Same-sex Ballroom Dance: a Challenge to Patriarchal Gender Order

Same-sex ballroom dance is a realitvely new phenomenon. Besides artistic and sport aspects it has social relevance, too. In this book I analyze how female same-sex competitive ballroom dance can challenge patriarchal order. I argue that same-sex dancing is not simply an imitation of male-female dancing by two women, but it challenges the notion of patriarchal male-female relations reflected symbolically in dance. It cannot totally eliminate power differences between the partners, though. Ballroom dance is a symbolic representation of gender relations. Previous results also show how same-sex partnerships challenge the notion of gender relations. These let me expect that same-sex dancing challenges the notion of gender relations. Ballroom dance is a performance of heterosexuality and conventional gender roles. It is a symbolic representation of male-female sexual and social relationships. Same-sex dance has the potential to challenge these patriarchal relations by disconnecting gender from dance roles and creating more balanced roles. This study can meet the interest of those studing social sciences, especially gender studies, gay studies, social psychology or sociology.