Painted Bodies at Football Game: OK for Boys, But Not for Girls?

1. biltmore
   November 5th, 2007 at 2:03 pm

   Freaking puritans. So it's okay for a guy to be painted up and not have a shirt on, but it's not okay for a girl to be painted up and have a bikini on?

   Rediculous.

2. Steohawk
   November 5th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

   IMHO, it's sexist. Perhaps for the next game, all of the students (boys AND girls) could paint themselves. Then the school can't kick out all of the girls without looking extremely sexist. If they do, then they'll probably get the kind of national attention they deserve.

3. Dan
   November 5th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

   I think the principal should try to encourage school spirit.

4. Vonskippy
   November 5th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

   "It took us, like, two hours to do it," she said.

   Get a freaking life already. How many examples of "Public Education Sucks" do we really need rubbed in our taxpayer faces?

5. hpavc
   November 5th, 2007 at 2:22 pm

   Body painting as in topless? I am assuming no bikini.

6. catsvillage
   November 5th, 2007 at 2:46 pm

   I'm in my 50's and am so appalled that this world is still so sexist.

   it's either stop both or allow both... IMHO I think it's a great way to share the school/team spirit...

   rock on girls... and guys

7. L
   November 5th, 2007 at 3:52 pm

   That's pretty sexist. If they were covered with bikini tops and shorts (like in the picture), I don't see a problem.

   Personally, I would find painted man-boobs much more offensive.

8. sparge
   November 5th, 2007 at 3:53 pm

   I like to try and see issues like this from both sides of it. But in this case I can't come up with a single reason why the girls should have been kicked out but not the boys. The bikini would have been against my school's dress code, but so also would shirtless males have been in violation.

   I'm guessing that the school will implement a no-shirt, no-admittance rule for both genders as a result of the backlash from this incident.

9. K!P
   November 5th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

   wel a bikini could count as a shirt...it does cover something, and the pant is a really thin layer of cloting annyway! wear a nylon shirt or a layer of paint...same thing

10. c-dub
    November 5th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

    Vonskippy is a little stuffy.

11. Honestly
    November 5th, 2007 at 6:04 pm

    I bet they did it, craving attention more than school spirit. Some chicks are just sluts. They're just making a scene becaus they can. It equals MORE attention.

12. Jacki
    November 5th, 2007 at 7:00 pm

    "Personally, I would find painted man-boobs much more offensive."

    Thanks L! Now I have to go scrub that image out of my brain with soap.

13. Rob
    November 5th, 2007 at 8:08 pm

    "I bet they did it, craving attention more than school spirit. Some chicks are just sluts. They’re just making a scene becaus they can. It equals MORE attention."

    I bet you get all the ladies with that attitude.

14. ted
    November 5th, 2007 at 8:48 pm

    Perhaps they thought the bikini tops were going to come off.

    "man-boobs are more offensive" - funny how sexist that comment is, but it's okay to be sexist when you're talking about the male body.

    I don't think these girls were sluts, but they probably wanted the attention.

15. Christopher
    November 5th, 2007 at 9:45 pm

    I think you all are overlooking the major issue here. Those girls are hot. And the bikini on the girl on the right needs to be taken off.

16. Christopher
    November 5th, 2007 at 9:46 pm

    <>

17. Christopher
    November 5th, 2007 at 9:47 pm

    redacted

18. Alex
    November 5th, 2007 at 10:36 pm

    @L: Personally, I would find painted man-boobs much more offensive.

    What has been imagined cannot be unimagined!

19. Jerry
    November 5th, 2007 at 11:12 pm

    Bradenton??? Not surprised (I have a buddy who lives there).

    The average age in the town is so high the new 65-year-old retirees are called 'kids'....

20. Rachel
    November 5th, 2007 at 11:50 pm

    girls at our school do that and there's never any problem (although they wear sports bras which offer a little more coverage.) they should definitely be allowed to do so.

21. linda
    November 6th, 2007 at 2:42 pm

    Thats a double standard in a big way. Thats so ridiculous. It makes me angy!!!

22. linda
    November 6th, 2007 at 2:42 pm

    OOPS,Makes me angry!!!

23. Brian
    November 6th, 2007 at 4:07 pm

    I can see how it is sexist for this to be a problem with the bystanders, but to me this suggests a problem with the way in which these bystanders are viewing the girls. It's likely that offense was taken because a girl in a bikini inspires sexual thoughts or possibly inappropriate thoughts to these people. If the same feelings are not instigated by the males, then less offense is taken.

    I suppose that's one way that there is a difference; the girls are perceived as a sex symbol, while the boys are continuing the sexist tradition of masculine sports obsession. In Europe, breasts (both male and female) aren't nearly as sexualized. The way they are perceived is the problem.

    The sports bra idea is a good compromise, i'd say. But it's totally unfair.

24. foosnark
    November 6th, 2007 at 4:11 pm

    "Bradenton??? Not surprised (I have a buddy who lives there)."

    Hah, I graduated from that very school in 1989. They probably still have the same principal.

    The dress code there has always been weirdly inconsistent. Example: cheerleaders could wear their uniforms even though the skirts are way too short by the rules.

25. Alex
    November 7th, 2007 at 2:31 am

    Bikini (for the gals) and shirtless (for the guys) aren't appropriate attire (or lack of it) for high school function. I think the principal should limit expression of school spirit to painted faces instead.

26. KRosebud
    November 7th, 2007 at 11:21 am

    “Bradenton??? Not surprised (I have a buddy who lives there).”

    "Hah, I graduated from that very school in 1989. They probably still have the same principal."

    Yep, I'm not surprised at all that this happened in Manatee county. But I would be even LESS surprised if it happened in Sarasota county.

27. Holly
    November 7th, 2007 at 12:01 pm

    i worked at king's island (theme park) and guys were not allowed to walk around with their shirts off, but women were allowed to walk around with thier bikini tops. a lot of men got really upset about it and would bring up the fact that girls were allowed to walk around with their bathing suits on. of course, this is a reverse situation, but comparable nonetheless. so king's island started making girls put their shirts on. so i agree with a few of you above.. it's either all or nothing. in order to get equal treatment, both need to be treated equally. DUH. that school is dumb.

28. Nemo
    November 7th, 2007 at 9:28 pm

    I think that because of the different anatomy in males and females, wearing a bikini is slightly inappropriate. A bikini does NOT fully COVER a woman's breasts. Perhaps that was part of the problem, a little slippage and there is complete nudity. I do think that sports bras would be more acceptable or a cutoff shirt displaying the midriff. Or as others have suggested, an easy solution is to allow only face painting (or arms and legs as well). It IS somewhat a double standard, but I can see how it would be offensive.

29. Chris
    November 7th, 2007 at 9:59 pm

    Well, if they had a Taliban veil, nothing of all this would ever had happenned. See?

30. krista
    November 12th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

    there is absolutley nothing wrong with their outfits, they just wanted to have fun and do something different so they wore bikini tops and painted their bodies, big whope, their not naked. and what i dont get is guys show up with no shirts and their bodies painted and their not getting in trouble, thats sexist.

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