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Cross-dressing at rally degrades women
Photo Credit: Jennifer Jackson
SD Football players dancing "dirty" at Smudge Pot rally.
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September 23, 2011 • Sarah Marzluft, Staff Writer
Filed under Viewpoints
The music starts and a group of scantily dressed performers come out from behind the stage. They begin to slap their behinds and grope each other in an extremely sensual way. No, I am not describing the dancing at the VMA’s. This is just another regular school rally.
At San Dimas High School, we have become much too familiar with the sight of our football players in skimpy skirts, see-through shirts, and literal balloons on their chests.
For the past four years, the San Dimas football team has dressed this way to perform at the Smudge Pot rally before the big rival game against Bonita High School.
It seems as if the whole purpose of these performances is to make fun of the Bearcat cheerleaders. If this is the case, then they are portraying a group of teenage girls as tramps. Not only is this degrading to the girls being portrayed, but also they are depicting females in an extremely disrespectful way.
I know that in popular media women are often sexualized. They say it sells products, but the problem is greater. Most music describes women in sexually explicit ways and music videos are filled with provocative dance moves and women dressed in almost nothing.
Even though this is common today, it should not be tolerated at our school. Many people feel uncomfortable with performances like these, but they remain silent while the rest of the student body is screaming its support.
In attempting to raise school spirit, our football players are demeaning human beings; nothing positive is portrayed. There is no sensitivity, respect, or equality for the female half of the student body through crude displays like this.
Should the SDHS football team carry the ball of blame alone? The fact that the administration is letting these kinds of performances happen at our school rallies may have become the source of the problem. Where is the quality control and discretion in making decisions that allow this to continue?
English Teacher Paul Theriot is among those who have voiced their concerns about these performances.
“Personally, I feel that the gross portrayal of women as loose immoral trollops by the male football players is not in the true spirit of what, we at San Dimas High School, wish to convey. Rather than stoop to such philistine behavior, we should rise to show how much better morally and intellectually we are as students through the respect that should be portrayed at these type of events.”
I am baffled that no one in administration said this was inappropriate after the first year it occurred. Does our administration just not care about the disrespectful portrayal of half the student body? Please don’t tell me it is because they are too intimidated to stand up to a team of high school boys.
As a female student at San Dimas high school, I would hope that no other freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior woman at our school will ever have to see this kind of negative portrayal of women again.
I completely agree. Protest the next time it happens. This is so extremely disrespectful. Actions like this show that the San Dimas High School student body and its administration completely looks down upon it’s female population and that’s unfortunate.
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You go Sarah! Although it is funny to watch I can see how it can be extremely offensive.
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I disagree. When they perform no one even thinks that at the moment. This has been a tradition for more than just 4 yrs! it has been around since my dad was even in high school! so this tradition cant be stopped..And if you didnt know, bonita does the samething! no one should take it personal.
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kid Reply:
November 24th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Just because it’s tradition does not mean it’s correct. Tradition is changeable, and sometimes, believe it or not, tradition is just straight out wrong.
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Anonymous Reply:
November 26th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
“this tradition cant be stopped”
oh really? slavery was around as “a tradition” in the US for centuries. that was stopped.
“bonita does the same thing no one should take it personal”
slavery was practiced all over the world at the time and is still practiced in some parts today. does that mean that every african american should be our slaves today?
next time think about “American traditions” before you make comments that don’t benefit the country’s increasing sexism and racism.
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Sarah! WIN.
I find it very courageous to stand up for women like this. And iI completely agree. I just wouldnt have the guts to put this in the newspaper like you did. GREAT JOB!
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