Why I’m a Lady Linebacker

Posted by: gretchen on May 12, 2008 | 7 Comments

Jordyn WhiteExcellent article by linebacker Jordyn White on The Root, chronicling her football career and why she enjoys the game so much.

Special thanks to Jordyn’s teammate Allison from the DC Divas for the tip. ;)

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Meet Cristina Lara

Posted by: gretchen on April 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Cristina Lara

Meet 15-year-old political activist Cristina Lara from Fair Lawn New Jersey. A high school sophmore, this girl is not waiting for graduation to make a difference in her world. In 2007, she founded a a female empowerment youth organization called the Society of Young Leading Women. The society is for “the elite young women who believe that this common double standard of society must be aligned correctly.” Girls Can’t WHAT? recently caught up with Cristina for more information on her organization as well as her inspiring story as a varsity football player for her high school team.

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Problem or Potential?

Posted by: gretchen on October 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I wanted to cheat today and pick another quote, but I didn’t. I just think today’s words of wisdom need no explanation:

“If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities.” ~ Barbara Bush

When I loaded the home page and first read this morning’s random quote, I immediately thought of the “Girls Can’t Play Football” thread. Here are some girls who really enjoy the game and would love nothing more than an opportunity to play. They aren’t trying to break up the boys club. They’d gladly play on a girls team if one existed. If you read through the thread, you will see some girls are perceived as potentials and other are perceived as problems. You can also see which ones are thriving and which ones aren’t. Notice a pattern?

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School Spirit

Posted by: gretchen on October 17, 2007 | 8 Comments

Kel sent me a link to this article about two girls kicked out of a high school football game for wearing body paint on their entire top halves, plus a bra.

Girls in Body Paint

 

When the girls showed up at the game, several people complained to school officials about their “attire”. A spokeswoman for the school said “We have never had complaints about the men or the boys.”

Hmm…interesting. When I first saw this, I was thinking “yeah, that’s really not appropriate,” although I have seen fans dressed in the exact same way on a televised professional game, so it’s not like this is a first. It may be a first for this high school, but these girls didn’t invent anything new.

The question here is that had they shown up in just a bra, would that be ok? My response would be “no” simply because the school policy surely does not allow girls to come to school wearing just a bra for their top and the football game was clearly a school function.

On the flip side, tho…I wonder how many times the boys have done this at that very school and not been reprimanded. Surely there is a school policy requiring them to wear a shirt to school events. Is this a double standard?

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Is Cheerleading A Thing of The Past?

Posted by: gretchen on September 26, 2007 | 38 Comments

I attended a local high school football game this past Friday and sat down a with a few neighbors to chat while we watched the game. (Ok I never really watched it - I don’t like football). About midway through the second quarter, my husband commented on how few cheerleaders we had. Granted, our school district is rather small, but there were only 5 girls on the squad. I looked across the field at the opposing team from a larger school (who were slaughtering us at the time) and they had about 16 girls lined up in front of the crowd.

Being relatively new to public school, I asked my neighbor (who works at the school) if it was normal for our team to only have 5 cheerleaders. She said they actually used to have a lot more members of the cheerleading squad back when girls sports were less popular. Now that sports have opened up girls teams for golf, volleyball, soccer and basketball, more girls are concentrating on sports than cheerleading. (This is the part where someone jumps in and says “cheerleading IS a sport!” - have fun with that.) She said it seems now that cheerleading is just an activity anyone can do if they want. They don’t even hold tryouts! Wow - that is so not the way things were when I was in high school. I knew girls who would kill for those coveted pom-poms. (Not me. I was too busy making the boys basketball team. ;) )

So is anyone else noticing this trend? Are girls choosing to play the game rather than cheer for it?

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