Swing, salsa, disco, breakdancing, the two step, and "dirty" dancing are the most easily recognized dances of our generation. However, a new dance craze is sweeping the country and can be observed on any weekend night at your local dance club. It is also a subject that individuals are timid to discuss and this was apparent in our discussion on March 25th, 1999. This dance, described above as being "dirty," is commonly referred to as grinding, and has come under fire with many parents and authority figures that believe that its explicit sexual connotations are not appropriate in many situations. One such instance is in Walnut Hills High School, where the administration has gone as far as to impose set rules and standards of conduct for their prom this year. Our discussion focused on the social psychological principles that applied to the dancing behaviors as well as the people who were effected by and those who created the novel rules.

        Possible factors that were mentioned as being important in the matter were the influence of alcohol, the presence of authority figures, the new emerging music genres and lyrics being played, and the mass media's influence on individuals. Over and over, situational determinates were mentioned as a factor when determining whether grinding was acceptable or not. An interesting point was made when someone said that what is socially acceptable behavior in a dance club in America is quite different than what one would expect somewhere else. For example, if someone came up to you here in a dance club at a college and asked you to salsa, it would be a peculiar situation. Yet if the next person you saw just came up and started grinding with you, you would think nothing of it. Part of this is due to what expectations we have when we enter a club. This mentioned situation would be much different and completely juxtaposed if it happened to be "Salsa Night." There, we would expect many people to be doing the salsa and not just popping on over to dance with you. Other cultures also have different expectations when it comes to comfortable social distances. Grinding may constitute an invasion of privacy in other situations.

        These culturally decided standards are an expansive version of social norms. Norms are rules for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe "proper" behavior. (In a different sense of the word, norms also describe what most other do and what most people in that situation consider normal) (Meyers). During the discussion, someone asked what made one particular dance more crude than any other dance, and this is a very valid point when you compare such dances as grinding to, say, the lambada. There are also gender differences when it comes to expectancies in a dance club. In a dance club situation, both men and women pick up certain role schemas, which are understandings of the behaviors and attributes expected of people in a particular social position (Tesser). A man might be expected to approach a woman and begin to "grind" without asking or any previous signal that he might be doing so. Also, a woman would not be expected to do this initiation, but just initially accept it and deal with it as it happens. As for the roles of the parents involved in this particular situation, how many people would have grinded to the popular music styles of their generation? It seems that there was and still remains to be a sexual taboo within the older generations which is trying to be passed down. These differences in what is acceptable or not are reflected in some of the newer styles of promwear recently and how different it is from more dated styles and trends.

        These changes are apparent in our culture today for many reasons. One is the economics of space within our dance halls and in dancing situations. Modern dance locales seem to house more and more people in less space. This inadequacy of personal room may have been a factor in why people feel the need to create a dance such as grinding. Another factor may be that our society is becoming increasingly open about their sexuality. They are more willing to share their personal accounts with others as well as having a more open view about public displays of affection and provocative acts. An direct extension of this is grinding and all the apparent trouble it may cause among different generations.

References

    Myers, David G. Social Psychology. 5th ed. McGraw Hill. 1996.

    Tesser, Abraham. Advanced Social Psychology. McGraw Hill, 1995.