Dirty Dancing Analysis: How far did Baby and Johnny go sexually?

Baby Houseman visited Johnny Castle's cabin to talk with him about her father's anger about the abortion. When that conversation was concluded, she asked to dance with him. Their dancing became increasingly sexual. He took off her blouse. At the end of the scene, he is lying on top of her in bed and is kissing her.

They certainly did not have sexual intercourse. The reasons include the following:

* The scene begins with their discussion about her father's anger at Johnny.

* In that discussion, they both express respect for her father's opinions.

* They both had dealt recently with Penny's unplanned pregnancy and dangerous abortion.

* He was not expecting sexual intercourse and probably did not have any condoms.

* She certainly was a virgin.

* Because she thought he was promiscuous, she had good reason to fear venereal diseases.

* They both knew that she would depart from him in a few days.

=====

Throughout the scene, the movie audience never sees him not wearing his pants.

Throughout the scene, the movie audience never sees her not wearing her pants or her bra.

At the end of the scene, as he is lying on top of her, the movie audience cannot see what they are wearing or not wearing.

=====

Part of the scene was deleted so that the movie would be rated PG-13. I have preserved three screenshots from a currently available YouTube video.

Below is a video of the deleted scene that is currently on YouTube:

The images and video show him continuing to wear his pants, but her pants have been removed. She obviously is wearing a slip and certainly is wearing her panties. (Her slip is puzzling, because she had been wearing tight pants.)

In both the deleted scene and in the redacted scene we see Baby and Johnny dry-humping -- and nothing more than dry-humping. The expression "dry-humping," means that their pubic areas remain clothed but are ground together to develop sexual arousal.

In both the deleted scene and in the redacted scene, Baby continues to wear her bra.

======

Do not imagine that they removed any more clothes. In the scene's final moments, where he lying on top of her in bed and kissing her, he still is wearing his pants and she still is wearing her panties, slip and bra.

Do not imagine that they did anything more than dry-hump. He probably had an orgasm, and it happened inside his pants. She certainly did not have an orgasm, because her inexperience and anxiety inhibited her. It's likely that she never had seriously masturbated or had experienced an orgasm in her life.

The following chart from the book Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, published in 1953, indicates that less than 40% of Jewish women under the age of 20 ever had masturbated to orgasm.

In 1953, fewer than 40% of Jewish women
under the age of 20 had masturbated to orgasm.

Nevertheless, Baby felt great pleasure from the experience. She was sexually aroused by the semi-nudity and by the embracing and grinding. She enjoyed seeing his pleasure from his orgasm. She was not disappointed at all. She was happy, satisfied, thrilled.

The following table from the same book Sexual Behavior compares female and male enjoyment of petting in 1953.

Female responses to petting in the middle column.
Male responses in the right column.
(Click to enlarge)

I summarize the table in my own words as follows:

* Petting provided erotic satisfaction 1) sometimes to 83% of females and 2) usually to 91% of males.

* Petting caused orgasm 1) sometimes in 39% of females and 2) sometimes in 31% of males. However, if the males did not orgasm during the petting, then "many" [i.e. practically all] of them masturbated to orgasm afterwards. By contrast, if the females did not orgasm during petting, then only 35% of them masturbated to orgasm afterwards.

* Petting without orgasm caused "nervous disturbance" to 51% of females and to "many" [i.e. practically all] males. If the males did not orgasm during petting, then they could not relax until they masturbated to orgasm afterwards. In contrast, if the females did not orgasm during orgasm, then about half of them naturally relaxed rather soon.

* Petting was the source of first erotic arousal for 34% of females, but rarely for males (whose first source is masturbation). Petting caused the first orgasm in 24% of females, but in practically no males (who long before any petting had masturbated to their first orgasms.)

The only disappointment that Baby might have felt after her no-orgasm-for-her dry-humping with Johnny was that he did not declare that he loved her.

In 1963, dry-humping was the common experience for young couples -- especially for girls of Baby's age and social class -- beginning their sexual relationships.

=====

Later, Baby and Johnny had a second sexual encounter. This time the movie audience can see that she is not wearing her bra. When he stands up, the audience glimpses that he was completely naked in bed.

They still did not have sexual intercourse. They both are terrified that she might get pregnant. One reason why she asks him how many women he has slept with is that she is terrified of catching a venereal disease from him.

She has allowed him to get to "second base" -- meaning that he could see, fondle and kiss her bare breasts.

She has not allowed him to get to "third base" -- he still was not allowed to see or touch her naked pubic area. She kept her panties on.

She masturbated him manually to orgasm several times. That was interesting and fun for her, and she loved doing it. Even though she kept her panties on, she was terrified that his sperm might make her pregnant or that his genital germs might spread to her. She did not touch his genitals with her mouth.

She felt sexually aroused, but she was afraid to become so aroused that she might lose control of the situation and go too far. Therefore she was determined to keep her panties on and to prevent him from touching her naked pubic area and from fondling her to more intense sexual arousal.

They both were happy to stay within these sexual limits. He was satisfied with her hand jobs and did not pressure her toward oral sex. She was satisfied by her non-orgasmic sexual pleasure and by the fun of giving him as many orgasms as she could with her hands. She still was happy, satisfied and thrilled. She figured also that if she sexually exhausted him, then he would not stray to other women for awhile.

She felt safe from disease and pregnancy. He did not have to worry that she might get pregnant.

======

Another reason why Baby kept her panties on was that she did not want to show her pubic hair. In 1963, young women felt ashamed about showing their pubic hair even to their boyfriends.

In late August 1963 -- when Baby was letting Johnny see her bare breasts but was keeping her panties on -- the September 1963 issue of Playboy magazine was on sale and featuring this centerfold photograph:

The playmate did not show her pubic hair, because no playmate did. The first time a playmate showed even a glimpse of pubic was in July 1968. Playboy changed its policy reluctantly, only because of the Pubic Wars.

Playboy magazine strove to depict "the girl next door" being naked. Baby Houseman was a "girl next door" in the culture of 1963, and so she wanted to hide her pubic hair from Johnny. She appreciated the beauty of her breasts, but not of her pubic hair.

Here is another one of the photographs of that centerfold playmate keeping her skirt on.

You can see all the photographs of her on the Playmates webpage.

=====

Here is an amusing dry-humping scene in the movie Bad Teacher, starring Cameron Diaz and Justine Timberlake.