On the East Coast, Harlem clubs were frequently visited by white heterosexuals who were looking for sexual and social excitement not found in predominantly white, “respectable” neighborhoods. This semi-institutionalized crossing over of individuals from the dominant culture into a “strange” subculture (often located in a racially or sexually segregated ghetto) was called “slumming,” and it both excited and disconcerted the slummer. It allowed someone who was usually an “insider” to become, for a period of time, the “outsider” in another culture. It was also a conduit through which lesbian and
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