September 14, 2014

"It's craziness. Originally, it was a joke that he was going to be nominated for homecoming princess, but he got a lot of nominations."

"And now there are a lot of upset girls because a spot was taken from them. I’m very sympathetic that he’s transgender, but he should be on the boys’ side, not the girls'," said the grandmother of a student at Sand Creek High School, where Scarlett Lenh, 16, won the vote for homecoming princess.

And a student said: "I think it’s wrong because he’s actually a guy, he’s not a girl, and he hasn’t been doing this his entire life — he’s only been recently doing it." Doing it? What is it? Dressing and acting and ??? like some stereotype of a female? This implies there's an "it" that biological females are compelled by nature to do, but what, exactly, is "it" supposed to be?

It seems to me that the biological compulsions — menstruation and the capacity to become impregnated — are precisely the ones that the biological male cannot do. The things that can be adopted by a male can also be rejected by a female, and, anyway, what is the relationship between those things and being a homecoming princess? If that's some sort of achievement in princessiness, shouldn't the male who chooses to participate in the competition get the most credit?

And when did homecoming queen become homecoming princess? Is this part of the Disney-related obsession with princesses? Has "queen" become pejorative? If so, why? Is it because the queens in the movies these days are evil? Is it because we don't really want the little girls to lean in and lead? Or is it because of the old association with gay men and the lack of fit with the present-day conception of "transgender," about which even the resistant grandmother has learned to be "very sympathetic"?

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was not here in the run-up to Homecoming Princess. It would have been fascinating to see the momentum and how it builds.

Joe said...

In my experience, most students think the entire homecoming queen/princess is a joke. Given a chance to illustrate that and put the narcissists who think this is cool in their place, the students took it. I would have done the same in high school. (BTW, I don't have a clue who our homecoming queens were the entire time I was in school and the college from which I eventually graduated didn't waste their time with such nonsense.)

Cheryl said...

The Homecoming court is usually princesses (underclassmen, or women, or whatever) and the Homecoming a Queen is a senior. At least where my kids go to school.

traditionalguy said...

Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work, not that there is anything wrong with noble scientific gender confusion.

Anonymous said...

The question is whether she followed the hallowed prom night tradition and gave it up in a hotel room that evening.

MayBee said...

If that's some sort of achievement in princessiness, shouldn't the male who chooses to participate in the competition get the most credit?

Why?

Michael K said...

When I was a medical student at USC in 1963 or 64, a medical student the year behind me ran for student body president of USC, a student body even then of 25,000. His platform was simply that, if elected, he would abolish student government. This was not medical student government but the entire university organization.

He was elected.

Jane the Actuary said...

I suppose the schools could just foreclose all complaints by having a gender-neutral Homecoming Court, with the top-two vote getters being the Homecoming Heads of State, and the 10 highest being the cabinet. Then everyone wears a unisex robe, and we're all good.

but -- what if the top vote-getters are all men, or all women. Can't have that!

David Smith said...

Somehow, I can't imagine that a male deciding to act out stereotypical female behaviors, and thus insisting that he's female, is a step toward overcoming any evil aspects of gender stereotypes. But then, I'm old, white and male, and so my stereotypical old, white male behaviors are just expected, right? Or is it old, white male privilege? I can't keep up.

Fernandinande said...

Maudine Ormsby was a real female, with the capacity to become impregnated.

As was Daisy, who "when she ran for homecoming queen she was 14-going-on-15 and she was the mother of 10."

rhhardin said...

Guys used to nominate a farm animal for beauty contests, as a statement.

pacwest said...

It's a world gone mad.

pacwest said...

It's a world gone mad.

Wince said...

It's the ye old tale of the "Princess and Her Penis".

Greg Hlatky said...

XY chromosomes? Male. How long are we going to soft-soap these delusions?

William said...

Did the students mean this as a gesture of tolerance towards the transgendered or as a gesture of ridicule towards the homecoming royalty pomposity? This story cries out for investigative reporting team at MSNBC to do further digging.

iowan2 said...

