OMG Shirtless

February 17th, 2010 at 12:19 AM ^

I only clicked on this thread because I figured there had to be a joke somewhere. Didn't McFarlin go to Brighton?

We're seriously going to have threads about whether or not a high school dance is canceled because of the way kids dance?

Well, if we're going to have stupid threads, I might as well contribute to the idiocy.

jam706

February 17th, 2010 at 8:15 AM ^

This is a problem nationwide!

Across the nation, public schools have been putting the brakes on grinding — also known as freak dancing — where partners repeatedly rub their pelvises together in a sexually suggestive manner. Some schools have canceled dances altogether. Others are implementing dress codes and even requiring students to sign agreements that spell out acceptable behavior. And some schools are turning to more unconventional means, such as Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood’s recent threat to turn up the lights and play Burt Bacharach if students started to grind

ShockFX

February 17th, 2010 at 9:46 AM ^

Across the nation, public schools have been putting the brakes on grinding — also known as freak dancing — where partners repeatedly rub their pelvises together in a sexually suggestive manner.

Should ban cheerleader too. That's suggestive. Air humping is to be disallowed IMMEDIATELY.

SCS100

February 17th, 2010 at 12:28 AM ^

You haven't had it bad until people actually have sex on the dance floor. That's when it gets interesting...

I'm still glad I skipped that dance last year...

spumich

February 17th, 2010 at 1:05 AM ^

a buddy of mine was grinding with a girl in college and ejaculated in his pants. The best part is it was on a Michigan Men's Glee Club Tour and he proceeded to tell everybody about it. From then on he was called Ejac. He became a glee club officer and whenever he got in front of the group they would chant Ejac. Just a funny story to add to this thread.

Musket Rebellion

February 17th, 2010 at 3:03 AM ^

When I saw this headline I thought for sure it was closed because Drew Henson showed up and all of the women instantly creamed themselves. The school had to close down and Mr. Henson would be charged with clean-up costs.

When it had nothing to do with Drew Henson, I was sad.

BlackEvanDown

February 17th, 2010 at 8:24 AM ^

Ah, how I don't miss my hometown sometimes. Although, it is not surprising. There always seems to be a overabundance of knee-jerk reactions that occur in Brighton from time to time.

In fact, if anyone remembers the show 30 days, there is an somewhat embarrassing portrayal of Brighton (and Howell) at the 35 minute point of the episode. The video is long so I won't embed, but here is a link:

http://www.videosift.com/video/30-Days-As-A-Muslim-44mins

learmanj

February 17th, 2010 at 9:31 AM ^

and this is due to the fact that I was a teacher and getting my master's in school counseling but just because students have sex and freak dance and all that other stuff.....doesn't mean that they should be doing it in schools. I am guessing (although with some of the people on here ya never know) that no one here goes to work or class and freak dance. There are time and places for everything. On that note, how the hell did this get posted on this blog and better yet, how did I allow myself to get sucked into it.

Plegerize

February 17th, 2010 at 10:03 AM ^

Chaperones wore these shirts and every hour or so they'd project that image up onto the wall. My sister told me that kids would boo it and were pretty pissed. I do think it's kind of a stupid proposal, grinding is a generational thing that kids do nowadays.

Not necessarily right (or appropriate), but I'd rather see grinding done in a "dance" setting, where there are chaperones and formal rules, than say a club where there's bouncers and alcohol.

tpilews

February 17th, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^

My wife teaches at one of the local HSs here in Tampa. There are currently 28 pregnant girls at her school. Canceling a dance sure as hell isn't the answer. Honestly, it starts at home.

Feat of Clay

February 17th, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^

My sister teaches at a Catholic school in a small town. They get this at their dances too (although they break it up when they see it).

She says for all the fuss, she thinks it's just how kids dance nowadays. It's what they see, and what they imitate.

I mean, obviously pelvises grinding together is suggestive, no argument about it, but I think adults get too alarmist over it, and what it may lead to.

I don't know what's going on in Brighton; maybe it's something worse.

doughboy

February 17th, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^

I believe the school was simply trying to prevent another Holden Caulfield episode:

"There, he (Holden) spends an evening dancing with three tourist girls and has a clumsy encounter with a prostitute; his attitude toward the prostitute (a girl his own age) changes the minute she enters the room, and after he tells her he just wants to talk, she becomes annoyed with him and leaves. However, he still pays her for her time. She demands more money than was originally agreed upon and when Holden refuses to pay he is beaten by her pimp, Maurice."

mtzlblk

February 17th, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^

....but grinding is nothing new. Freaking is just this generation's version and it is a lot faster.

When I was in high school, even middle school, that is exactly why you had slow songs. You ask a girl to dance, or she asks you, you get out on the floor, put your arms around each other and away you go. If she likes you, she gets up very close and you rub. If you like her you naturally react in the physical sense and if she really likes you then she has a natural reaction back and before you know it, you are in a full-on, mutual, slow grind. You would have to have been exceedingly naive as a teacher/chaperone at any of the dances that I attended to look at the dance floor and not have any idea what is going on. It was especially funny when you had a tall guy/smaller girl combo trying to pull this off. We used to pay off the DJ to play '3 slows' b/c just one song was never enough if you found the right girl.

