Salsa Dancing Research Paper

As part of meeting the requirements of this course, I decided to engage in salsa dancing. I had never participated in this dance before and I knew very little about it. My only form of engagement with the dance has been through listening to many of my classmates discussing it and claiming it is fun overall, however, I did have one classmate say otherwise. Regardless, I was both excited and nervous to try salsa for myself. I had also, on one or two occasions, watched the dance on television although I did not take much attention to the specific details of the dance. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this dance but I was excited to try it out and see how I would go. Through the help of my friends, I was able to locate an appropriate location nearby

My decision to choose this dance was informed by my admiration of those people who participated in the dance. Almost all of my classmates who were engaged in this dance have what many people would call an ideal body shape. They have slender bodies and they could be mistaken for models. In addition to this, those classmates who have enrolled in salsa dancing have shown a significant transformation in their body shapes. Some girls who have started with plump bodies have, within a very short time, recorded a remarkable change in their physiques. They appeared to have shed off weight and the plump body shapes have been replaced by more slender and toned

One of such literature is by Susan Bordo. In her book titled “Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body”, Susan examines the social constructions of what is considered to be an ideal body shape in the western culture. Susan notes that this social construction regarding body structure affects females more adversely when compared to males (Bordo, 1993). In fact, it is not seen as a big issue when men have the undesired body as compared to the women. For example, if women do not obtain certain sized physique such as breasts and hips, society has a tendency to unfairly view them as underdeveloped and generally immature. In the western culture, the main emphasis when it comes to female bodies is slenderness. Women will go to great lengths to ensure that they attain the desired body structure. Susan examines some of the extremes that women have to go in order to attain a body structure that is considered ideal in the society. Such extremes include starving oneself, self induced vomiting after many or, in many cases, all meals as well as many other eating disorders that are deemed to contribute to weight loss. Often times these measures are seen by the participants as necessary steps to attain the ideal body