‘Slut league’ gets wrist-slap from school

It’s no secret to anyone that’s been through a public school system that high school boys do stupid things. Heck, guys post-high school do stupid things. And not just stupid, but often rude, crude, and downright obnoxious.

The varsity athletes at Piedmont High School might take the cake though. Not just for the crude behavior of its students, but for the mere slap on the wrist that participants are receiving.

Piedmont Patch reports that the high school’s top athletes have been involved in — what did they call it? — a “fantasy slut league,” in which male student athletes were “drafting” and “ranking” female students on their “sexual performance.”

Such a ranking system is assumed to be dependent on how much upperclassmen boys are able to pressure lower classmen girls into engaging in promiscuous activity with them while at weekend parties, generally in the presence of alcohol.

Information regarding said “league” surfaced during an assembly for freshmen addressing date rape earlier in the month. PHS principal Rich Kitchens brought the problem to the attention of students’ parents in the form of a letter, which the school district sent out to parents on Friday.

The letter informs parents that it has been “5-6 years that such a league has taken place in one form or another.” Kitchens also writes that, while the school does not have exact names of male or female participants, that strong disciplinary action won’t take place since student participants are already sorry for their actions:

“The revelation that students expressed concern that the fallout could result in discipline and affect their college applications suggests an understanding by students that there is something wrong with the ‘Fantasy Slut League’.”

First off: If this practice of ranking female students — for whatever high school boys believe is “sexual performance” — has been going on for some six years, why is it only being addressed now?

Plus, if no students have been readily identified as being part of this practice, how do school officials know students are concerned about it affecting their college applications?

Whatever the motivation, Kitchens’ lengthy letter asks that parents talk to their teens about this matter, addressing the issues of peer pressure and its ramification.

A letter posted on Piedmont Patch this morning — from a female student whose identity has been withheld — challenges some of the accusations in Kitchens’ letter. It also disputes the structure of the league, saying females were the ones actively involved in “scoring points” in the league.