The Single Ladies Dance Outrage & the Crisis of Girls’ Sexualization
Last week’s spectacle of eight and nine year old girls gyrating to “Single Ladies” is still eating me. And to be honest, I’m still not exactly sure why.
What’s the big deal here, really? Isn’t this just another grating example of girls’ sexualization, fodder that seems to arrive weekly? And who cares if some little girls want to try some big girl dancing? As one of the girls’ parents told Good Morning America, the outfits are “actually no different than when kids are going swimming — they go in the swimming pool with a bathing suit. These kids are going to a dance competition and they’re wearing dance costumes in front of a dance audience.”
So, like, isn’t this the same thing as getting a pedicure with Mommy or tottering around in her spiked heels?
No and no. Thrusting your pelvis, crouching seductively and shaking your butt like a stripper are inherently sexual acts. And if their bodies didn’t make the point, the clothing surely did. This wasn’t just dancing – it was erotic dancing.
When it comes to growing up, sexuality is a sacred part of the developing self. While almost all of us experiment sexually, should seven year old girls’ first experiences be quite so explicit and public? It’s one thing to try on your mom’s heels, and it’s quite another to do it for an audience. As a You Tube commenter wrote in the girls’ defense, the kids don’t even know what they’re doing. Exactly — that’s the point and my concern.
Let me be clear: the sexual part isn’t the problem – girls are sexual creatures from the get-go. The problem is that these girls are adopting an expression of sexuality that isn’t really theirs. It’s not discovered or sought out in response to internal desire or curiosity.
Moreover, the dancing introduces girls to an experience of sexuality that is being defined for them by a media conglomerate. It’s a product sold by the constellation of financial interests that stand behind Beyonce. These are hardly people invested in the safe and healthy development of girls’ sexuality. And the girls are a ways off, cognitively and developmentally speaking, from being able to look critically at the media they’re mimicking.
The Single Ladies debacle set off a pandemic of parent judgment, but sexuality educator and author Dr. Logan Levkoff calls foul. “What disturbs me is that this was made public, and in turn, has created the perfect storm of hypocrisy. In our own homes, we laugh off girls’ burgeoning sexuality. In public, we scream and yell and finger wag. (Both are incredibly problematic.)”
The sexualization of girls cuts girls off from authentic desire and emotion by pressuring them to regard themselves as objects, and encouraging sexuality as a performance for others. In their 2007 report, the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that early sexualization of girls is linked to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. The APA defines sexualization as when:
• a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
• a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
• a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
• sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.
Only one of these conditions must be present in order for sexualization to occur.
So I’m thinking about these very talented girls, and what it was like to get up on that stage and do that routine. The roar of crowd approval (and the resulting You Tube frenzy) was no doubt a thrilling rush. Was it only about the dancing? If those girls had done a rip-roaring Balanchine suite, would it be viral You Tube material? The attention teaches them a destructive lesson: be sexy and be valued. All at the age when, speaking to GMA, they have lingering baby talk in their voices.
The irony is that dance is actually a powerful vaccine against sexualization. Dance can tether girls to their bodies and emotions in transformative ways. In March, I watched the young women of the Roots dance troupe move in front of over 300 high school girls. I have never seen women own their bodies the way they did. It was clear that they danced first for each other and themselves, and then for the audience.
They were no less erotic than the girls in the Single Ladies video, but they were erotic on their own terms. They were erotic in the sense that the late, great Audre Lorde defined, using a “power which rises from our deepest and nonrational knowledge.” This kind of erotic exists on “a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling.” This kind of erotic “is not only a question of what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing.”
During the Q & A that followed their performance, the Roots troupe explained to the girls that music video dancing is just one way to be sexy. The kind of dance most publicized is the one that flush record companies can bankroll — so it’s the only one most girls see.
And that’s the real problem for me. Girls are being sold a narrow idea of sexuality and the erotic that is based primarily on how you appear to others. This kind of dance is about being seen and consumed first and foremost, and less about what comes from within.
We have become desensitized to sex, just as we have to violence. Kids’ elastic bodies and intrepid physical risk taking make them capable of extraordinary athletic feats. But just because you can wrap your leg behind your ear doesn’t mean you should.
For more information about girls’ sexualization:
So Sexy, So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect their Kids by Jean Kilbourne and Diane Levin.
The American Psychological Association Task Force Report on the Sexualization of Girls (2007)
[...] phenomenon in a fascinating writeup, and our colleague Rachel Simmons discussed it recently on her blog. I was curious if any of our readership has been unsettled by similar observations, and would [...]
Is it really about sexualization or commercialization? The girls may not be aiming to be sexual so much as they’re aiming to be commercial, which is working if they were on “Good Morning America,” and which continues to work considering we’re all talking about it and discussing it.
If they are trying to be sexy, they seem to be doing so only because that’s what sells.
Nice post.
those roots chicas are off the hook! thanks for sharing their art. and i very much agree with your comments rachel, here, here!
When we live in a world when it is acceptable to sell babies bra and knicker sets, when the only clothing available for 7 years olds in minature adult women’s clothing what do we expect. The media and many in society tell young women, learn pole dancing it is empowering, Lap Dancing is innocent and it is ok to be at a club and to put on a sex show on the dance floor with your girl friend to attract men why are we suprised when mothers allow their young daughters to behave this way. Until we promote women’s intelligence over there physical looks this is not going to go away.:-(
I’m disappointed. This blog article lacks a discussion of the choreographers role in mediating/facilitating this. While girls across NA are doing this stuff without assistance, these ones have been, and to neglect that leaves a hole in a cogent argument.