This is nothing more than the student body retaliating against the 1%'rs. (more acurately, the perception of the 1%'rs, and expression of hate because someone has success the 'feel' isn't deserved).
All future Democrats, style and messaging over substance, tradition,reality, honesty.

CatherineM said...

At our HS, which was large, each class had 2 nominees who were part of homecoming court. All of the seniors nominated (5 or 4?) were part of the court and it was the Sr with the most votes of that group who became queen. We weren't into princesses back then either, but technically the nominees from all classes were.

Rockport Conservative said...

Do they also have a queen and her court? When I was in school we had a queen and her duchesses, maybe they now have a queen and her princesses. I have not bothered to read the article, just wondering.

n.n said...

prince-s. It's negotiable.

n.n said...

Greg Hlatky:

There is a psychiatrist for that. Right now, the policy is selective exclusion for political leverage.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

But there's actually a shell of a legal question here. What actions need to be taken, and for how long, to demonstrate to the proper authorities that you sincerely believe yourself to belong to a gender not supported by your biology? The ethos now is "if you think your'e a woman, you're a woman" and anyone not immediately accepting that has committed a crime of intolerance. But that leaves open the possibility of abuse/last minute conversions, etc. So what is the proper level of commitment; what is the applicable legal rule?

Alex said...

If I hear "lean in" one more time I'm going to scream. Sheryl Sandberg is nothing but a modern day Soviet Commissar.

Anonymous said...

The voters for Princess had the same thumb-in-the-eye toward the establishment as the students at University of California Irvine had back in 1966 when they voted to name the athletic teams the Anteaters (I think it was UC Santa Barbara where Banana Slugs was voted in ). I voted for something other than Anteaters but cannot remember what it was.

Seeing Red said...

Kiss homecoming good- bye!

FullMoon said...

I t was a popularity contest and the most popular person won. Hahaha.

No teenager would even consider ridiculing a "different" person or voting for a weirdo as a joke.

Hagar said...

At first glance, I thought this headline was about Obama.

Ann Althouse said...

"It was a popularity contest and the most popular person won. Hahaha."

You can cast your vote for whatever reason, including as a joke or to expose the person to humiliation. We're told that originally it was a joke.

Anyway, remember the movie "Carrie."

Ann Althouse said...

It might be that in the end the students really wanted to show support for someone who had been taunted.

Isn't that what Carrie thought?

Darrell said...

The votes were rigged in Carrie by the mean kids. Just like they do in Wisconsin.

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...

A guy in my senior class did the same thing... and he won, IIRC. And we were class of 1975. Nothing new here.

rcocean said...

We just had a Queen and a King in my HS, voted on the opposite sex.

Doubt a transgender would've won, unless he/she was really, really hot.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Gosh, why would anybody think deviants should be suppressed?

Bad Lieutenant said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

BTW, the girls always voted the wrong Guy as "King". It was either some Good Looking dweeb or some Jerk with a "bad boy" air about him.

n.n said...

Gender fluid. No Labels. No discrimination. Perfect diversity. Otherwise, this will be a moral hazard for the next/surviving generation... to reconcile.

ken in tx said...

In my high school, '66, a bunch of students got together, nominated and elected a guy for student body pres. that we all thought was pretty stupid. We did it as a joke. One reason he was thought to be stupid was that he won a prize during intermission at a drive-in theater, and could not remember his own name. His stumble went out over the PA system at the drive in.

To our surprize, he turned out to be one of our best class presidents ever.

Anonymous said...

Lionheart:

Banana Slugs = Santa Cruz.

Beyond the statement, Banana Slugs are an actual thing there. Somewhere I have a dorm pic of a friend who went to UCSC with banana slugs on her face.

Anonymous said...

This is too funny. I can't wait until the gender confused start to compete in women's basketball and women's sports in general.

Let men who call themselves women start taking jobs from women. Women voted for this nonsense, let them have it good and hard.

Freeman Hunt said...

How dare the students not take seriously the contest for prettiest and most popular.

Ha.

CatherineM said...

Carrie. Why didn't I think of that. My favorite scene is where gym teacher Betty Buckley is talking to Carrie and smoking. Smoking!! Sissy Spacek was perfect for the role.

