Daggering

A sexually provocative style of music and dancing.

“Jamaican regulators say they are forbidding all explicit references to sex and violence over the airwaves,” The A.P. reported, noting:

The new rules from the island’s broadcast commission ban any song or music video that depicts sexual acts or glorifies gun violence, murder, rape or arson.

The Saturday announcement follows a February 6 ban that specifically targeted dancehall tunes and videos depicting “daggering” – a dance style popular among Jamaican youth that features pelvic grinding simulating sex.

In The Jamaica Observer, Steven Jackson reported that “daggering is the most popular dancehall term for sex since ’slam’ in the ’90s. It is also a rhythm, a dance and event with over 20 weekly parties across the island.” However, while sexualized, daggering is not simply about male aggrandizement:

Both the male and female deejays jumped on the daggerin’ boat, but what is interesting is that they use the term “dagger” in opposing ways. Men use the term to brag whilst women use it to humble the male ego.

Gawker’s analysis of this decency drive was encapsulated in the headline, “Jamaica Bans Jamaican Music.”