Fire & Ice Girls: Sexist Anachronism?

[polak]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Who's been over the top that way in this thread so far?

The whole notion of this thread is over the top.

These are grown women making a decision to do something they enjoy. They're not making good money off this. They're not being exploited. They clearly just enjoy it. They're not even dressed provocatively.

Get over yourself if you think you have any right to tell them what they can and can't enjoy.

[CaptainCrunch]

Anyone else get the vibe that "brenda" owns a lot of cats?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Who's been over the top that way in this thread so far?

Can I answer now......

Originally Posted by polak

The whole notion of this thread is over the top.

These are grown women making a decision to do something they enjoy. They're not making good money off this. They're not being exploited. They clearly just enjoy it. They're not even dressed provocatively.

Get over yourself if you think you have any right to tell them what they can and can't enjoy.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Polak, at one point I had the same view as you. I now have an 11 yr daughter and my view(s) have/are changing.

I have a daughter as well. If she told me that she wanted to get a job being an F&I girl to earn a few extra bucks I'd be okay with that.

[polak]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I have a daughter as well. If she told me that she wanted to get a job being an F&I girl to earn a few extra bucks I'd be okay with that.

It's not like you'll be able to stop her from wearing a shirt and a skirt when she's in her 20's anyways...

[PsYcNeT]

It's an interesting turn this thread has taken, the fight to see who is more progressive.

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

SEE "WOMEN ARE NOT OBJECTS!" TAKE ON "PEOPLE CAN DO ANYTHING THEY WANT!"

WHO WINS THE MORAL HIGH GROUND?

YOU'LL PAY FOR THE WHOLE SEAT BUT YOU'LL ONLY NEED THE EDGE!

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I have a daughter as well. If she told me that she wanted to get a job being an F&I girl to earn a few extra bucks I'd be okay with that.

Hey it might be a great job. I am just wondering why they need to where short skirts and tight tops to shovel snow.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by polak

The whole notion of this thread is over the top.

These are grown women making a decision to do something they enjoy. They're not making good money off this. They're not being exploited. They clearly just enjoy it. They're not even dressed provocatively.

Get over yourself if you think you have any right to tell them what they can and can't enjoy.

I think it is fair to at least have the discussion.

Why do they need to be wearing the clothes that they do? What purpose does it serve?

[CaptainYooh]

It is mind boggling how eagerly we succumb to some bitter person's (in this case, Brenda McCallum that wrote a letter to Herald) gripes about anything perceived unfair.

Beautiful young women happily skating and shoveling the snow in front of the crowd of hockey fans - "OMG, how horrible and sexist!" What's wrong with that? The world has been admiring female and male beauty for thousands of years in both visual and performance art forms. Why does this need to be explained or justified to anyone today? Why should an equalization scenario of someone else (not young, not beautiful, not female) needs to be introduced immediately to calm down our collective Canadian sense of fairness?

[Locke]

Actually, a number of the Stampeder Cheerleaders are clients of mine, and while their wages constitute borderline slavery, no one has a gun to their head to do it and we all know why they're there.

Most of the girls use cheerleading for the Stamps/Roughnecks as a springboard to bigger and better things and for some its a hobby that they really enjoy and it pays a few bucks.

Some girls, I know its a shock, like being looked at, enjoy being part of the pageantry of a sports event and dont equate their participation as objectification.

I know this sounds crazy, but maybe before people get outraged on someone else's behalf, they ought to talk to those people first as they are perfectly capable of being outraged on their own behalf.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

I think it is fair to at least have the discussion.

Why do they need to be wearing the clothes that they do? What purpose does it serve?

The clothes really aren't that bad or suggestive. I see professional females downtown wearing skirts just as tight or short as the F&I girls. Why do they do it?

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by polak

The whole notion of this thread is over the top.

These are grown women making a decision to do something they enjoy. They're not making good money off this. They're not being exploited. They clearly just enjoy it. They're not even dressed provocatively.

Get over yourself if you think you have any right to tell them what they can and can't enjoy.

It's not as though the OP posed the original observation. It's a discussion sourced from an article in a newspaper. I think it's interesting to talk about, and I like to gauge the social perspectives of other people (especially on this forum).

