Men and Movement

I can not even begin to count the number of times I have heard men say to me, "I don't know how you move like that! I certainly couldn't!" after they have watched me dance. Although this may sound like I am tooting my own horn (which I am a little), there is a deeper issue that is yearning to be explored.

Recently I attended a small Maine Loves Zumba meeting, a meeting where all the Zumba instructors from Southern Maine get together and organize an event. I am always the only man and, as it turns out, the women present specifically asked me why they cant get or keep male attendance in their classes. I tried to answer the question as briefly but accurately as possible, but the answer is extremely complex and I don't feel I did it justice.

As I delve deeper into Fire in the Belly and my own existence as a man, certain things become slightly more clear. Sam Keen asserts that men and women are victims of the "warfare system". A system of national readiness to fight and defend patriotism, masculinity and perpetuate capitalism. Interestingly enough, Howard Zinn sheds a little more light on this phenomena in his fantastic book, A History of the United States. The U.S., explains Zinn, has never been the completely equal and altruistic state that some like to believe it is. Zinn argues that in order to divert class anger away from the structures of power soaking up all the wealth and prosperity, the state filters it into foreign wars and imperative political issues thus illustrating a common understanding that if a state is at war, it is healthy and has few internal conflicts. All attention is diverted to external sources. What Keen argues is that perpetually fighting foreign wars, being on a state of high alert from terrorists etc, is molding the male body into rigid, aggressive forms and shaping the male mind into a patriotic tool.

"So men, the designated warriors, gradually form 'character armor,' a pattern of muscular tension and rigidity that freezes them into the posture that is appropriate only for fighting- shoulders back, chest out, stomach pulled in, anal sphincter tight, balls drawn up into the body as far as possible, eyes narrowed, breathing foreshortened and anxious, heart rate accelerated, testosterone in full flow. The warriors body is perpetually uptight and ready to fight." Fire in the Belly p.41

When I first read this passage I thought of the typical testosterone-filled weight room where men scream at each other to lift big, black discs into the air as if the world depended on it. This is a very insidious problem, not only do many men encourage this behavior, they reject the more "feminine" aspects of movement found in dance. Even worse, men believe that because they were born male, they do not posses the qualities necessary for creative, free movement.