Introduction - Comme Il Faut

Summary

In Racial Culture, the legal scholar Richard Ford asks his readers to imagine what would happen to a female tango dancer who refused her gendered role in the dance. She would be sanctioned by her dance instructor, he suggests, who would “correct” her “mistake.” She would be sanctioned by the other female dancers, who would let her know, whether subtly or not so subtly, that she ought to behave more appropriately. She would be sanctioned by the male dancers, as well (the “leads”), who would, in Ford’s words, “silently punish her by refusing to ask her to dance.” If the dancer wants approval, if she wants acceptance, if she wants the rewards distributed through this particular social practice, she will conform to the gendered expectations of the tango.

I was struck by this example when I first read Ford’s book because at that time I was in the middle of what would prove an ill-fated attempt to learn to dance Argentine tango. Ford’s characterization of the dance rang true. The tango is a strongly gendered dance in which the man leads while the woman follows. His characterization of why the woman follows rang true, as well. I, for one, followed, not because I endorsed an identity story according to which women are graceful, but never strong and assertive, according to which following male leads is “what women do,” but instead because the practice of tango dancing incentivized me to follow.