a4l
5-04-05, 10:38 PM
Some of you guys aren't going to like this.
Bawdy ban on cheerleaders
By Tom Leonard in New York
(Filed: 05/05/2005)
School cheerleaders may have to find new things to do with their pompoms after lawmakers in Texas voted to ban "overtly sexually suggestive" routines.
Concerned that bawdy performances by teenage girls wearing skimpy clothes are undermining high-school morality, the state's House of Representatives has passed a Bill prohibiting such displays at school-sponsored events.
The measure, which now goes before the state senate, would also give the education commissioner the power to ask school districts to review performances. Its backers hope this would restrict cheerleading routines to more ladylike performances - reversing a trend towards bump-and-grind sets, bare midriffs and tiny skirts.
"Girls can get out and do all of these overtly sexual performances and we applaud them and that's not right," said Al Edwards, a Democrat who filed the legislation in a state that is home to the renowned Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
Mr Edwards argued that lascivious exhibitions served as a distraction for high-school students, resulting in pregnancies, drop-outs and spread of HIV and herpes.
The Bill does not define what constitutes a bawdy performance, but Mr Edwards said that any adult "that's been involved with sex in their lives" would know it when they see it.
Opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the measure is unnecessary because state law already prohibits public lewdness by students on or near a school campus.
Critics also argue that the line between suggestive dancing and artistic expression is hard to define.
But Cathie Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum, a conservative watchdog that backs the Bill, said: "I think that there are plenty of ways to show artistic expression without movement that mimics sensual behaviour."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/05/wcheer05.xml
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Bawdy ban on cheerleaders
By Tom Leonard in New York
(Filed: 05/05/2005)
School cheerleaders may have to find new things to do with their pompoms after lawmakers in Texas voted to ban "overtly sexually suggestive" routines.
Concerned that bawdy performances by teenage girls wearing skimpy clothes are undermining high-school morality, the state's House of Representatives has passed a Bill prohibiting such displays at school-sponsored events.
The measure, which now goes before the state senate, would also give the education commissioner the power to ask school districts to review performances. Its backers hope this would restrict cheerleading routines to more ladylike performances - reversing a trend towards bump-and-grind sets, bare midriffs and tiny skirts.
"Girls can get out and do all of these overtly sexual performances and we applaud them and that's not right," said Al Edwards, a Democrat who filed the legislation in a state that is home to the renowned Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
Mr Edwards argued that lascivious exhibitions served as a distraction for high-school students, resulting in pregnancies, drop-outs and spread of HIV and herpes.
The Bill does not define what constitutes a bawdy performance, but Mr Edwards said that any adult "that's been involved with sex in their lives" would know it when they see it.
Opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the measure is unnecessary because state law already prohibits public lewdness by students on or near a school campus.
Critics also argue that the line between suggestive dancing and artistic expression is hard to define.
But Cathie Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum, a conservative watchdog that backs the Bill, said: "I think that there are plenty of ways to show artistic expression without movement that mimics sensual behaviour."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/05/wcheer05.xml
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