Also, doesn’t the roots dancer connection needs to be brought back to the girls? They are put forward as positive dance role models. Okay, I see how they relate/contrast to Beyonce, but I want to know how 9 year olds doing the exact same moves on a You-Tube clip would be empowering (or not) — or at least different. Children will want to dance, and they will want to do so like they imagine adults do — so that needs to be discussed, no?
I agree that the post doesn’t get into the role of adults. I made a decision not to because so many others seem to be focusing their outrage on the where-are-the-parents angle.
As for the Roots dancers, the point is not to advocate for 9 year old girls dancing like that – or erotically at all, in fact; I try to make the point that sexuality should be much more organic and self-directed at that age than so choreographed and imposed – but to suggest an alternative to the version of “sexy” that seems to be both everywhere and the only way to be. Thanks so much for your comment!
i agree and am somewhat shocked on so many levels. My first reaction was the same as everyone else, how can their parents let them do that. Then a shocking realization comes over me and slaps me up the side of the head. When did we become a society of negativity. Why didn’t we see… all the girls dance pretty good, they keep to the beat of the music while staying in sync with each other. something all dance groups strive to accomplish. Instead our minds and thoughts go to the gutter immediately. Shame on us. Its not the kids issue, its adults that want to find something wrong with everything. why do you think the news shows 90% disaster and death, it is by our demand.
Hi! I am one of the Roots dancers…Thank you for including us in this…All of us work with women and children and I think it is very, very important to consider the age of a performer before setting a choreography on them…The single ladies song is a song that is clearly about an adult woman situation(being in a club and HELLO, being SINGLE!) I think we really have to think about what it means to put girls on a stage representing the message of that song. The way that they were dressed has a huge impact! If we look at the styling of those outfits, what do they remind us of? As I have said before, there are traditional dances from all around the world that include hip gyrations and other “sexy” movements. In many cultures, girls start learning these dances from a young age; this is an important part of them understanding their bodies and preparing for future childbirth etc. It is not the movement itself that is offensive to me in this case, it is the overall image and intention behind it. When you talk about commercial music in our society, these are songs and images that are meant to sell. So, we have to take some responsibility as consumers. Single ladies is a good club song, but is there any good cultural value in including that song or theme in a dance for young girls? Those girls were AMAZING dancers, but they deserved more. They deserve to be taught how to represent themselves as beautiful, strong girls and their powerful movement should be used in an appropriate way. Again, thank you for including us!!! I think this is a great topic, this piece is only a small example of a greater issue, images that use sex to sell affect girls and women everywhere. I was one of those girls trying to copy music videos as a pre-teen and unfortunately I had to step out of American popular culture to educate myself and form my own views on female beauty and sexuality.
Excellent post, Rachel!!
What struck me, and you touched on this a bit,was as you said ‘the remaining baby talk in the young girls’ voices’. That is why I used the reference of the tooth fairy in my post.
(http://blog.pigtailpals.com/2010/05/fishnets-the-tooth-fairy-and-capitol-hill/)
The beast of sexualization is that during a short and precious time when these girls should be focused on their own childhood interests and likes and developing at a natural pace, they are instead being rushed and sold into a false sense of ‘adulthood’.
Thank you Rachel, I value your perspective. I have heard many arguments either condemning or defending this performance. The world of dance competition is a counterculture much like that of child pageants. What we see, what is presented by the dancers is often an adulterated version of the original art form. I don’t dispute the talent but I have seen many versions of this dance at competition. It’s shocking and frankly, it lacks depth and originality. The girls maybe unaware of the real message sent by their performance but they did learn that gyrations and skimpy clothing results in acceptance and accolades. Ultimately, it devalues their true worth.
Thanks for sharing the Roots video. It speaks to the unique nature of dance when it’s used as a form of self expression.
As always, thank you for putting it into perspective. Good analysis which I will now share with everyone who told me the sexuality of the dance was “all in [my] mind.}
The “Single Ladies Dance” is this month’s version of “The Snooki Punch”. The media is shocked, outraged and horrified by this display of little girl’s sexuality, or in the case of Snooki, violence enacted on a young woman. The media is so disturbed, they play it on a loop over and over again.
I echo Logan and your thoughts on the hypocrisy of how we understand and process girl sexuality – healthy and natural (bad), processed, manufactured and commercial (rewarded).
Thanks for including The Roots Girls. I love their body diversity and range of fashion styles and self expression, but are we so freaked out by the Single Ladies Girls because they’re little white girls in spangles, a la JonBenet Ramsey? What if they were a mixed group of girls in cargo pants and baseball hats doing the same moves?
I definitely think it would be less of an issue of the outfits were different. Have been thinking about your question all day. Though some of those hip thrusts…I don’t know…..
Just one other thought. The one thing that no one has written or talked about is the whole world of competitive dance for little kids and how turning kids into polished performers at that young age is also problematic, though very much in keeping with the current culture that kids have to be on a very fast track in many of these activities — dance, gymnastics, figure skating (all of which probably not so coincidently have pressures to conform to a certain physical type). You wrote about dance and how it can be so powerful. I grew up in the 1960s and though I took ballet and modern dance classes, there was no performance involved other than a recital once a year for parents. My friends and I would choreograph our own mini-musicals (the one that I remember most was a combination of Oliver! and Dark Shadows, the vampire soap opera — so it was a vampire musical!). This was in our basements, not in front of hundreds of people at a competition. Having to perform at that level at that age (and the hours and hours of rehearsal time that go into it), apart from the over-sexualized costumes and choreography, is itself something to wonder about.
Agreed – and I appreciate the additional insight and agree. Have you seen the film “Race to Nowhere?”www.racetonowhere.com – it looks at the pressure kids are facing and intense emphasis on performance. It does take so much of the pleasure out of it – or at least pleasure for the sake of pleasure. Thanks so much for your voice here – I appreciate it!
Brilliant and powerful analysis. Thanks.