Discovery Channel Special: Grinding college students

By Brooke Boniface

There is a certain type of wild animal that has an extremely widespread and peculiar mating dance.  

This dance is performed mostly by the young adults of the species once they hit puberty, but some continue this dance well past their prime.  

It basically consists of the female and male, (though sometimes male and male, female and female, etc.) pantomiming sexual acts; while many of their peers observe and perform the ritual themselves.  

The dance begins when a male spots a female that he desires.  

Tentatively, he creeps up behind her until he grabs her by the hips and pulls her towards him.  

The pair begin to move in tandem back and forth around and around, as if attached at the pelvis.  

If the female's friends approve of the male, she continues to move with him.  

Some pairs get so enthused that they actually begin to perform sexually explicit acts in front of the rest of the group.  

For many of the astute readers in the audience, this description may sound strangely familiar.  

But if you haven't seen the connection yet, the wild animals I describe above are actually humans, and their widespread and peculiar mating dance is known as grinding.  

Grinding is probably the most common form of dancing seen at high school proms, college parties, and night clubs alike, but it has come under much scrutiny and controversy over the years.  

At my Catholic high school, students were sometimes told to "leave room for the holy spirit" if a chaperone believed that they were dancing too close to one another.  

Other high schools have enforced dance contracts whereby students must keep their feet on the floor, hands off the ground and genitals apart when dancing.  

Most students feel that this type of action is unnecessary, that grinding is harmless fun, something older generations must accept as the newest in a long line of increasingly provocative dance trends.  

I am not saying that I have not danced like this, or that I won't in the future, but I do have to admit that the naysayers have a point.   

If you disagree, watch the video that surfaced on the internet about a year ago, showing 5 to 8-year-old children grinding.   

In this video, girls who are not even old enough to know what sex is are enacting dance moves that I would never dream of pulling out at a party.  

And the little boys are thrusting and grinding like there is no tomorrow.  

At one point a little girl has her legs and hands off the ground, while she straddles her dance partner and another pair of children hump the floor in the background.

And all of this while being looked after by a group of adults who seem to think nothing of the situation.  

The video is extremely disturbing and difficult to watch.

With each generation, adults become disheartened and angered over teenagers' choice of dance moves, music, clothing and so much more.  

The changes seem to be for the worse, the moral standards of society are lowered until they can once again be trampled upon by the up and coming young adults.  

Elvis' provocative pelvis gyrations were once considered too racy for television.

The film "Dirty Dancing" demonstrated how dance styles that were once taboo are now considered normal and almost conservative.

Michael Jackson's crotch grabs were deemed extremely inappropriate and unfit for younger viewers.  

While each generation has become more and more "relaxed" in terms of displays of sexuality in the public forum, in the case of grinding I am not sure where the next generation can go from here.

How much more risqué can dancing become?  

What could be worse than 5 and 6-year-olds pantomiming sex?  

Can anything future generations come up with be more disgusting than a couple having sex on the dance floor (which I actually witnessed once at a party)?

I truly hope that there is a backlash against grinding, that the next generation goes in the opposite direction, becomes a bit more reserved or conservative with their dance, and saves sex for the privacy of their own bedrooms.  

Because if not….I am scared to see what comes next.

Brooke Boniface is a junior political science and history double major and editor of the opinion section.