High School Boys Hold "Prom Draft"

[El Héroe Oscuro]

"For years, junior and senior boys at Corona del Mar High School have selected their dates for the formal dance through an NFL-style "Prom Draft." The school's principal is now condemning the tradition, saying it has the potential to objectify or judge those involved.

Though the draft is not affiliated with the school and secret for the most part, some of the draft results were broadcast on Twitter, with pictures of sport-coated teens making their selections. One tweet posted by the senior class Twitter account joked the day before Thursday's draft that "Many drafters on the prowl tomorrow for #freeagents so dress nice ladies."

A rule book sent out in a tweet notes that "sophomores can be drafted," and some pictures show girls' names printed on the back of jerseys. The Twitter account has since been deactivated, but several students continued to chatter about it on Twitter in the days following the draft."

The link to the full story can be found here

At Corona del High, a group of students decided to host a draft similar to the NFL draft in which they choose which girl to ask to prom. After reading the story, what do you guys think of this whole fiasco? Do you think that it was right for the students to have held this draft? Do you think that it objectifies women as mere objects? Or do you think that this was all just harmless fun?

 

[Oryx]

I think that it's important to note that the girl defending it used certain language: "I am part of the draft." This implies an opposite - that the draft isn't something that everyone does. Also, she wouldn't feel the need to clarify if it was expected that by default people would participate.

I also think it should be pointed out that the idea of "but they just pick girls on their looks!" is silly; there's nothing inherent in this method of prom asking that makes it more or less likely to be on looks. I mean, I'm sure if there was a couple involved in it the guys wouldn't pick the girl that was dating someone else, even if she was more attractive, because these people are friends. Just because it's described as a draft doesn't mean it's competitive by nature.

That being said, this sounds like one of these events that would have made me miserable in high school; just well known enough to feel like I should be involved, but not so well known that I would be picked around the first picks, which would make me feel like a loser.

 

[shortsboy]

What I'd like to know is how they allocate draft pics

 

[Plumpyfoof]

I'm definitely in the "objectifying women" boat here. It's silly, and a mass coordination is impressive for these guys but ultimately pretty ridiculous. There's always going to be people unhappy that they weren't even given a chance and people hurt that they were lower on the draft picks than they thought. I think schools in general should make an effort to lower the importance of having a date at prom and focus more on the celebration itself.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

I just think the whole thing is stupid. It's pretty apparent that nobody was really forced into being part of it outside of peer pressure. It's not like the school was endorsing it. The girls chose to do this stupid thing lol - if it were me I wouldn't have taken part. Typical stupid teenage drama.

 

[François2]

I'm definitely in the "objectifying women" boat here. It's silly, and a mass coordination is impressive for these guys but ultimately pretty ridiculous. There's always going to be people unhappy that they weren't even given a chance and people hurt that they were lower on the draft picks than they thought. I think schools in general should make an effort to lower the importance of having a date at prom and focus more on the celebration itself.

Well is that really any different to a more generic method of picking prom dates? If you leave it to guys randomly asking girls you're still gonna end up with the same people feeling left out. It's unavoidable unless you pick dates out of a hat or something.

 

[Star-Lord]

I'd find this laughable if it didn't make me sad that people thought this was a good idea.

 

[Sydian]

Just reading that was too complicated for me. What ever happened to just asking a girl you liked?

 

[BadPokemon]

I think it is a bad system. Creative, but unfair. The same people get left out, but it is almost like a public shaming if you get picked later in the draft. Plus, it makes the girls seem almost like things, rather than people. And that is terrible.

 

[Melty~]

It's very unacceptable that these boys did this. It has been said that this draft was not necessarily competitive, but - if modeled after a true athletic draft - it would be. Therefore, these boys would be choosing the girls based on superficial qualities such as looks and money.

Sure, this is the same as asking them out the "traditional" way, but the difference is that putting this draft out in public humiliates the people who weren't picked even more.

Side note: Prom is stupid anyway because if you go with a friend, you either get called a loser or asked if you and your friend are a couple (which is very awkward).

 

[Oryx]

It's very unacceptable that these boys did this. It has been said that this draft was not necessarily competitive, but - if modeled after a true athletic draft - it would be. Therefore, these boys would be choosing the girls based on superficial qualities such as looks and money.

Sure, this is the same as asking them out the "traditional" way, but the difference is that putting this draft out in public humiliates the people who weren't picked even more.

Side note: Prom is stupid anyway because if you go with a friend, you either get called a loser or asked if you and your friend are a couple (which is very awkward).

It's modeled after a draft in the sense that the girls are assigned numbers and the boys pick the numbers. The girls are allowed to say no, as mentioned in the article, which already means that this is not how a literal draft works - there is no "exclusive" agreement with the girl saying she has to go with you or alone. This destroys your strangely crafted theory that the boys are required by the rules to be competitive and base their judgments on looks and money, because this is not a sports draft where the idea is to make the most money by getting the best players on the best team. The article makes it a point to say that it's among groups of friends, so there's no logical reason to think that the rules of the draft were "you HAVE to be competitive, and you HAVE to choose rich pretty girls". I really can't see how this is any more competitive inherently than asking people directly to prom and getting turned down or accepted; either way you're still looking for the best date, if you're shallow you'll look for the prettiest one, if you're not you'll look for the person you'll have the most fun with.

I do agree that it's more embarrassing than just asking privately, but I don't feel like we're in a place where we can criticize how teens form their social groups and make decisions. If a girl doesn't want to be part of the draft and is ostracized for it, that's one thing. A bunch of girls agreeing to be part of something that might potentially embarrass them and then are embarrassed? I would have sympathy for them, sure, but I wouldn't try to change their social groups to avoid kids embarrassing each other. Even in close friend groups, it's going to happen, especially as teens; one person is going to be more popular than another person and social embarrassment will ensue. Until we ban prom king and queen, anything vote-related, and all social functions, we will never remove embarrassment due to popularity as a teenager.

 

[François2]

It's worth noting that there is still the chance of embarrassment for the boys too. It's embarrassing to not be chosen but it's also embarrassing to choose someone and then be rejected, particularly if the other boys have gotten who they desired.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Is everyone just forgetting that traditionally people would try to pair each other with the most attractive counterpart anyways or is everyone so stuck up on the method that this is presented in that it suddenly starts objectifying women? I mean, if I were there I would have probably just said "this is ♥♥♥♥ing stupid" and went back to playing Pokemon lol. And it's not like unattractive people always get a date with the most popular person in the class ALWAYS and this draft thing just messed it all up.

Again, people, it's pretty obvious that this was something that was optional. Nobody on either side was forced into it. In addition, the school never endorsed it, which is why they hammered down on it.