Powderpuff

Main Content: My high school, you know… Bell High School we had a tradition we did every year called Powderpuff. Essentially what it was was every year we had a flag football game in which the seniors played against the juniors. What was super funny though was that it was umm reversed. So the girls played the football game and the boys were the cheer leaders. It was like a huge event that we had the week before homecoming. Even during lunch there was… we would have a huge pep rally and both teams would run up onto the stage and everyone would be cheering. Then the guy cheerleader … who buy the way were dressed in cheerleader outfits and had makeup and even wigs. They would have a dance battle. The seniors versus the juniors. Background: Kevin is a 20 year old attending California State University Los Angeles. Both his parents are from El Salvador but he was born and raised in Huntington Park, California. Kevin stated that this powderpuff was an important part of his high school experience. He said that he actually participated and it allowed him to feel and have the perspective of a female cheerleader. Context: Kevin and I were playing video games and when we took a break to eat I asked him if he could help me with my collection of folklore. He agreed and allowed me to record the conversation with the condition that I would not post the video interview. We were both sitting on the couch.  My Thoughts: Powderpuff is an example of inversion rituals. In this example the roles of males and females were inverted. I believe that this type of ritual is important especially in defining equality for women. Not only does it show that women can play sports that are deemed to be male only sports, but it also allows men to view sports in the perspective of women.