A Couple Thoughts From An Evening at the JPJ Arena

Even though the season started a few weeks ago, last night was the first of this season’s UVA Mens Basketball home games I’ve been able to attend.  As happens each fall, from mid-September until mid-November, the gauntlet of activities and obligations tied to the various community and church organizations to which I belong resulted in a few lucky friends filling my seat for the first three games.  Last night was my first opportunity to again scale the rows of bleachers up to row T to take my place.   And I was so excited to finally be able to go.  That is until first I realized the game didn’t start until 9 PM (which is dangerously close to my usual bedtime) and second that UVA has instituted a new “bag” policy limiting the size of bags (including purses) are allowed in the arena.

The new size limit for “bags” is 4.5″ x 6.5″.  My wallet is larger than that!  The only exceptions are clear plastic bags.  Apparently this is not a novel idea, in fact according to the article I read, UVA has slowly followed the trend set my most of the larger stadiums and arenas including the NFL.  Bag restrictions like this are intended to keep us safe.  And, just to be extra safe, to prevent any clever would-be assassin from sneaking in weaponry on their person, all attendees must now walk through metal detectors upon entering the building.  As a result of all these new safety precautions, my tired cranky self had to go through another gauntlet similar to an airport TSA checkpoint just to attend a basketball game.

Having been deemed a non-threat, I was allowed entry and after hitting the ladies room and purchasing a bottle of overpriced water, I began my ascent to my seat.  I have to admit, moving around the arena without a purse was a liberating experience.  There were no worries of knocking a purse into someone or that I would leave it under my seat.  I also discovered I don’t need to carry a bunch of stuff with me at all times. I was still annoyed that the possibility of someone else’s malintent limited my personal freedom, but it was an acceptable compromise to make for the illusion of safety.

Perhaps it was the fact that I was at a heightened safety status that  made my danger antenea go up when  the UVA Dance Team took the floor during the first TV timeout.  Composed of fifteen very talented , well choreographed young women, the UVA Dance Team display a great deal of athleticism in their routines which are intended to entertain the fans and promote team spirit.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, last night they danced over the line between entertainment and objectification.  Especially when it seems like every time you turn on the TV either some woman is stepping forward to share her “me too” moment or seemingly a respectable man is charged with inappropriate behavior, it seems unwise  for any group of  young women dressed in short skirts shake  their fannies in front of an audience of potentially 15,000 to the tune of “Shake Your Groove Thing.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the dance team should be disbanded or that their outfits should be more modest.  I  know for a fact that given the right combination of girl friends and wine I might find myself shaking my groove thing too. It’s just that I come from the generation of women that broke down many of the walls that kept women from even attending a major university like UVA.  We were taught to keep ourselves safe, lock our doors, walk with our keys between our fingers; to stay alert and at all times maintain situational awareness.

So to me, it seems incongruous that if attendees at a game are subjected to the scrutiny of bag restrictions and metal detectors to be kept safe from the potential danger of a crazed gunman or bomber that the same precautions aren’t taken to protect these young women from any pervert who somehow gets the notion that they are shaking their groove things as an invitation to them.  Are they making other young women vulnerable to uninvited attentions and advances of men because as representatives of the university they portray an image that promotes this kind of behavior?  Have men evolved to not be affected by women shaking their fannies?  Am I just too old to be objective?  I’d like to think that the same dangers on campus that threatened my friends and I are no longer around, but I’m not convinced.

I don’t know the answers to any of my questions.  If I did, they wouldn’t be questions.  Some might argue that I’m mixing apples and oranges that the potential hurt of a shooter or bomber in a crowd don’t even come close to those of a few cute girls dancing on the basketball court.  They may be right.  I would contend that the number of women who have been effected by the unwanted advances of a man would exponentially outnumber those of victims of the violent attacks we’ve seen.  But we’ll never know; because as women we tend to try to  “Shake it Off” and move on the best we can.