I’m not one who is on top of news stories, I generally have my focus on work and trying to get my chaotic little ducklings in a row. However, this morning while stealing away for a PSL I saw a news story out of Louisiana that involved a young woman being publicly shamed by the school principal for dancing in public. She was punished for dancing at a community event she attended under the supervision of her parent. The consequences may have serious long term consequences for this young woman and reportedly involves the loss of a scholarship.
I found myself feeling like a background character from Footloose. How have we as a culture taken such giant steps backwards?
It’s important to note that this took place at a public school and that the administer in question is known to be a religious person.
This woman is, by all accounts, a hard working high achieving individual. She was a member of the student government and worked hard to graduate early. Obviously a role model for anyone. Perhaps this principal looked at her as such. Through the lens of his belief system when she did something that he believed stepped outside of that role and he felt it was his place to punish her according to his beliefs. I can imagine he was bolstered by the trend in some states to “protect the children” from being exposed to ideas outside of our country’s mainstream religion. Or his perception of what those ideas are.
I’m not sure if this young woman shares faith with her principal or if she is a member of a different denomination, religion, or if she has a completely different spiritual belief system. Nor should that matter. In a public school setting the principal should have no right to discipline a student for being at a non school event supervised by their parent. It is simply not his place.
He took advantage of the power he had and he profoundly and publicly harmed this intelligent and hardworking student. This has the potential to do lasting harm to her not only academically but also to her mental health. The power of public shaming can be devastating, to have the hope of a hard earned future ripped away from you for an act so innocent as dancing. I know folks can feel like the movement of the body can be sexualized and seen as provocative and therefor is inappropriate and I will always argue that perception is subjective. At the end of the day, in the United States of America, an individual has the freedom to move their body to music as they see fit. At least it does at the moment.
The impacts of this man’s actions on this young woman has the very real possibility to harm her perception of self worth. She is now aware that an individual with power over her can completely destroy the opportunities she earned due to years of hard work and dedication. That is a sort of experience that will imbed in the mind and imprint on a person’s world view, likely shifting to a fear based mindset. Fortunately, in this circumstance, her story has made the national news and public outcry has forced the principal to apologize and make lip service to the community. And with luck this young woman will be able to salvage her scholarships. However, the trauma has been experienced. As she is a high achieving student it’s likely that she has been pushing herself for a long time, it can be pretty stressful to continuously push ones self. That level of ongoing stress reduces resiliency towards trauma. The possibility of developing Acute Stress Disorder (the precursor of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is significant. As I’ve stated in my post “Gen -z, the broken hearted generation” this generation is more vulnerable to mental health challenges.
Another thing that has my mind churning is the impact of this public shaming and punishment on the other young women at the school. Watching the highest achieving among you get treated so can result in a fear and distrust of men in power. Watching a peer get public called out for dancing can reinforce social constructs of misogyny and to the development of feelings of dehumanization. However, in true gen-Z fashion, the students stood up for their fellow student and showed up wearing shirts with the words ‘Let the girl dance’s printed on them. Truly, ‘the kids are alright’. I’m constantly impressed by their willingness and motivation to organize protests on short notice.
I hope that this young woman is surrounded by a supportive community that will provide the care and treatment she needs to minimize the impact of such a cruel act of harm perpetrated by the principle. I hope that young people, the nation over, continue to show up and support each other. Having people in your corner and supporting you can go a long way in healing.
Fortunately it seems that the principal has stepped down from his position of power over students and will hopefully be unable to cause further harm.
Here is a link to the full story:
