Texas nears ban on "overtly sexually / suggestive" cheerleading routines

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Local & State

May 3, 2005, 10:23PM

House to cheerleaders: hooray, but no hip-hips
Bill that bans dirty dancing, but doesn't define it, nears passage

By KRISTEN MACK and ALLAN TURNER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
SPIRIT OF THE LAW

Highlights of the cheerleader legislation:
• What it does: Prohibits school dance teams, drill teams and cheerleaders from performing "in a manner that is overtly sexually suggestive" at public school events.
• What it doesn't do: Specifically define the prohibited behavior or set any penalty for violations.
• What supporters say: Pep routines have pushed the boundaries of decency and exploit performers.
• What foes say: The bill is a toothless and meaningless effort to legislate morality.
• What's next: If it survives one more House vote, the bill goes to the state Senate.

AUSTIN - House members got into the spirit of toning down suggestive cheerleading Tuesday, rallying behind a bill that could leave Texas cheerleaders shakin' a little less booty next year. By a 65-56 vote, the House gave preliminary approval to a bill sponsored by Rep. Al Edwards, D-Houston, curbing "sexually suggestive" routines by cheerleaders, drill teams or other public school performance groups. The bill doesn't define the behavior it is trying to prevent or specify punishment.

Edwards, who in past sessions has battled raunchy pop lyrics and advocated cutting off drug dealers' fingers, pledged that Tuesday's vote was just the opening volley in his effort to curb gyrating teenage booty-shakers. "I've seen it with my own eyes," Edwards said. "I've had people talk to me about it at football games. There was just a feeling that people were waiting for something to be done about it." Edwards likened the perceived salaciousness of cheerleading routines to risqué television programs and Internet pornography sites. He also suggested that inappropriate cheerleading routines contribute to a social atmosphere that encourages teen pregnancy, poor scholastic performance, criminality and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. "Why allow young girls 12, 13, 18 to be exploited like that?" he said.

Edwards' bill initially called for curtailing funding to offending schools. The punitive aspect of the bill later was dropped in exchange for a milder provision that school district officials take "appropriate action" in such situations. Critics of the measure maintain that it has no teeth, no sanctions and no effect. "This is a ridiculous bill. I don't know how it got to the floor," said Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston. "We don't have any business mandating anything. We are spending time on '2-3-4, we can't shake it anymore.' It's an embarrassment."

<snip>


No Senate sponsor yet
The bill does not have a sponsor in the Senate yet, said Edwards, whose legislation has garnered him national attention, including appearances on NBC's Today show and Fox's O'Reilly Factor. Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, who opposed the bill, said much of the attention has been in the form of jokes at Texas' expense. Several legislators argued that the issue should be dealt with at the local level, without state involvement.

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kristen.mack@chron.com allan.turner@chron.com

Things must be great there. They must have great schools, no crime, no unemployment and no poverty. Otherwise, how could the state legislature possibly waste its time legislating cheerleaders?

It's that this legislation regulating cheerleading routines will make the schools great, eliminate crime, end unemployment, raise the people out of poverty, and let the part time Texas legislature go home early for lack of further business.

The Diebold microchip in my brain had a momentary short-circuit. God bless George W Bush! Support our troops!

Will be fighting for cheerleader enforcement duty.

Nothing like passing a law banning something that isn't defined. Yeah, THAT will stand up to a court test. :eyes:

Al, stick to designing the Juneteenth statue that looks like you, and stick to voting with Republicans so we can primary challenge your worthless ass.

'culture war' within the African-American community.

Our rural school played an inner-city school from Dallas in the football playoffs last fall and that is the only time I've really seen routines "suggestive" of anything other than wanting your team to win.

I thought the Dallas school's drill team and majorettes (I didn't watch the cheerleaders as they were behind the other team on the track most of the time) had some very sexy and well-performed routines, but it did set off a lot of alarm bells among the Klan types from here who were at the game. It was like Soul Train on steroids. As for me, I really enjoyed the professionalism of the performance.

What we have in this country are too many different 'cultures' who want to wall off all 'others' from themselves. What's unusual about this is that it is a black legislator behind the puritanism this time.

Hey Republicans, go ahead, make my day!

Or at least one that claims he is a Democrat.

He also filed a bill on a homebuilders commission last session.

He will be challenged this next year. He is political toast just like our Governor.

And if they use videotape to collect evidence, will they be charged with kiddie porn violations?

Q:You know why fundies are against sex ?

A:Because it could lead to dancing.

I'm sorry, but to many, the uniform alone is sexual. Go on, put a 17 year old girl in a wicked short skirt with a cute pair of panties on underneath, then have her jump up and down in front of you for 90 minutes and try not to, uh...have your spirit boosted.

