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 [email protected] Web site http://www.colinhume.com
