Scientific Findings About Gender in Dancing
I have found that even wearing a tuxedo doesn't stop men from assuming that I follow. (Perhaps they are not assuming. Perhaps they have seen me follow with someone else earlier in the evening. Perhaps they are asking everyone dressed in a tuxedo and are really not making any assumptions because pants do not imply leading.)
I have found that if I wear a skirt, I am invisible to most followers in new scenes. If I am wearing a skirt and leading, I have to be more proactive for the first night of a weekend. (Perhaps they are not assuming anything either. Maybe newcomers are always invisible to followers. Perhaps they have all been hurt by too many new-to-them leads and are rather picky.)
I have found that if I am leading visibly throughout a weekend+ event, eventually men will ask me to dance and ask if I will lead them. Some of the time, they will end the dance with a backhanded compliment about how impressive my leading is. (Perhaps they are impressed because I am very smol and therefore need to be more careful with my energy management. Perhaps they ask other men to dance all the time, and I have just missed it because I have been too busy dancing. Perhaps they have forgotten how it sounds when they say "You lead very well" with surprise in your voice).
I have found that if I ask someone if they would like to follow me, and they know how to lead, they will sometimes usurp control despite not having discussed a switch dance, something I rarely see done to leads who also happen to be men. (Perhaps they have witnessed me in a switch dance and not known that it was articulated to be such.)
Editor's Note: Technically, this is merely anecdata. But as it was found by me, Joey Science, I'm calling them scientific findings. Get it? Eh? *wink nudge wink*
