School-issued cheerleader outfits are suddenly against school's dresscode

[martyfan]

Pinellas schools say cheerleading uniforms are dress code violations

In a perfect world, every father would think his daughter is beautiful. David Fraser agrees. "Yeah, but she's actually beautiful," he says of his own daughter, 15-year-old Jeana. "I mean, she looks like a cheerleader

Comments

[nextdrinksonme]

"Yeah, but she's actually beautiful," he says of his own daughter, 15-year-old Jeana. "I mean, she looks like a cheerleader."

Yes, because cheerleaders are the benchmark for beauty. Ugh.

I've never understood school dress codes re: size of clothing. Making sure no one wears t-shirts with obscene language or imagery, yeah, but short skirts? Tank-tops? Who gives a damn? I do think that it makes sense that, if girls are being cited for shirt skirts and the cheerleaders aren't, then the rules should be changed to make it more fair. But shaming the cheerleaders for wearing the outfits that the school picked for them, is not the way to do it. Readdressing the skirt length requirements all around is.

[lisasimpsonfan]

Letting the girls wear their uniforms creates a double standard, he said. The district's dress code requires that shirts have sleeves and skirts fall to at least mid-thigh.

"A parent looks at their son or daughter getting 'dress coded' for wearing something short, then they look at the cheerleading uniform and they say, 'What about that?' " Schlereth said.

While he explained away the uniforms as "spirit wear" in the past, Schlereth felt it wasn't fair anymore.

I don't see the big deal. Dress codes are only fair if they apply to everyone. Granted they are doing it in a weird way by going after bare arms first but cheerleaders shouldn't get special treatment.

[martyfan]

They don't deserve special treatment, no. However, the answer should be to redesign the cheerleader uniform to comply with the dress code rather than tell the girls to cover up but only at school.

[thelilyqueen]

This is the sort of thing that gets me oh so conflicted.

On the one hand, I am not here for the sexual double standard and a girl is a person of worth whether she's wearing a burqa or a bikini or nothing. On the other... time and place. I couldn't wear something as revealing as this uniform to work and that was in a pretty casual environment, and I think I'd get talked to about professionalism if I wore it to med school.

[thelilyqueen]

Decency for time and place, yes.

I can wear jeans to class, but I would be expected to dress more formally were I presenting at a national meeting, say. My dress would be appropriate to each of those situations. To get closer to the scenario here, I did ballet and performed at times in just a leotard and tights - not school appropriate, but de rigeur for dancers, I don't see a huge issue with saying school wear should be more covered up, while the cheer uniform - which isn't as skimpy as some - is appropriate to that activity.

[roseofjuly]

Why do you get grumpy when you see clinical staff walking around in scrubs? Isn't that what they're supposed to be wearing?

[rex_dart]

If it's inappropriate for school, why are they requiring teenage girls to wear it in front of thousands of people in the first place?

[chaya]

Girls can only choose to objectify themselves when we permit it, duh.

[moonshaz]

A+!!!

[iolarah]

Ha, very well said! :)

[redstar826]

Fail on the school's part for not ensuring beforehand that the uniforms complied with the dress code.

it did really annoy me when I was in high school that everyone else was expected to wear skirts/shorts that were fingertip length or longer but cheerleaders were allowed to wear skirts so short their asses were hanging out.

[cindyanne1]

I remember being annoyed (not much so, but still annoyed) by that too.

Also, a friend of mine who was a cheerleader tried to wear a miniskirt to school that was longer than her cheerleading skirt, and was told to change. She brought up the argument that it was longer than her cheerleading skirt, but was defeated in that the cheerleading outfit was only acceptable under the circumstances for which it was authorized for wear... whatever that means. >_>

[redstar826]

ahhh, see my school pretty much just let the cheerleaders wear whatever they wanted, even when they weren't wearing their uniforms. The overall approach was-anyone related to the athletic programs could to what they wanted and to hell with anyone else. Which was pretty funny given that most of our teams actually sucked pretty badly. The drama club couldn't even use the stage to practice since the stage was in the gym and oh noes that might disturb the basketball teams.

[vulturoso]

But they're beautiful. No one would be allowed to be a cheerleader if they weren't actually beautiful. This way they can keep the gross girls from showing too much skin, while encouraging the pretty ones to show a lot. Huzzah!