What bothered me about the movie as a kid was the fact that William Katt and Amy Irving's characters were sincere. They wanted to give this girl a good a great memory. When the bucket hit I wanted to say "save Billy!" He cares about you Carrie! Poor Billy. PJ Soles and the rest have it coming, but save Billy!

jr565 said...

About a year ago there was a case of the lesbian who was nominated as home coming king. So
Why not the transgender be the queen? Notice how in adopting the new norms we have to make words meaningless? What is a king? What is a queen? What is a male? What is a female?

jr565 said...

Jane the actuary wrote:
I suppose the schools could just foreclose all complaints by having a gender-neutral Homecoming Court, with the top-two vote getters being the Homecoming Heads of State, and the 10 highest being the cabinet. Then everyone wears a unisex robe, and we're all good.

but -- what if the top vote-getters are all men, or all women. Can't have that

good point. That flies in the face of the lefts demand for gender equality. If it were all men it would be unfair for the women and if it were all women it would be unfair for the men.
But king and queen are both sexist terms and so kings can be lesbians. Which would mean that it would be unfair for the men. And also the queens could
Be men, and so it would be unfair for the women.
It's starting to sound like the reasoning Vizzini goes through when he's deciding which cup has the poison In it.

Achilles said...

I am sure there is something important here. Some benefit to society or some detriment maybe. Or something.

John Bragg said...

Dr Althouse, when you have a question like "when did homecoming queen become homecoming princess", take 6 seconds to check wikipedia before you go on a paragraph-long diatribe pointing accusing fingers at Disney and anti-homophobes etc etc. Homecoming princes and princesses are underclassmen. And lo and behold, we have an everybody-gets-a-trophy category, Homecoming Dukes and Duchesses, to "represent special needs populations".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homecoming#Homecoming_Court

Anonymous said...

SOJO: Of course, you are right...UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. Not even the Fighting Slugs. Santa Barbara Gauchos - is that PC in almost SoCal?

Jupiter said...

"This is too funny. I can't wait until the gender confused start to compete in women's basketball and women's sports in general."

Already happened. Several times, and only going to be more. Because coaches like to win, and men are much better at basketball than women. So, what does Title IX say about a Women's Basketball Team where all the Women are actually Men?

Gospace said...

Joe was the first one to get it right. In HS, in 1973, my class was the first (and only) class in the school that didn't host a Christmas (now Holiday) dance. And the administration forced a prom on us. Less then half the seniors went. I have no idea who the homecoming king or queen was, or if we even had one. Could be a "Carrie" situation, but more likely a stick in their eye position.

Islam delenda est!

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lgv said...

SOJO: Of course, you are right...UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. Not even the Fighting Slugs. Santa Barbara Gauchos - is that PC in almost SoCal?

Hmmm. Washington Banana Slugs. Problem solved. But then Congress might get offended for using a derogatory term for them, not realizing.....

jacksonjay said...

"This is too funny. I can't wait until the gender confused start to compete in women's basketball and women's sports in general."

Brittney Griner

http://dailyupperdecker.com/2012/03/is-brittney-griner-a-dude/

Anonymous said...

If we can self-identify as a different sex can we self-identify as a different race? If not, what is the difference?

n.n said...

betamax3000:

Racial fluidity; otherwise known as human. Gender fluidity is complicated by the natural order. Both offer a uniformity or "equal protection", which undermine leverage and profit.

DanTheMan said...

BM3K,
So, how will affirmative action work if everybody can self identify as a minority female?
Will the "haters" exclude those they don't consider "authentic"?

Anonymous said...

"Originally it was a joke but..." basically describes the entire transgender debacle.

I live in New York and my gay friends are not particularly sympathetic to transgender arguments. Which makes sense: these are men who like to have sex with men, who like to decorate and coordinate colors, etc. But they're definitely men. Here come a bunch of stupid little teenagers saying, no, these things I'm feeling (sexual attraction to men, a predilection for collage) are signs I'm actually a woman!

There's the contradiction that throws certain kinds of lefties into a rage when you point it out: are traditionally "feminine" attributes things that gay men can have, or do they mean you're really secretly a woman and you need to be laid out on a table and mutilated?