Dear Tell All: You disagreed with a parent who was scandalized by dancing at a local high school, but I don't know if you've actually seen what goes on at dances here in Madison in 2014 ("Teen Dances Go Too Far," 4/10/2014). You point out how scandalous the twist or tango were for their time and say that the current behavior is no different. But the twist and tango are dances. What the kids are doing at these school events is not a sexually charged dance: It is dry humping, which is sex.
Chaperones at one dance, for example, were told not to allow a boy to get a girl up against a pillar because, you know, that would be kind of like rape. But that was the only rule the chaperones were told to enforce!
I know that, if the school sanctions it, dry humping can be traumatic for some kids to watch. One 14-year-old freshman we know came back from her first high school dance distressed that this was perfectly accepted by the administration and felt this was expected behavior at a dance.
Teens will be teens, and there will always be some kids pushing things too far in public, but perhaps what is so distressing to some kids is that the schools are saying it is okay. Maybe it would be better if at least the adults did what adults have always done in the past and showed their disapproval. These are school-sanctioned events with chaperones there supposedly to keep a lid on how far behavior goes.
I Agree with PTOhhh
Dear Tell All: Your response to PTOhhh referenced "slam dancing." Easy, Wolf Blitzer. Naming rights belong to punk rockers -- we created it. It's called "thrashing," from "thrash pile" or "thrash pit."
Secondly, equating thrashing with forbidden sexuality is quite a stretch. More like alienation, violence and (oddly) cooperation set to the angry death throes of noncorporate youth culture.
Twerking: I do not begrudge the kids their boundary-testing. As you point out, 'twas ever thus. In fact, my first thought was jealousy. Guys don't have to do anything but stand against the wall and get their "units" rubbed.
I just want to know where the next generation can go from here. "Pass the lube, I'm dancing!" Woo-hoo!
Born Waaaay Too Early
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