Boys Select Dates at NFL-Style 'Prom Draft' at CA High School

Boys Select Dates at NFL-Style 'Prom Draft' at CA High School

Apparently the NFL isn’t the only organization that is drafting people. Male students at the affluent Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach have cast aside the tradition of actually asking someone on a date in favor an NFL-style “prom draft,” selling first-round picks to boys who are eager for the top selection of girls.

According to the Los Angeles Times, school officials are classifying the “prom draft” as a mere rumor, but word in the hallways suggests it is much more than that, as a similar draft apparently took place the year before. One student spoke anonymously of a junior who had spent $140 for a better draft pick to increase his chances of getting first dibs on a specific girl, calling the move “awkward because he spent a large amount of money to go with someone he doesn’t talk to.”

The drafted girls seem to be going along with the system, however. One female junior said: “I don’t think it’s objectifying women. She cited about 15 of her junior male classmates who reportedly participated in the draft as a way to avoid any skirmishes if they wanted to invite the same girl, the Times notes.

Martha Fluor, the vice president of the school district, called the draft both an unethical and immoral way to treat female students, saying “it’s degrading them, objectifying them.”

News of the “prom draft” arrives on the eve of the NFL’s annual draft, where teams choose college football players amidst an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation. 

In 2009, the American Civil Liberties Union sued Corona del Mar High School alleging that the campus fostered a sexist and homophobic atmosphere, partly for canceling and rescheduling a production of Rent, the Broadway play about Bohemian lifestyles in New York.

Photo: File/AP

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