What I find so weird is the hypocrisy of baby-boomer parents in applying such an extreme double-standard to their own kids. I'm an early Gen-X, but I saw what went on in their generation...at 16-17-18 years old, they were skinny-dipping, hitch-hiking around the country, very openly having sex, experimenting with any/all forms of illicit substances, skipping massive amounts of school, 'finding themselves', etc. and definitely NOT getting jobs for as long as possible.

If you ask me, boomers are the biggest sellout generation of all time. They continually pat themselves on the back, as if they single-handedly brought an end to the Vietnam 'War', even though any serious historical analysis would categorize them more as a contributing factor, at best.

They then went on to turn into the most selfish, money-grubbing generation of all time in the 80's and 90's, turning colleges/universities more into trade schools were you compete to further your earning potential and less places that foster free/critical thought and new ideas. Presiding over corporations that have done far worse things to the environment than any of the things for which they reviled previous generations. The same worker's rights they championed for a few summers in their youth they have spent the last 30 years eroding and more or less systematically dismantling to the point that Labor is probably in its weakest state of the modern era. They are more Donald Trump than Che Guevarra. As a voting block they have allowed our government to become controlled by $$/special interest lobbies to the point that voting seems to hardly even matter any more and corruption is more the rule than the exception (both sides of the aisle) with an almost complete inability to plan/legislate for the long term. And just look at what they have done with the economy, their children and grandchildren will be paying for their excesses for generations.

First they didn't trust anyone over 30, seems like now they don't trust anyone under 20.

Ok, lunchtime rant over.

mtzlblk

February 17th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^

I think if this was some form of self-reflexive attempt at improvement, their 'reform' mentality would have a little more breadth and not be, at least in my eyes, restricted to the gesticulations of their teens. They would be looking at making things better in other aspects of their lives as well. I don't see it, I just see more 'me, me, me'.

If they don't like what they see in their present day selves, I should think they would refrain from trying ever harder to turn their kid's generation into 20-year old, middle-aged people by squelching their forms of expression and trying to corral them into a career path at increasingly early ages.

I live in San Francisco and have a 5 year old son and I know parents that are putting their kids into Mandarin immersion programs, not b/c they value the cultural and cognitive aspects of learning another language at a young age, but b/c they want their child to have a leg up on the competition in the corprorate job market 20 years from now. Really? I send my son to a good private school, I definitely will invest in top-notch education, but I researched the schools thoroughly and found one that makes the enjoyment of learning a priority and allows ample time for kids to be kids. It wasn't as easy to find as you might think, a majority of the schools sell themselves on the ability to drive a high API# (academic performance index) by making the environment very intensive for the children, mostly to appease the parents.

jmblue

February 17th, 2010 at 4:45 PM ^

I'm just not a big fan of the word "hypocrisy" being thrown out at parents who want to protect their kids from potential harm. I cheated on a test once in high school and got in trouble. I cringe when I think about that now. If I want my kids to not repeat my mistake, am I a hypocrite?

mtzlblk

February 17th, 2010 at 6:13 PM ^

I think that cheating would be considered wrong no matter which generation you are speaking of and it is a bit like saying that you don't want your kids to get into a car accident, which would be fairly universal amongst parents of any era. (That said, if any generation has made it more okay to to cheat, it has been the Boomer generation, starting in the 80's and continuing on from there).

There is a fine line between protecting them and denying them. Over-protective can be just as harmful as under-protective. There are a trillion and 7 ways to be a parent, but overall I think you want to protect them from the worst of things, things that will cause lasting harm or drastically reduce the choices in their future, but you also want them to experience things, make their own choices, make their own mistakes and in the end to learn to make good ones by learning from their mistakes.

I just would not view a bit of bumping on the dance floor as something that I need to protect them from, you may view that differently. In my opinion, teens are always going going to find a way to get together and you are much better off giving them the tools and independence to be responsible than you are in trying to forbid them from touching each other.

I believe it is hypocritical in the extreme for one generation to enjoy a period of unabashed freedom and experimentation in their youth and then turn around and almost completely deny that to their own children and worse to try and then impose a set of morals that they didn't adhere to themselves. I think it is more a self-serving ('me, me, me' remember) way for boomers to attempt making parenting easier for themselves by deluding themselves into thinking that they can control whether teenagers make mistakes by legislating that they dance in a manner that they find acceptable.

The funniest part about it all to me is that Boomers brought this on themselves. They have created a society where sex, eroticism and sensuality are literally everywhere. When they were young they created the sexual revolution to deconstruct the social mores that prevented them from fulfilling their own physical desires any time they wanted. Great, more power to them. As they grew up they discovered that sex sells and employed that concept incessantly toward fulfilling their monetary needs such that in the end they have turned it into a commodity that is quite literally everpresent in the fabric of our everyday lives. Then they say to their kids, 'Oh, but not for you.' Quite simply, that isn't fair.

Boomers didn't listen to their parents in the 60's/70's because they felt that their parents were lying to them....and they were. Why should this generation listen to their boomer parents if they aren't going to own up to their own past and act as if they are on some sort of moral high-ground? I wouldn't.

Plegerize

February 17th, 2010 at 4:34 PM ^

I have to agree. It seems like a cycle nowadays:

1.Kids go through liberal fad.
2.Parents disagree and attempt to prevent kids from fad.
3.Kids rebel by continuing fad, despite ramifications.

You could see it in the 50's with Rock/Jazz music and Elvis' pelvis swinging around.

You could see it in the 60's/70's with drugs.

You can see it now with all the things that kids do, including dancing and grinding.

Honestly it's a never ending struggle between young and old.