[Tango-L] Women's power in tango

[Felicity Graham]

Martin wrote: "men outnumber women at the overwhelming majority of
practicas and milongas."
I am very surprised and intrigued how NYC comes by this (to me) surprising
phenomenon.  Any ideas?

Michael wrote: "Some women found their voice"
Gosh.  I wonder how they managed before.  It's a short, perhaps inadvertent
step from that, to the assumption clearly described here
https://www.facebook.com/yann.lohr/posts/10206447170080662:0 that women are
disempowered and need rescuing or at least empowering.  This guy, from the
best of intentions I'm sure, wanted to change the mores of the milonga so
that women could essentially "find their voice" and their "rights". I
disagreed with this inadvertently patronising stance and replied
http://tango-outpost.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/why-i-dont-need-saving-or-response-to.html


But, I agree that there are women who tolerate a lot of bad dancing,
coercive invitation and astonishingly, unsolicited criticism of their
dancing, even mid-milonga.  I ask them why and they admit it's true,
usually with a shrug.  Shahrukh listed many of the reasons. Eventually some
women become more selective. Many don't and don't have that good a time -
as you can see from their faces.

Shahrukh wrote "a milonga is a *social* event and not a dance competition
where you have to pick your partner based almost exclusively on dance skill
or compatibility."
That is true.  And I will go to watch, listen and chat with friends and
strangers. But it still doesn't mean I will get up to dance with people who
I don't want to embrace closely and be that intimate with for 12 minutes,
no matter how good looking or how good a conversationalist.  Unless I feel
I absolutely can't get out of it & there's nothing I hate more than that
kind of coercion.

It's heartening to see from this list that there are people out there who
believe social dancing is about pleasure, enjoyment and music, the intimate
and the personal and not that it should be dominated by endless improvement,
skills and showing them off characteristic of the industrialisation of
dancing tango.

Felicity