Please forgive me…I’m over 30 and was never a clubber.

In a number of songs, women “get low”. In “Low”:

Shawty got low low low low low low low low

In “Belly Dancer”, they drop down and touch the ground;

Hey, ladies drop it down, just want to see you touch the ground

…

You ain’t even gotta drop down if you want to

What activity is being described here? What are these women doing?

  • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
    51·
    2 years ago

    lordosis

    Edit: I have no idea why the responses below have been taken over by pedants lacking in reading comprehension. Lordosis is the name for the behavior, the reflex, the posture, all the things. We’re taking about presenting the vagina for copulation here. That is what the songs are talking about. It’s not literal mating, but it’s sexually exciting. These behaviors are deeply embedded in the primitive levels of our brain. It’s even hypothesized that this is why we have butts at all.

    The part/whole phenomenon is called synecdoche and is extremely common in all forms of communication.

    • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      I mean it very loosely approximates the appearance of lordosis as defined in the article you linked. But it isn’t in fact lordosis, which makes the resulting reply chain pretty unbearable.

    • Izzgo@kbin.social
      11·
      2 years ago

      New word to me, thank you. And apparently, in animals which display that behavior, it is reflexive, not a voluntary action. But a point of interest from your article:

      Lordosis behavior is non-functional in humans, although lordosis-like positions can be observed in those being mounted from behind.

      So therefore, while twerking mimics lordosis, it’s really just dancing, albeit rather sexually.