A Long Island mother created a good amount of controversy this week when she went on a crusade over her daughter's high school cross country uniform. She was "appalled" that the uniforms included racing briefs (commonly known as "bun huggers") instead of looser shorts. So appalled, in fact, that she started a petition to ban them and went on the local news to drum up support for her cause. And, as expected, the reaction has been mixed.
Now, I understand that some of you may think this is a strange topic for me to be talking about, and I also understand why. I can also see where some might consider it questionable whether or not it's even an appropriate thing for me to be talking about (in fact, I went back and forth on it myself). But I've been around the sport long enough and know enough people involved in track & field to feel comfortable enough stating my position without it coming off the wrong way.
I know plenty of female athletes who prefer to wear the bun huggers and plenty who prefer to wear either spandex or regular shorts. I also know plenty who don't have an option, but would rather wear a different style of bottoms than the ones they're given as part of the uniform. Everyone has their preference and their reasons for that preference.
My personal feeling is that they should be given the choice of whatever type of bottoms they want to wear. If I was a coach, I'd give them the option (with the only caveat being that all members of a relay team should match). Because it ultimately doesn't really matter.
But this isn't about that. This is about one idiot parent who thinks she speaks for everyone, even when she doesn't actually know what she's talking about.
She admitted to being a novice when it comes to cross country, which I guess explains her shock at first seeing the uniform. But she's apparently never seen the Olympics either. If she had, she would've known that briefs have been the standard in track & field/cross country since at least the mid-80s. And I also find it strange that the "first time" she was seeing the uniforms was at the first meet. Her daughter didn't bring her uniform home when it was first issued? For some reason, I doubt that.
The absolute best part of the news story, though, was when she asked why the boys don't wear them. Well, lady, there's a slight anatomical difference between boys and girls that doesn't make briefs a practical option for boys. Have you ever seen a wrestling singlet? It would be like that, only worse, and it would NOT be comfortable. By the way, the jerseys are different, too. For a similar reason.
Her biggest problem seems to be that she feels it's "inappropriate" for high school girls to be wearing them. Now, I can kind of see her point there (for the varsity, sure, but maybe not for the freshman and JV teams). But her argument against the uniform loses a lot of steam when she suggests they weren't given a choice about their bottoms. Which is 100 percent not true. Not only do the girls have the choice, the photo accompanying one of the articles even shows the team in question wearing both the briefs and regular spandex shorts (which she deems acceptable).
Anyway, her crusade against the bun huggers is misguided to say the least. For starters, she isn't asking for another choice to be offered. Rather, she wants bun huggers eliminated as an option. So, in essence, she wants the choice of bottoms taken away for everybody simply because she finds them inappropriate. Am I the only one who finds that a little backwards? (Some people have even suggested that such gender-based discrimination is illegal.)
Meanwhile, there are plenty of athletes and parents who have no issue with these uniforms, which are pretty standard across the country. MileSplit did a poll and 90 percent of respondents voted "No" to the question of whether or not they should be banned. Which they shouldn't be.
Bun huggers serve a practical, performance-based purpose. If they didn't, they wouldn't be the norm. And the pros certainly wouldn't wear them. I have no idea why high school and college runners would prefer to wear one style of shorts over another, but I suspect that a lot of those who choose to wear the briefs do so for that very reason. They see Olympians wearing them and that's what they aspire to. Or, maybe some high school just want to get used to them before wearing them at a higher level. And, believe it or not, some runners might simply find them more comfortable.
Why should any of that matter though? They didn't start a petition and go on TV. Starting a petition and going on TV doesn't make you right, though. Like this mother.
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