The Origin of Twerking

I know I'm fairly late on the "twerking" think pieces, but a lot of older generation still have a problem with this. So, I figured I'd say what I always wanted to say now that I have a platform to do so.

The "booty popping" or twerking did not originate to please men or anything like that as many think. It's not anything new to our culture, and being apart of this generation, I'm shocked to see that so many of our elders don't know the origin or care to learn it. The origin of "booty popping" most commonly known as twerking is the West African dance Mapouka, hailing from Cote d'lvoire also known as la dance du fessier or dance of the behind.

There were dances that the elders of your generation (because I know you were once young) felt were raunchy and sexual but also came from our African ancestors just modernized because the original knowledge of the dance was stolen and thrown away.

Something else that comes into play when talking about twerking is the attire most wear when twerking. I've heard plenty of people attack the way women, especially black women, dress and how it pertains to how people will treat us or that we won't have a legitimate future.

The way they are dressed should NOT determine our future. You are the ones who feel that it is sexualized, not my generation. We are classy and sophisticated. I don't know why this dress has to be excluded from being a lady. We include it because this is OUR generation. Times have changed. Pants were once seen as raunchy and also skirts above the ankles as well, but that changed as well, right? 

Maybe you all should stop judging us before you get to know us. You all did raise our generation. Stop attacking us for such frivolous things and focus on the fact that many people were educated, despite their dress and dancing because that wasn't the focus. We, my generation, are insightful, intelligent, and sophisticated. Just because we don't show the same way your generation did, doesn't mean it doesn't exists.

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