Ooops...I think I just committed a thought crime.

you just tried to turn this into a sex thread, and you know how we mods frown on that sort of thing. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

:rofl:

I thought your post hit the nail on the head, actually.

two inches above the knee as well as skirts, but come game day, the cheerleaders pranced around in their short, short skirts with bloomers with their names on the butt!! As they did toe touches and other cheerleader jumps which required them to spread their legs open. It just never made sense to me, and I was a cheerleader for a while then gave it up because it became ridiculous!!

Yep. Hey, let's just get to it. What the fundies want is a return to Puritan/Victorian represession. Show an ankle and you are a wicked hussy, and back in the good old days before then, you would have burned.

:nuke:

the terrorists will have won,

my daughter just made the JV cheer squad for next year.
SHE'S OFFICIALLY A REBEL!!

Turn the dial to the acceptable level of pelvic undulation, set the alarm, and we're good to go.

While we're legislating pelvic movement, I think we should also set state standards for the distance between the knees. In my opinion, no more than eight inches at all times is about right.

What about some standards for cheering bras? Something that keeps bouncing to a decent Christian minimum would be helpful. And a required density of fabric that prevents any visible nipple protrusion on those chilly fall nights would be good, too.

:sarcasm:

perform in the US military now or in the lucrative private sector. Don't forget that torture was deemed no worse than cheer leading.
Maybe they should wear BDU's?

Like the women in Afghanistan wore, that should remove any sexual thoughts.

Wait a minute, weren't we suppose to be against what they did to women in Afghanistan?

Okay, we'll compromise, since we're 'Murikans.'

Texas cheerleaders will just have to wear Nun uniforms to prevent any impure thoughts by middle aged male Texas fundies.

Next order of business: 'Should Church attendance be mandated by the State?'

Don't they know that cheerleading squads have adult sponsors? No routine gets done without express permission of adults.

What are they going to do next? People have fantasies about catholic school girls too. Ban plaid skirts and white shirts?

The African-American writer published this poem in his excellent "Mumbo Jumbo"

Look at them! Just look at them!
throwing their hips this way, that
way while I, my muscles, stone,
the marrow of my spine, plaster, my
back supported by decorated paper,
stand here as goofy as a Dumb Dora
Lord, if I can't dance, No one shall.

Of course, the poem shows White response to expression of African-American culture & the bill's sponsor is African-American. Apparently The Wallflower Order has loosened up membership requirements.

most Texans are glad the legislature only meets every 2 years.

Every session a host of this silly stuff gets introduced but (almost) never passes.

http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,197045,00.jpg
Texan cheerleading side the Houston Rockets Power Dancers perform at the Beijing Capital Stadium (Michael Reynolds/EPA)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1597430,00.html

Cheerleaders told to cover up and stop being so sexy
By Louisa McLennan, Times Online, and AFP

Their wiggling bottoms, gyrating hips and seductive use of pom-poms may be part of the America’s sporting landscape, but in Texas, school cheerleaders are about to be forced to tone down their act.
Legislators in the state, famed for the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, have voted to crack down on “sexually suggestive” performances in schools. The law is designed to ban raunchy dance routines by cheerleaders following complaints about suggestive moves, short skirts and exposed midriffs.

“Some of them are just downright vulgar, something you would see at an adult club or something,” said Joe Deshotel, a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives. “The problem is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.” One of the co-authors of the bill, Republican Corbin Van Arsdale, said many parents want restrictions because they go to Friday night games to see young men clashing on the football field, not girls shaking their behinds on the sidelines. “You’ve got children seeing things that their parents would rather them not see,” said Mr Van Arsdale.

The bill would allow the Texas Education Agency to police routines deemed vulgar or excessive, and would force schools to take action to stop them. But the proposed restrictions are not popular with the National Cheerleaders Association or the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “This broad, morally restrictive legislation reminds me of the Taleban,” said Will Harrell, director of the ACLU of Texas.“Why not go all the way? Why not require them all to wear a burka?”

<snip>

In Texas, the obsession came into violent focus in 1991, when Wanda Holloway, nicknamed the “pompom mom”, was accused of trying to murder the mother of her daughter’s cheerleading rival. Supporters of the legislation say those kinds of excesses show why change is necessary. They want to take Texas back to simpler days, when drill teams performed traditional routines, wore patriotic clothing and longer skirts. “There is a lack of old fashioned morality, the morality you and I grew up with,” said state Representative Carl Isett. “If I take my five-year-old son to a high school football game, I don’t want to cover his eyes when the cheerleaders are on the field."

like George Bush in this photo taken of him at 17 at Andover. He's the one in the middle all in white, with a wig, bra, and skirt. I hope they make an exception for George, if he ever decides to take up cheerleading again.

or a slasher movie