High School 'Hotness Tournament': 'Sexualizing Girls' Causes Controversy At Issaquah High School In Washington

Issaquah High School in Washington has a 'hotness tournament' as part of a 'May Madness' event during which high school boys pit their female classmates against each other and vote online on who is the 'sexiest.'  This competition of physical appearance and sexual attractiveness has caused some definite controversy in the community.

During the event the boys encourage their female classmates to 'look their best' for school as the boys cast a vote based solely on their appearance, the Inquisitr reports.  It is based on the  NCAA March Madness tournament in which models and celebrities are ranked based on their physical appearance.

Some of the young women in the school feel that it is disrespectful and damaging, according to KGW.  "This kind of thing is sexualizing us girls like we're some sort of trophy," Devon Keller, a sophomore at the school, told the station.  Another student, Tristan Robinson argued that, "almost every teenage girl has self-esteem issues and doing something like that is absolutely ridiculous."

School officials so that the event is not sanctioned within the school itself, but they are limited in the action that they can take because the event is not actually run on school grounds, according to KGW.  "These are pretty smart folks behind this. They know their first amendment rights. They're very quiet about who it is and the group behind it," said Sarah Niegowski, the district spokesperson.  "It's hard.  It doesn't feel good to anybody."

The tournament has been going on for five years when it reappeared last year, parents had gone to police in order to get the website shut down, however, it was only temporary, KGW reports.  At the time the police were able to threaten the organizers with arrest because there were profane and vulgar comments being posted under other people's names, which is a crime in Washington.  This year accessibility to the website is harder so that there is stricter control.

School officials told KGW that police have been monitoring the site, and the district has been doing their best to encourage students from taking part in the 'event.'  Some students are afraid that irreparable damage has already been done, however, "People who might already have depression might take it further and there's no way to know what's going on," said a student named David Mahoney.