Twerking: Self-Empowerment or Self-Objectification

Twerking ain't new.  I know this.  I've been shaking my rump and chippin' down de road long enough to now a little something about winding my waist and such.  But all of a sudden in the middle of a super pumped crowd at the Mad Decent Block Party, something changed for me when they invited some ladies to come up on stage for a twerk-off and some girls went on stage not fully understanding what that meant. Clearly they hadn't yet watched any of the instructional youtube videos and were just caught up in the hype of it all. 


We've all become accustomed to seeing scantily clad women in rap videos shaking their groove thangs and poetic lyrics such as, "Then I like to see the female twerking taking the clothes off BUCKEY naked" care of Lil' Jon barely cause a stir and have been around for ages.  So why this seemingly sudden fascination with twerking? And come to think of it, Miley Cyrus; how the heck is she at the forefront of all of this? 

Apparently I have a lot more questions than I do answers, but that's OK.  I mean, you gotta start somewhere.  

Here's what I think: 
There is almost always a dance craze of the moment.  And if you've got some rhythm it's fun to participate.  It wasn't even that long ago that we saw the dancehall movement sweep Toronto. And if you were lucky enough to take a class with Ponytailz, you would know it wasn't just about shaking your ass.  It was about style, strength, confidence and bravado.  So when girls would have dancehall batlles the thought of objectification never ran through my mind.  It was obvious that these girls meant serious business about their performances.  And although technically different, the men would have an opportunity to showcase their dancing abilities differently. 

Watching the girls up on stage this past Friday made me feel differently.  Some of them reached into their dancehall roots and put on a spectacular performance. Good on ya.   Some of them however, didn't quite get the memo.  They were up on stage looking a little lost and not dancing for themselves.  They were trying to dance "seductively" for their audience and because of that, got booed off the stage.  Nothing like a good ol' fashioned shot to the ego.

So here's the fine line as I see it.  If you get your twerk on aggressively and assertively and capture an audience with that energy or unicorn onesie, it's empowering.  If you get up and move your hips around searching for acceptance, seductive glances or an outward sense of confidence.  You're not doing it right.  At all.  You're just objectifying yourself, so you might want to quit it until you get a little more practice time in front of your mirror.  And when you start to feel a little more comfortable in your own skin and skill, you can even open your curtains.