"the hooligan aggression that goes with sexual competition (which is what is being ritualised, isn't it?) in the whacking of their sticks."

I'm glad somebody has raised that subject at last. Yes, there is a lot of that, especially in Border morris but in Cotswold too, when it's done right, and I have heard females express the opinion that there's something about morris done well by fit young men that creates an excitement that just doesn't happen with women doing it. You can't ignore that aspect. (Women dancing Swaggering Boney? does not compute)

Because of that, it's important that some good all-male sides remain, though I doubt that many Morris Ring teams have got the right stuff any more, unless they have succeeded in recruiting a lot more younger dancers.

An example: Hammersmith Morris Men were in the ring, until they got thrown out for reasons I won't detail here, except to say they were carrying the time-honoured tradition of misrule a bit too far for the Ring's delicate sensibilities. But they remain an all-male side, because they know that if you have a mixed team you tend to recruit more and more women and fewer men, and you end up with an all-female team if you're not careful, because your average young English bloke doesn't want to dance at all anyway and thinks it's "girly". But if you have an all male team and you dance well and with enough masculine vigour you can recruit young men, and Hammersmith did regularly, because they can make it look good in a macho and blokish sort of way. A few years ago I was going to practices and danceouts with Hammersmith Morris for while, and and I know how much effort they put into their practice sessions, not to mention the post-practice drinking. The epitome of "work hard, play hard" - and I found it bewildering, exciting and exhausting.

Now, it's not that Hammersmith disapprove of women dancing morris - they like nothing better than to invite female and mixed teams to their pub tours and dancing weekends, far more fun for obvious reasons... but they prefer to keep their own dancing as men's stuff, and nobody accuses them of prancing about like fairies, not even when dancing Adderbury Sweet Jenny Jones.

(disclaimer: I haven't seen Smiffs recently. I may be out of date - I hope they haven't got old and decrepit in the last 10 years)

Anahata
(by the way, do any men do belly dancing? I just wondered....)