Cheerleaders can't wear short skirts anymore

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts) Aug 30th 2008 4:00PM

It's tradition in many high schools for athletes and cheerleaders to wear their jerseys or uniforms on the Friday before a game. But a Monroe, Ohio high school is taking issue with the cheerleaders' short skirts. Since the school dress code says skirts must fall no higher than three inches above the knee, cheerleaders are no longer allowed to wear the skirt portion of their uniform to school.

Not everyone agrees with the rule. "My daughter is in her senior year," says mom Becky Daniel. "We paid for uniforms and they should be able to wear them on game day." But Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli is clear: "The skirts that 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."

Are short cheerleading skirts even necessary? (Don't answer that, guys.) They seem like a relic from an era gone by. If cheerleading is a serious sport, why not put them into some serious, modern workout gear? Then again, I was never a cheerleader. But it seems like a compromised could be reached in Monroe by letting the girls wear their uniforms, skirts and all, with warm-ups underneath. What do you think?

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Comments (8)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

hall monitor 8-30-2008 @ 4:19PM

Sports events just got a little less interesting for high school students. I think wrestlers are still allowed to wear their tights though. This story was also featured here along with the other crazy headlines from our schools:
http://detentionslip.org

Hall Monitor

c_rousseau05 8-30-2008 @ 5:03PM

I think they make a good point about the dress code rule and that should go for ALL school uniforms also. I don't think the parents should have to pay for a whole new uniform though...that's really not fair. Besides, back in the 1950's or whatever, school cheerleading skirts went to below the knee and that didn't stop them from being cheerleaders did it? No. There are ways to make gymnastic type uniforms to meet the needs of the cheerleaders AND to make them modest enough to fit the school rules of the dress code.

shelly 8-30-2008 @ 5:10PM

From the year 1983, which was when I was in high school till now there has been a drastic change in the length of cheer attire. If they are saying that they need the slits to be able to do the stunts, then just take the lengths from a few years ago and just make the slits a little differet. Just look at the things that the girl volleyball teams where now. You don't see them wearing them to school on game day. You can where the tops and be discrete and just stop being so contraversial, parents, Why would you want your daughter wearing something so short.

Jan Bay 8-30-2008 @ 5:23PM

"Are short cheerleading skirts even necessary?"

What difference does it make where the hemline of the skirts are when they are turned upside down on the sidelines? If they are a few inches longer, what benefit is it that more of their heads will be covered?

It seems fair that during school hours the cheerleaders should abide by the same dress code as everyone else. If the mother whose daughter is about to graduate doesn't want to shell out for a new, more modest uniform for one season; they should allow her to wear normal clothing on game days if she so chooses.

Jan from http://www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.com/

Jenni 8-30-2008 @ 5:52PM

From my understanding, the school was/is willing to let them wear leggings underneath for school. That seems fair to me. My understanding of the story may not be accurate, but when I first heard about this, that's how it was told to me.

While I was in high school, I remember the cheerleaders being allowed to wear their uniforms on game day. The athletes were also allowed to wear their jersey's or whatever shirt of their uniform. I don't see too much of a problem, but with the length of cheerleader's skirts, I am all for making them wear something underneath for the school day.

Heck, I' such a prude, I'm all for making them wear something underneath during the game as well!

Meretisa 8-31-2008 @ 11:24AM

I was a cheerleader and we DO wear something underneath- they're called bloomers. They are opaque with heavy duty elastic and don't budge with movement- unlike the full-coverage swim bottoms they resemble.
We also faced the same issues- are they too short? I didn't and still don't think so. When I was in HS our girls volleyball team had shorty-shorts that were much more revealing. At least our bums were covered by the skirts!
The leggings thing is an option, but I think it detracts from the uniform. Leggings are meant to be worn for warmth during outdoor events.
Besides, there are catalogs that the schools use to choose their uniforms- some come with pant-bottom uniforms and ones that cover nearly every inch of skin. If they had such an issue, why didn't they go with one of those uniforms instead of punishing the girls for uniforms that the SCHOOL ITSELF picked out???!!!!

As for any comments about sexiness and such, bring it on!

;)

Cheerleaders are a valuable and important part of school athletics. I've faced years of ridicule and judgement myself as to whether it's a sport and how "risque" our uniforms are, etc. We even had to modify our cheers because the Principle thought our "hips swayed too much" (it was only side to side and not really provocative even)- looking back, I wonder why he was watching our hips and not the games!!!

cn 9-07-2008 @ 7:39PM

Some of the people on this board seem awfully eager to return us to an era of repression. What the heck difference does it make how long the cheerleaders' skirts are? What's everybody so scared of

Teenagers are at an age where they need to be able to express themselves: being a cheerleader is as much about self-expression and the celebration of life as it is about "sports." If we try to take all of the expressiveness and -- yes -- celebration of the transformation from girlhood to womanhood, from boyhood to manhood, you are robbing them of their ability to use creativity and fun to learn about themselves, which is what all high school activities are about in the first place. It's a time to discover yourself, to find out a bit about what life is all about before having to go out there into the adult world.

I might add that if we try to take all sexuality about of the pageantry and rites of passage of high school life, we are making a very big mistake. Because as soon as kids lose these safe, creative outlets, they are going to be all the more likely to seek more serious outlets, for which they may not yet ready. Sexuality is not something we can protect high-schoolers from -- especially not by telling them what kind of clothes to wear -- it's a fact of life. And there's nothing 'dirty' about it.

The more time we waste making a big deal out a meaningless issue like the length of cheerleaders' skirts, the more likely we are to forget to do the most important things we need to do for our children, especially in high school: treat them with respect, and expect them to treat us and one another with respect. If we don't take this, the most important task seriously, they're not going to learn and grow, and they will not be ready for the challenges of adult life.

Judas Gutenberg 9-11-2008 @ 12:56AM

How sad it is that the days of the cheerleader in her outfit sitting in math class is coming to an end! I was in high school in the eighties, and let me just say, I might have ended up gay if those cheerleaders hadn't been there to mold my fantasies! Mind you, I never became a rapist or a child molester. I became a normal, heterosexual taxpayer. Is there any evidence that short skirts are destroying America? If there isn't, let the cheerleaders wear their skirts and carry their pom-poms. I believe there is an Aerosmith song in there somewhere, though I think it might have already been written. And, fans of Sarah Palin take note, rhyming cheerleader with an euphemism for the onset of menstruation is a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE thing for Aerosmith to have done!

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