‘Crawsis’ men driving women to dance with gal pals at parties

If you have ever wondered about the penchant of some females for dancing with each other at parties, you may not be surprised to learn that their actions have more to do with their independence than anything else.

Dr Donna Hope, a foremost authority on dancehall culture, reasoned that the modern phenomenon is linked to several factors, chief among them being women are no longer dependent on men to take them to these events.

Hope, a professor of cultural studies at The University of the West Indies, noted that in years gone by, men brought some women to parties, paid for them to enter and bought them drinks.

“That was a part of the give and take of getting a dance. Now, women are doing all of that themselves, so they are going to be more selective on who they give access,” Hope reasoned.

Unlike in former years when it was unusual to see females wining on each other, it is now the norm for gal pals to bump and grind while enjoying each other’s company. Several female partygoers who were seen at a recent event told THE WEEKEND STAR they opted to dance with each other because ‘man a crawsis’. For Hope, the statement betrays the extent to which women no longer see a man as being essential in guaranteeing their entertainment at parties.

“Women are going by themselves – they can get a drive from their friends – so they are going to be more selective and more feral or aggressive with rejecting a man,” the dancehall professor asserted.

In addition, Hope reasoned that the nature of relationships has had a direct result on the

kinds of engagement in the dancehall space.

“Women seem to be struggling with men having multiple partners, men cheating, men also being on the down-low – pretending to be heterosexual.” She said, too, that the financial empowerment oftentimes intimidates men who may want to approach them for a dance. There is also the ‘bag of men’ phenomenon, which involves droves of men ‘parring’ with each other at events.

“You will find that in many instances, if you go to events there is a huge number of women there, and the men who are there are with mostly men,” Hope noted.

“It is not just the artistes that walk with a ‘bag of men’ behind them. Men in dancehall rarely come with a female partner. They come with all their friends, and I think it is because they’re looking for some kind of conquest. There is rarely this pattern of couples coming or attending events like these,” she said.

For Hope, the gender divide in the entertainment space points to a seismic cultural shift. She pointed out that “Back in the day, people found their husbands and their wives while dancing at these events.” However, with various barriers now erected, some people lose out on the opportunity to not only mingle but also the possibility of finding a soulmate in the entertainment arena.