Song Girls Kick Some Dust Up

Still Interrogating What She Looks Like

Dance teams don’t often make the news, but the USC Song Girls hit headlines last week as an LA Times report chronicled an environment of emotional abuse targeting the women’s physical appearance and weight.

The story turns on the testimony of 10 former song girls. At the center is a demanding coach. Lori Nelson, a former song girl herself, resigned in November after leading the squad for over 30 years. Even at 63, Nelson carries the lithe angular frame she demanded of her teenaged charges. She could fit into their uniforms.

The iconic dance team is synonymous with USC football ever since the university reversed a ban on females on the field in 1967. It has traveled to Europe and Japan, appeared on numerous television shows and at community and alumni events in support of the university.

Looking good is part of the job. It’s literally in the contract. Which is why this is a predictable outcome. Women are prized for their looks. Full stop. Not all women, in all positions. But definitely women who are on view for entertainment and promotional purposes.

I don’t think that will change, not as long as women perpetuate “the gaze” as much as men do. There’s an obvious catch-22 involved. Everyone wants to look good. Self-esteem and positivity suggest that we do.

Even if we agree beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and recognize the subjectivity of that cliché, beauty is sort of like sexual harassment — we know it when we see it.

We’re tuned to cast our eyes upon beautiful things. It’s human and natural. Unless you ask Toni Morrison, who said that physical beauty is one of the most destructive concepts created by man. I keep that one in my mental filing system and remember to compliment young girls on their brilliance, personality and smarts, instead of their “cute.”

Beauty’s only skin deep is a helpful platitude (thanks, Motown) when a little envy enters into your gaze. It’s also helpful to remember the kiss-off line to that song: ugly is to the bone.

USC’s image problems lately are way deeper than skin, with high profile litigation swirling around the university like Santa Ana winds and settlement dollars raining down like an uber-strip club. At least two cases involve the exploitation of young women’s bodies.

It was only a matter of time before the sparkling image of the elite Southern California (Song) Girl would be called on the carpet.