Sorry I Don't Dance Why Men Refuse to Move [Paperback]

If you want to learn about masculinity, ask a man if he likes to dance. One man in this study answered, Music is something that goes on inside my head, and is sort of divorced from, to a large extent, the rest of my body. How did this man's head become divorced from his body? To answer this question, Maxine Craig sought out men who love music but hate to dance. Combining interviews, participant observation and archival research,Sorry I Don't Danceuncovers the recent origins of cultural assumptions regarding sex, race, and the capacity to dance. From the beginning of the twentieth century through the Swing Era young men of all races danced. But in the 1960s suburbanization, homophobia, and fragmentation of music cultures drove white men from the dance floor, and feminized, sexualized and racialized dance.Sorry I Don't Dancereveals how changing beliefs concerning gender, race, class, and sexuality over the past half-century have redefined what it means to be a man in America.

Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Searching for Dancing Men
Chapter 2: The New Woman and the Old Man
Chapter 3: Becoming White Folk
Chapter 4: Dancing in Uniform
Chapter 5: Managing the Gaze
Chapter 6: Stepping On and Across Boundaries
Chapter 7: Sex or Just Dancing
Chapter 8: Conclusions
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Yes! Real men dance-which comes as quite a relief to this man who spent hundreds of hours in front of a mirror mastering the dance steps to the Temptations' 'My Girl.' And they always have danced-from mining camps to tea lounges, army bases to discos. Combining deft historical excavation and discerning interviews, Maxine Craig shows men hogtied by an ideology of masculinity that leaves them barely able to sway against the wall. Her book will help them heed the urgings of so many singers, from Sly Stone to David Bowie. Let's dance. -Michael Kimmel, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, SUNY lc¶