Flirting, erotic interactions and sexual choreography among urban youth: Hip-Hop in New York City

Young people’s sexual development and expression have been the motivation for research throughout numerous decades, yet the mechanisms through which cultural constructions of gender and sexuality provide a meaningful context to their sexual experiences have been less explored. This chapter focuses on the Hip-Hop club scene with the intention of unpacking narratives of sexuality and gender from the perspective of young men and women. It describes how young men and women negotiate gender relations on the dance floor of clubs, the boundaries that govern such relations, and how these dance encounters translate or not into sexual encounters. To explore these issues, we conducted a three-year ethnographic study. Our findings suggest that the dance floor sets the stage for what happens next. Thus, if thought through carefully, there were constant opportunities for transitioning from the club to a sexual scene. Although grinding to reggaeton does not always lead to sex, the young men and women feel the pressures of the sexualised dance floor environment. The chapter is divided in two parts: first, the gendered courtship on the dance floor itself, and second, the larger historical-cultural context framing young people’s participation in Hip-Hop scenes.