When I was in high school, I was already trying to apply my sociological imagination for my own benefit. By my senior year, I was very aware of the role football played in status and, thus, the role football played in one’s dating outlook. As an effort to gain the good graces of the cheerleaders at Suwannee High School and to gain attention more broadly, I spoke to the Suwannee County School Board in 2001 in protest of the decision to not allow the already-purchased cheerleading uniforms to be worn at school.
In one my earliest (and most failed) attempts at eloquence, I spoke to a crowded room of maybe 70 people about my own initial doubts concerning the importance or function of cheerleaders, and then discussed my stark conversion once the cheerleader uniform ban was revealed. The image of a school lacking such prominent reminders of this core tradition of southern education and tradition, football culture, was a devolution of our community feelings, I argued, and the long tradition of cheerleading uniforms allowing bare shoulders and slightly shorter skirts (which is required by the full range of motion in their routines) was an important mechanism for bringing school spirit to mind throughout the school day and not just at games that only a (sizable) minority attended. I also argued that I routinely broke dress code through my involvement in school theatre and playing varsity soccer (that’s right, varsity), as well as for Halloween and other costume events, all without recrimination. The Suwannee Democrat quotes me in their coverage of this debacle as saying, in reference to cheerleading uniforms during the school day, “It’s a symbol of our school, a tradition.”
While the uniform ban was not reversed, there was an up side: we had at least made the attempt, we had stood up and had been heard. Cheerleaders, parents, and I learned about the organizing for issues we believe in, and these skills are important for being good citizens.
And I did succeed in going on a series of dates with a cheerleader.
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