Cheerleader's Uniforms OK for Games, Too Short For Classroom.
The Monroe County Ohio School System has declared that cheerleader's uniforms violate the school's dress code and will not be allowed in class, but they will be allowed at games and in assemblies.
"The skirts that the cheerleaders wear are very short, and they're very tight and they're slit so they can do the gymnastics that are required of a cheerleader," Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli said, adding that they can wear something underneath.
Parents are upset, saying that because they pay for the uniforms, then the girls should be allowed to wear them. "They conduct themselves like ladies, they are representatives of the school, they all handle themselves very well," one parent said.
Let's face facts. Cheer leading is not a sport. It was an invention of sexist minds wanting to occupy girls while men played real sports.
The costumes are clearly revealing, sexual, and inappropriate.
This school district is essentially admitting that these outfits are completely unacceptable in school; violating the dress code. But it is okay for these overly sexualized children to prance about in front of thousands of people wearing the exact same costume.
As a guy, I am clearly supportive of skimpy outfits for women. But looking at the bigger picture, I have to say, this is an unacceptable sexist part of American culture. Accepted only because of sexist attitudes and so called tradition.
would the girls be wearing their cheerleader outfits in the classroom anyway? That's like going to a history lesson wearing your gym kit! We wore small shorts or gym knickers for gym lessons, but nobody would dream of wearing them for anything other than a gym lesson.
My math teacher in school was a 300 lb 'hairy as a gorilla' Italian American. Please don't put visions of him(or the like) in a 'sexy skimpy-outfit' in anybody's classroom.
"It was an invention of sexist minds wanting to occupy girls while men played real sports" Umm i'm pretty sure cheerleading was started by guys. Back in the day not many women were in univirsities so the cheer squads were men. If you live near a large college go check out their athletics center, they'll have pictures of sporting events from when cameras were new. I know the old pics up at my local school are all men cheer squads up till the 40's or 50's. I think high school/middle school cheerleaders are something that came later and from there it became a girl dominated 'sport'
Cheerleading as we know it today began in 1923. Prior to that it was just a bunch of men shouting bizarre phrases such as, "Ray, Ray, Ray! TIGER, TIGER, SIS, SIS, SIS! BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Aaaaah! PRINCETON, PRINCETON, PRINCETON!" in 1884 (scarily I did not make that up).
These days 97% of cheerleaders are female although but males still make up 50% of cheering squads at the collegiate level.
But I stand by my earlier statements. It seems like a very sexist concept, where hot young girls are chosen to dance around in skimpy outfits. Again, as a guy, I am not going to object. But let's be real about what it really is.
I am fully aware they are not commonplace in other parts of the world. I was responding to a typically crazy comment by Lauriesman who erroneously claimed that they are ubiquitous around the world, which is clearly not the case.
Honestly, that's the only excuse for maligning cheerleaders. Our president, the most manly and esteemed president G.W. Bush, was the HEAD cheerleader at his school. When you dis on cheerleaders and their skirts you are not supporting the president which means you're not supporting the troops and then American soldiers die and the turrurists win. Then we have to pay multiple Haliburton subsidiaries such as Blackwater gobs o' cash to keep our oil wells safe so we have the right to go to the mall and buy lead-filled toys from minimum wage workers and call people who don't think the same way we do very nasty names. All because SOME people couldn't keep their eyes on the front of the class and had to keep staring at Dubya's legs.
You have made a good point, which is getting balled out of the park by some half masted lads.
Reality is that, cheerleaders are for Men's ocular delight, anyone saying anything is simply hiding behind the fact.
Soccer is the most popular game in the World and I have never seen cheerleaders any where I have traveled to watch this game at a national or professional level.
Well it must be the FREEDOM. Since freedom is at stake, I dont know why America is at a cross road with Paradox!
When a judge deems unfit for classroom but ok for the same classroom to watch when in games, I find the system is wrong which is sending mixed messages to girls.
Irony is in the parents vocals "Parents are upset, saying that because they pay for the uniforms, then the girls should be allowed to wear them." BAH ;(
In australia we have lots of cheerleaders, not many for highschool sports but for all professional sports, and we also have many cheerleading 'leagues' that have competitions akin to 'bring it on' and comps like that.
cheerleaders in Australia are only present for basketball and NRL that I can think of. Both professional sports trying to have American style entertainment.
AFL and cricket for example, don't have cheerleaders.
I've never heard of cheerleading as a sport in high school here in Australia.
"When a judge deems unfit for classroom but ok for the same classroom to watch when in games, I find the system is wrong which is sending mixed messages to girls."
