10 Apr
2013
10 Apr
'13
7:15 p.m.
On Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:33:09 -0400, Dave Casserly wrote:
If men in the UK are so uncomfortable touching another
man that
they don't want to swing (which is, in its essence, simply placing
one hand on the man's back and one on a hand, not exactly an
intimate embrace), that is unacceptably homophobic. I know there
are some on this list who don't agree that callers have any part in
"social engineering" or letting our calling reflect our values as
humans, but personally, if I were asked to call a dance where the
men were that afraid of touching each other, I would have no
problem with challenging their perceptions by asking them to swing
with each other (obviously there are some people afraid of touching
other people for other reasons, but in that case, their fear isn't
gendered). In that situation, a little "stress" is appropriate; I
have no problem with causing homophobic people some minor stress
when it's their own awful views that lead to their stress.
Dave, I really object to all that. My guess is that you've never
danced in England and yet you expect everybody there to feel the same
way about things that you do. Suppose I called at a contra dance in
the States and said that I expected everyone to dance with the same
partner all evening as I felt that partner swapping in contra was
contributing to the breakup of marriage because people are constantly
searching for new excitement rather than sticking with their husband
or wife? I could then explain that I have no problem with causing
promiscuous people some minor stress when it's their own awful views
that lead to their stress!
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://www.colinhume.com