I want to echo the words of Alex D-L and Dave Casserly. I'm also appalled at the casual use of the n-word on this thread without anyone whatsoever calling it out. This is really giving me pause. :(
Contra's attendance is dwindling - I hear it from every organizer I talk to, with a couple exceptions. I also hear about the desire to "get the young people to dance". Hmmm. Ron Blechner On Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 11:39 AM Dave Casserly via Callers < callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Rich, > > I don't think your situation here is exactly what Colin describes-- you're > not worried about any of the particular words, as many of us are regarding > the word "gypsy," for instance. The question here is whether the phrase > has an offensive *meaning* of "women are things," and if so, is that a > good reason not to use it. Personally, I'd probably alter it or do a > different singing square. I don't subscribe to the extreme position that > you should never sing lyrics to a folk song unless you agree with those > lyrics; that would make singing folk songs very difficult to do at all. > That said, there are some times where the meanings of lyrics are offensive > enough, without any redeeming qualities, that I leave a verse out or alter > a few words in the singing sessions that I lead. There is nothing > sacrosanct about a particular set of lyrics to a folk song; people have > been changing them for whatever reason for generations, and will continue > to do so. If future singers don't like my revisions, they can sing a > different version, just like I sometimes prefer to ignore Victorian-era > revisions to bawdier songs. > > Here, I'd lean toward not using the lyrics for three reasons: 1) they > imply that women are objects; 2) there's nothing redeeming or valuable > about them, as they're the only things sung, with no context; and 3) > similarly, they don't represent the meaning of the song, and when repeated > on their own, sort of pervert that meaning (at least going by the lyrics > Yoyo posted). > > I also think there are good reasons to err on the side of inclusive > language, particularly in our community. Contra dancing is overwhelmingly > white, and for a long time, contra dance calling was dominated by men. The > loudest voices on this forum are those of older white men. Contra dancers > and particularly organizers are disproportionately white baby boomers. > We're seeing the effects of that now; dance attendance has been dwindling > as older dancers stop attending and aren't replaced by younger dancers. If > we want our dance form to continue to thrive, when there's a question on > which there's a generational divide (as you, in my view correctly, note > here), I would err toward using the language less likely to turn off our > younger generations, which are also our most diverse generations. This > isn't an issue where changing the lyrics is going to bother people-- very > few would know the original lyrics well enough to notice-- and certainly > nobody would know if you selected a different singing square instead. > > -Dave > > -- > David Casserly > (cell) 781 258-2761 > _______________________________________________ > List Name: Callers mailing list > List Address: Callers@lists.sharedweight.net > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/ >
_______________________________________________ List Name: Callers mailing list List Address: Callers@lists.sharedweight.net Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/