It depends on where you may coming from with the idea of a mixed message. If it is because a legal ruling keeps the gals from wearing whatever they want therefore showing a lack of freedom, it may be a valid argument. One side may say they should have the freedom to wear whatever they want, whereever they want. The other side may state that they have the freedom to object. Both are fighting for the sake of their freedoms. However concerning the appropriateness of where it is worn...Is there anything questionable about wearing a swimming suit? How about if you wore it at a wedding or standard church service? Something that is appropriate in one setting may not be for the next, and this certainly fits in the workplace, church, and schools (and because the school setting allows for situations both leisurely and scholastic we have these types of decisions happen.)
I had not either until I had to go to the championships that were held in melbourne and the teams were from various private schools as well as seperate clubs and dance schools. I was there as a contractor to the venue though they had about 2000 paying spectators.
I'm really surprised at so many of the comments on here - it's all about sexism and/or propriety, or in one case, lunacy....but surely the key thing to care about is the education and protection of the students.
The teenage years are fraught with perils of all sorts. Not everyone fits into a stereotypical view of a US school...the nerds, the populars, etc, with no thinking past political rights and/or sexism.
What happens is that wild hormones are flying around, in droves, in vast quantities. For some, this means they get attention all the time, for others it means they deliberately shun attention, and for others it's a really hard time trying to cope with all the feelings and chemicals and not being able to talk about it for fear of ridicule.
The strange thing is that it is for ALL of these students, every student, that sexual themes should be discouraged in schools. I'm not saying go negative towards exploring your sexuality, because everyone will in one way or another - teenagers will find a way, what I'm saying is that outfits that are either a) deliberately flaunting sexually-regarded areas of the body or b) able to cause such distraction in class that students are focusing on sex rather than studies, are distracting, confusing, and unfair to the other students.
The parents, who claim that their little darlings all conduct themselves like ladies, may not be aware that their 'ladies' may also be taunting and teasing every heterosexually-inclined boy or homosexually-inclined girl in the school.
Perhaps, for the sake of fairness, a compromise could be found, such as wearing the top with some sort of matching trousers (maybe tracksuit). Such a thing would allow the students to show pride in being a cheerleader without being sexually objectified.
Also, in the interest of fairness, does their claim that the cheerleader outfit is uniform mean that they should be made to wear them in winter as well - or will it suddenly mean that the warmer uniform is made favourite?
Yeah I agree there should be a limit to what you can wear, but I'm also extremely against dress codes.
And I don't think high school is as bad as you make it out to be. Sure a lot of schools suck and you get a poor education, and you do a lot of smoking and inhaling and boozing and partying and getting laid or a lot of fapping to porn and playing games and sleeping in class, but it's still... I'm sorry I forgot what I was trying to say.
I'm kind of shocked at the amount of comments stating that cheerleaders just prance around in short skirts and don't do much of anything else... Have none of you watched the cheerleading competitions on tv? The atheticism of some of those girls (and guys to a lesser to degree) is amazing. It takes a lot of skill and practice to perform some of the stunts and acrobatics that they do
"Most schools in most countries have some form of cheerleading. All of the schools I attended in Queensland had cheerleaders."
We've already established that they have them in Australia, last time I checked, Queensland was in Australia!
I've never heard of cheerleaders in the UK, maybe they have them at the American style sporting events such as basketball or ice hockey, but they certainly don't have them in schools, although some of the private schools may have them, never heard of it though! Sport wasn't even a big deal at my school, I had no idea who was on the football team or anything like that.
CanadUH here. No I have never seen Cheerleaders on Skates. But it is something to ponder.. Ching Ching.
In regards to Gymnasts in leotards. I would guess we are discussing female Gymnasts, because their counterparts are decently clad and do the same spot with extra degree of strength difficulty, but have you seen a male Gymnast in Speedo type uniform? I dont think so, unless you watch after midnite gymnastic shows.. LOL.
The exact argument between freedom and governance is that, we as society or parents, sometimes dont see the argument at it's core. The core being modesty and simple parading of young girls in scantily clad clothing for none other reason than ostentatious purpose.
At school and outside from school, dress codes are only followed at schools and in sports where participants are required to dress accordingly, however since many of these sports are regulated by male society, it just seems like young girls are paraded more and more scantily clad then their male counterparts.
In Soccer play, when a player scores a goal and celebrates by taking off his jersey, is penalized with Yellow Card and asked to don it again. Yet we say It's ok to throw a cheerleader up in the Air or do somersault revealing underwear with a wedgy is OK!!
MHO. Education is important to our young ladies, that they should not simply follow the hype for being popular, while being dubbed "sluts" Because their counterparts male, not only dont reveal much, it's like they are more conscious and less ostentatious.
Women are objects, and these girls have realized that at a healthy age. Why are we trying to put a stop on that? It seems futile anyway; these girls will find different ways to dress provocatively.
If the uniform doesn't fit the dress code then that's that. It isn't sexist. Do the swimmers walk around in speedos? Do you call it sexist that male swimmers wear almost nothing, and female swimmers wear full much more? No? Then you're a hypocrite.
