Dodge the Draft

Just when you think you can hear a more ridiculous story about the culture of today, I happened upon this little gem coming out of our local Newport area.

 High School Boys Hold "Draft" To Pick Prom Dates

Ok, really?  Really?  REALLY?!?!?!?

I feel as if asking this over and over will make it somehow make sense to me.  Gathering a bunch of guys together to publicly "draft" which girls will be asked by which guy is something that is happening (and not in an Adam Sandler movie)?!

There are, apparently, several students AND parents who do not get what the big deal is.  What dad wouldn't want their son to pick his prom date like he was picking cattle stock at an auction?  And what mother can't wait to meet her son's prom date? Even if it wasn't his first choice, because that girl was already "off the board".

Several protest the notion that this is happening with any sort of objectifying of the teenage girls.  I'm assuming then that girls were ranked by their GPA, charity work and overall good manners, right?  No one factored in things like boob size, propensity to "have a good time" and/or what rank they were on the social ladder?

The craziest part of this is that it has been happening FOR YEARS.  Generations of teenage girls have allowed themselves to become participants (willing or not) of this extremely mysogynistic draft.  There have been dozens of classes of high school boys who have spent hours calculating a potential girl's WORTH into a formula for ranking.

What of the girls at the bottom of the draft?  What of the girls who find out their worth according to the order in which they were taken off the board?  I find it hard to swallow that this kind of behavior is even happening in our area.  Wasn't Orange County supposed to be progressive?

Can these parents and students tell me that all of these female students were happy to be in the draft?  That is really "hurts no one"?  It is extremely distressing.  I am spending years developing my girls to be proud of themselves.  To value themselves for who they are.  To know that their virtues and values will always be the most important thing.  That God loves them just as they are.  The last think I want to see is them devalued into a piece of meat to fight over.

With that in mind, I would like to address the female students at Corona del Mar High School.

Dear CdM female students,
Your high school career is something that you have worked hard for.  Your parents and yourself have spent hours on your education to better yourself and your future. 
Proms and social events are an important part of your high school experience.  With that said, they are not a good enough reason to literally sell yourself out and attend the event knowing that you were objectified and ranked by a group of teenage boys.  Yes, boys.  Boys are fun, but they are no judge of you.
Look around at your female classmates.  They should not be viewed as your competition.  They should be viewed as your sisters.
Too many girls grow up to be women in mindless and endless competition.  From the parties they host, to the weddings they have, how they look pregnant to how they deliver their own child.  Girls who grow up to be competitive women compare and complain about how another woman feeds her child, takes care of her family or what gym she joins.
Do not give into this now.  Refuse to be placed into another pointless competition.  Value yourself.  Value integrity.  You are more than a simple ranking.  Find the courage to tell someone "no" and find a friend or two or three to attend your prom without dates. 

This draft benefits no female at your school.  Dodge the draft.