As for the topic, I'm not too sure it's about telling someone what they can or can't enjoy. I think it's more a deliberation on the specifics of a rather systemic issue...which, of course, has positives and negatives.

Obviously what they wear isn't necessary to the job they are doing, and when they skate on the ice I'm not thinking "thank God those young girls are clearing troubling spots and corners on the ice". However, if it gives these women jobs that they themselves have no issue with, I'm definitely not going to chastise them for their anti-feminism. Still, as I mentioned, this is part of a much larger issue that I think is worth analyzing and evaluating. Not every girl or woman is truly empowered by these kinds of displays, and I hope we can recognize that.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The clothes really aren't that bad or suggestive. I see professional females downtown wearing skirts just as tight or short as the F&I girls. Why do they do it?

The question is: why do they feel the need to dress the F&I girls in something other than the track suits worn by the other people who tend to the ice?

I honestly am not one to decide...would I enjoy watching nice looking men dressed in skimpy ensembles tending to the ice? Of course. Would it add to the game? Not really.

[Cflames_12.5]

I don't think that it's over the top. At the end of the day it's about selling tickets and entertainment. There will always be people who do not see the value in having a female dressed in a skirt shoveling snow off the ice or tossing hats and shirts in the crowd. But for that one person there is probably 15-20 people who don't care and will take that seat gladly.

[Cowboy89]

There are not any pimps in the mall lunch court trying to lure young women and girls into being Fire on Ice girls or Stamps and Rouchneck cheerleaders. In my mind the 'exploitation' component of the letter to the editor is completely over the top.

That all said there's probably a more important question of why we need to have cheerleaders in their current form of pageantry at professional sporting events. There are a lot of fans in attendance at these games that are not the intended audience that the cheer teams are directed towards. Overtime it might actually be doing more harm by repelling an important demographic from sporting events than it is endearing to the target demographic.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by polak

Man this forum is getting RIDICULOUS with this PC, "love to be offended" attitude. I feel like I'm sitting in my intro to sociology class.

Can you show us one post where somebody has been offended? I'm the OP and I said even if it is sexist I hope the F&I Girls stay.

I think you were expecting this thread to go one way, and when it didn't you pretended it did and posted your responses accordingly.

[troutman]

Not sexist, but ageist!

Where are the mature women?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

The cheerleader I knew did it for coke money.

Polak, at one point I had the same view as you. I now have an 11 yr daughter and my view(s) have/are changing.

You just basically admitted your point of view is changing because you are having difficulty accepting that your daughter is coming of age to possibly be sexually active in the coming years and that once she physically develops she may elicit looks from boys. That's life and it's your problem not ours.

[Nyah]

My friends kid wanted to learn how to skate because she saw the girls clearing the snow off the ice and thought it was cool that the 'girls got to skate with the boys', and they were really good at it. It's not like the FOI girls are out there in their panties & bras. They're wearing shorts/skirts that are far from immodest IMO. The question arises of why they aren't wearing track suits like the men, and why are they wearing skirts? Well why not? Women (myself included) can wear skirts & shorts all they want. Last time I checked, it's a perfectly acceptable form of attire for a woman. Hell even a girl. So why is it even an issue that they FOI girls are wearing skirts/shorts? The focus should be on their athleticism & the fact that they can probably skate circles around most of the dudes you know. I think they're inspiring & super cool.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

There are not any pimps in the mall lunch court trying to lure young women and girls into being Fire on Ice girls or Stamps and Rouchneck cheerleaders. In my mind the 'exploitation' component of the letter to the editor is completely over the top.

That all said there's probably a more important question of why we need to have cheerleaders in their current form of pageantry at professional sporting events. There are a lot of fans in attendance at these games that are not the intended audience that the cheer teams are directed towards. Overtime it might actually be doing more harm by repelling an important demographic from sporting events than it is endearing to the target demographic.

While true, those people are far more likely to just ignore it and go for what they do enjoy than take a stand and stop attending entirely on the grounds of the cheerleaders being there.

Cheerleading is also a huge institution at a lot of American Universities. I dont see that going by the wayside anytime soon.