoughts, but banning it will just leave the students more time to participate in the actual act of sex.
Most school dances last until midnight, which is the time when most students would have to be home due to curfews imposed by parents.
This leaves no time for getting frisky in the backseat or at some other location they teens feel they won’t be bothered while taking part in a very adult activity.
I understand the schools’ goal in banning front-to-back dancing, but I fear it will be counterproductive.
Either way the sexual thoughts will be bombarding the teens’ thoughts, but wouldn’t it be better to keep the students in a controlled environment where the thoughts can’t be acted out with clothing?
When you read this as a parent of a junior high-aged daughter, I bet you’ll think differently.
what exactly would you have us do, backroadsnewsroom? kids these days never learn how to “dance” in the traditional sense. we don’t know it any other way, and we know this is how we find it enjoyable. if we can’t grind at a dance, why would bother going at all? the alternative in many cases is simply to end the dances altogether (which most would rather do than show up and make a fool of ourselves dancing “appropriately”). the author of this post makes an intelligent argument and in my opinion is correct