From Long Island to TikTok & Across the Pond: Twerking [Teen] Nymphets

In a previous post, we wrote about Lawrence Downes' editorial that was published in The New York Times (Dec. 29, 2006). Downes shared that he had witnessed a Long Island middle school talent show that starred nymphets: "[...] in teams of three or four [...] in tiny skirts or tight shorts, with bare bellies, rouged cheeks and glittery eyes."

Downes wrote that it was hard for him "to erase the images" of middle school girls (i.e., sixth, seventh and eighth graders.) writhing, strutting, shaking their bottoms (i.e., twerking), splaying their legs, and thrusting their chests on the stage while Janet Jackson sang, “Don’t stop don’t stop. Jerk it like you’re making it choke. [...] Ohh. I’m so stimulated. Feel so X-rated.” In addition, Downes was surprised that the parents of the pre-teens cheered and applauded the "eroticized" performances.

Tom Wolfe would not have been surprised by the performance, because he related in  Hooking Up, a National Bestseller, that in middle schools, from the plush suburbs of Washington to the underprivileged schools of the South Bronx, that thirteen and fourteen-year-old girls, among other "eroticized" acts, were performing fellatio on boys between classes.

Of course, twerking teens aren't restricted to Long Island. The YouTube video "Very hot GIRLS dance (12 year old girls)" appears to be from somewhere across the pond. 

And with the popularity of TikTok, some teens are using the social media platform to show their young twerking skills. In the above GIF, the teen is twerking to "Freak" by Tyga and Megan The Stallion. The nymphet is "dancing" to the following lyrics: 

I need a freak, freak, freak
To rub my hair, hair, hair, ayy (Rub my hair)
I need a freak every day of the week
With her legs in the air, air, air (With her legs in the air)
I want a freak, freak, freak
Who just don't care, care, care, ayy (Who just don't care)
I need a freak with a big ass butt

Make all the niggas stare (All the niggas stare)

Just like a number of adults, a number of teens enjoy twerking. However, like Downes, a number of adults would opine that twerking teens isn't appropriate. But it's not the age that determines whether twerking (publicly) is appropriate - it's twerking publicly itself; regardless of one's age. 

And in yet another example of art imitating life, there's a scene in Tine Fey's Mean Girls (2004) where the mean girls dance seductively in the high school's winter talent show. 

Mean Girls (2004) Talent Show