development, which if Freudian psychology was still practiced, if something hindered or effected the girl’s development in the latency stage, she would never fully be able to develop sexually. The latency stage focuses on the cognitive and social development of the individual, particularly the repression of sexual feelings. If these girls are being encouraged to be oversexualized, with tight costumes with cutaways and fish nets, as well as “stripper-like” moves, there may never be this latency stage, meaning girls will not truly know how to act in future sexual situations. Now by no means does this mean this will apply to all girls, the fact of the matter is that many psychologists do not even acknowledge Freudian psychology as valid or logically anymore, but the possibility is there that girls not only exposed to this kind of dance, but have been participating in it, may be more likely to act in more sexual ways during high school.
Besides the possibility of more sexual actions, there also lays the possibilities of many other harmful effects. (I use the words possibilities because nothing is the same for everyone, so there the arguments being made cannot be applied to all young dancers). These dances can harm a girl’s self-esteem, self-image, and self-worth. If a girl does not deem herself to be “beautiful” or does not have a super skinny, dancer’s body she may feel inferior and below the other dancers while doing slinky dance moves to sexy songs, forever damaging the way she will view herself. Or on the other end of the spectrum, a dancer that has the so called “look” and competes frequently or does a lot of hip hop and jazz classes (typically the two classes with the skimpiest outfits and most risqué moves), she may develop a dependency on heavy makeup and revealing clothing to feel beautiful or comfortable in her own skin. If this is the case we are teaching these girls it is okay to dress like that (which according to recent feminist movements it is, but according to school dress codes and parental orders it is not.) In terms of the status quo as well, clothing that is tight, short, or shows too much skin is deemed as “slutty”, and quite frankly high school girls are mean and will call a girl harsh names based on looks, thus further lowering her self-esteem that could already possibly be damaged. Plus, in current rape culture a common question for a rape victim is “What were you wearing?” If girls become use to wearing skin tight clothing from dance and continue to do so in everyday life, saying they were wearing a crop top and black mini skirt may get them the response “Well, you were kind of asking for it now weren’t you”. I wish I could say this is a far-fetched scenario, but it is (unfortunately) a common occurrence.
make herself feel beautiful, teaching these girls it is okay to dress like that (which according to recent feminist movements it is, but according to school dress codes and parental orders it is not). In terms of the status quo as well, clothing that is tight, short, or shows too much skin is deemed as “slutty”, and quite frankly high school girls are mean and will call a girl harsh names based on looks, thus further lowering her self-esteem that could already possibly be damaged. Plus, in current rape culture a common question for a rape victim is “What were you wearing?” If girls become use to wearing skin tight clothing from dance and continue to do so in everyday life, saying they were wearing a crop top and black mini skirt may get them the response “Well, you were kind of asking for it now weren’t you?”. I wish I could say this is a far-fetched scenario, but it is (unfortunately) a common occurrence.
The most astounding thing is that parents encourage this behavior. Parents pay large sums of money for
classes, competitions, costumes, recitals, etc. and when they see their five year old dancing to “Single Ladies”
five year olds dancing to "Single Ladies” or their nine year old shaking his/her butt to “Anaconda”, they are not appalled, but rather they applaud. We are, as a society, encouraging this damaging behavior, solely for the fact that it is “entertainment”. We live in a world where being a teen mom is cool because you can get on TV, and to get attention you have to do something wrong or inappropriate. We are putting children’s development at risk, because we think it is “cute” to see ten year olds doing skanky hip hop moves. If we don’t return to more age appropriate time of dances, we are not just damaging this generation but all future ones to come, and the issues that can arise are no laughing matter.
-Taylor Barton
Dancer Gillian Glater, Age 13, Shown in a Calvin Klein sprots bra and spandex.
Navya Garimella(14), Showing a little skin in her teal jazz costume
"It makes me uncomfortable how short this costume is." -Shadia Tannir, 15
Sample dance costumes from DTofB's upcoming recital (Below)