“You Bring Great Masculinity and Truth”: Sexuality, whiteness, and the regulation of the male body in motion

Abstract

This study contributes to analyses of how heterosexuality and whiteness work together in the embodied social practice of dance and the representational realm of television. It does so by attempting to destabilize theories of sexual difference dependent upon the concept of a stable, “natural,” and unitary body by highlighting the representational work that underpins heteronormative (white) masculinity within the first season of the syndicated reality dance television series So You Think You Can Dance Canada. The paper argues that though the presence of male dancers in the (often feminized) representational realm has the potential to challenge simple heteronormative dichotomies of masculine/feminine, reality dance television in this case plays with, yet ultimately reaffirms, heteronormative masculinity and does so relationally, through the juxtaposition of racialized male and female dance contestants over the span of a series. While it is not surprising that a reality show depends heavily upon heteronormative stereotypes, these discursive mechanisms are rendered invisible, in this case, when couched in a discourse of authenticity, technical ability, and dance aesthetics, resonating beyond the context of television, into the ways we think about dance practice.

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