Give me an M!O!D!E!S!T!Y!
Modesty, which has been suffering rout after rout the past fifty years may just be staging a comeback. And you can credit a group of high school cheerleaders in Connecticut.
Rivals reports:
last week cheerleaders in Connecticut begged school officials to help make their uniforms less skimpy.
According to the Connecticut Post and NBC Connecticut, Heidi Medina, the captain of Bridgeport Central’s cheerleading squad, stood before the Bridgeport Board of Education in her team’s standard uniform, which bares athletes midriffs and uses either small shorts or baggy sweatpants as bottoms, to make a statement that it was inappropriate.
Medina and fellow seniors insist that the Central uniforms do not meet regulations that require cheerleader uniforms to cover an athlete’s midsection when they stand at attention.
“It really hurts our self esteem,” Bridgeport Central senior Ariana Mesaros told the Board of Education, according to the Post. “I am embarrassed to stand up here dressed like this. Is this really how you want Bridgeport to be represented?”
Wow!
Check out this question the cheerleaders asked from the Connecticut Post which I think sums it up perfectly.
A half-dozen upperclassmen on the team appeared before the city Board of Education this week asking its members how they’d feel if their daughters were dressed in something similar.
“We ask with the utmost respect you do anything in your power to help us,” said Heidi Medina, a former team captain, removing oversized sweats to reveal a quarter-length top and exposed middle. “I don’t feel comfortable wearing this.”
It’s kinda’ sad that the kids have to teach the adults. But I’m just glad someone’s finally saying what needs to be said.
October 6, 2010 at 9:50 am
This is kinda of stupid, innit? Imagine attending a pro football game and the cheerleaders are wearing baggy sweat shirts and sweat pants and overweight. Why be a cheerleader then?
It's kinda like saying I want to be a priest but I don't want to wear their mid-evil costumes. Then why be a priest?
October 6, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Helen,
Actually, I don't feel that "this is kinda of stupid". Who says that cheerleaders HAVE TO dress immodestly?
Your comment suggests that there is a "right" kind of cheerleading outfit. But, that's not true. The outfits have evolved over time.
Cheerleaders didn't always show so much skin. The uniforms have become more revealing over time. I don't think that this is a good trend.
These young ladies should be applauded. They are helping the fashion to evolve (revolve?) back to more modest attire. In our over-sexualized world, that is something worth noting.
October 6, 2010 at 1:49 pm
This is great news – a sexual counter revolution. St. John always put purity (and with it chastity, modesty) as the most important virtue (although theologically it should be charity). Then again, one can argue that purity is the bodily expression of one's love and respect of God. The immodesty from sexual revolution from the sixties only brought divorce, abortion, AIDs, fornication, teenage or child pregnancy.
October 6, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Helen: They're supposed to put enthusiasm into the crowd, not lust. (BTW, enthusiasm comes from the en Theos i.e. God within.)
October 6, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I think this is a wonderful step in the right direction. Good for them!! I find it offensive the way women in sports are supposed to be half naked especially women vollyball players. On the other hand the male players are well covered up. Something is wrong with a society that demands this of the women athletes. Sad and disturbing.
October 6, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Bless their hearts. What they are exhibiting is a fully normal feminine awareness of their bodies. Women who insist that being in all stages of undress in public is normal are actually killing off that part of themselves that embraces the dignity and mystery of woman. Blessings to the parents of these girls who have encouraged them and taught them – or that's my assumption.
October 6, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Being a cheerleader does not mean standing in front of your teammates, parents, siblings, school officials, and whoever else is there in something that makes you uncomfortable. These girls deserve a chance to make a difference. They are doing something that most young woman this day in age dont care to do. They are holding on to a self respect that they have for themselves. These are courageous young girls and I support them 100%!!!
October 6, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Hooray for these girls!!Our prayers our being answered. Now we need to start on the TV Networks.
October 6, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Go CT! Woo hoo!
ahem…They should get new cheerleading uniforms, especially since this obviously violates standards set by the council… I think I'm going to write this one up!
October 7, 2010 at 12:36 am
@ Nicholas and Rick: I totally agree cheerleaders' beauty should be deeper than their skin. There should be more ugly cheerleaders. I suspect pro-sports teams are slow to this revelation.
But why over my lifetime (I'll be 73 this Nov.), everything has gone in the to opposite direction. Years ago lot of people believed in the church and not having sex before marriage, and being ugly was okay. Today not so much. Things are changing so fast.
I feel like I'm a Greek professing the virtues of Zeus and the majority telling me I'm crazy or he doesn't exist. Yes, I can stick with the diehards and profess all women should dress in frumpy clothes, but….
October 7, 2010 at 2:38 am
Helen, you first need to learn to spell.
October 7, 2010 at 10:56 am
@ Helen: only stupid people think that way! And you should learned english before you post. Us Catholics are smarter than you.
October 8, 2010 at 6:13 am
Folks, I suspect "Helen" is either a very poorly catechized individual when it comes to modesty and self-respect – or "she" is a troll. Either way, don't feed the trolls.
While I wouldn't expect cheerleaders to dress like a bunch of cloistered nuns, I do admit that the uniforms have been getting a little TOO skimpy in the past few years… and don't get me started on the dance teams with their outfits and typically suggestive choreography.
Anyone remember the days when the cheerleaders were out there to pump up the crowd and get us excited about THE GAME???
October 9, 2010 at 11:58 am
@TUSM: Those days are gone. I wish they were back. Women should have stayed in the house, barefoot and pregnant, where God wants them. They were the good old days. I miss them!
October 11, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Sadly, I suspect there are plenty of parents who want their daughters to dress exactly like that. I don't get it.
Shame on us, as a society, for pushing our daughters out there as sexualized objects. Likewise, have you ever seen a high school car wash? Coaches and parents pushing bikini-clad teen girls out into the streets to entice men to bring their cars in for a wet and wild lust-filled romp.
We used to live across the street from a local ice cream parlor that let community groups use its parking lot for car washes. It's shameful to see adults pimping their kids' budding sexuality for a buck.
I say, Good for these girls for fighting back against being used in this way.