Hey Babe, Show Me How You Shake It

Even before I was a parent I've worried about the threats to children. TV shows like 'To Catch a Predator' illustrate just the type of evil that lurks out there. It isn't always someone who seems creepy on the surface. More importantly how we expose our children to those threats is important whether it's the teacher that invites you over to their house (as a young man I somehow stayed clear of the predators I ran across - and I ran across several including a gay scout leader.)

So what does this have to do with the title, well from the standpoint of being a parent (heck a responsible adult for that matter) I wouldn't/won't take my daughter out and have her dance for men for money. (I started to say 'strange men' but I wouldn't do it for men I knew either...)

Seems like an incredibly straight-forward statement. I doubt that any would would based on that statement alone mount a defense so let's add some complexity and show that my preceding assertion is still true. We allow girls to become cheerleaders at an ever increasingly young age. Now on the surface I don't have a problem with this. I don't have a problem with those same girls going to a sporting event for other kids in their same age range and performing cheers. It's part of the culture and they are actively supporting other kids at a kid event. The type of event where a known predator wouldn't be allowed.

But now comes the problem - this team of pre-teen or young teen girls wants to raise money for a trip. They could do a bake sale or a car wash or they could.... well at a recent professional football game here they came. A couple parent's chaperoning a group of 10-12 girls in cheerleading uniforms. Let me be clear this isn't the first time, nor were they the only group on the lot.

Now let me again support my previous statement about cheerleaders. One day each year the NFL cheerleaders support a group of junior cheerleaders out on field in an organized show - not a problem. These girls have their day in the sun and that's OK. There is a grey area here that a traditionalist might not approve of, but I'll agree it's grey.

However, this is again different these girls go from tailgate party to tailgate party announcing "If you give us money for _____ we'll dance for you." That fast they've gone from something which is socially acceptable to something which quite literally isn't. More importantly these girls aren't in the middle of a stadium a hundred feet away from the nearest audience and dancing for money. They are 5 feet away, and 5 feet from whom? The local parolee, the sick internet geek recording their little shows to post on the internet? Suppose that parolee takes a liking to your daughter - you just told him which school to stake out if he'd like to pick her up some afternoon...

Think about Who at this point are you exposing these girls to and What lesson you teaching by suggesting, a great way to make money is to walk up to groups of strange men and offer to dance for their pleasure? For those who still can't recognize the problem - well in the immortal words of Bill Engval - "Here's your sign."