kdaddy Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 So was the all-female guard a 2011 programming choice only, or might we continue to see an all-female guard in 2012? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lincoln Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 When guard after guard switched from girls to mixed over the years, it generally seemed to work/improve, but for whatever reason, I never quite got used to it with PR. I vote they keep the all-girl guard - at least for a while. This year proved a few things wrong... 1. You don't need guys with girls to be competitive. 2. You don't have to have rifles to be competitive. Kudos to the guard staff. This has been the best guard they have had for a long time. Everything just clicked. I have no doubt if Phantom had included guys in this year's guard that they would have been just as good. However, this year just felt right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam98 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 I don't think an all-female guard hurt them competitively at all--I thought it was appropriate for this year's theme, and quite frankly, I hope they stick with all girls for a while. There's plenty of other places for the boys to march. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyTenor Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 prove me wrong. Third place guard in a field of outstanding guards. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Not trying to be a turd here but way back I pointed out that those two corps have no women at all. Not the same situation. Phantom corrected an error when they let guys in the guard. Why is it OK fr a guard to be single sex by design in a coed corps but it is not OK with other sections? Guard is just a section, members should be picked based on talent and fit with the program, not on gender. It is not a sacred domain of femininity or whatever you think all-female achieves. Phantom keeping guys out of guard is no better than Blue Devils keeping women out of the drum line. Discrimination is discrimination. I understand your point. For example, when Santa Clara's guard was co-ed in '88 (doing the "Phantom of the Opera" show), then did essentially the same show in '89 but with an all-female guard, I felt that that was a mistake. However, it was a programming decision in which they decided to use the guard to focus more specifically on the Christine character, rather than using a co-ed guard to tell the larger story through more characters. I think this year, the decision was made for the same reason. Phantom used the guard to focus exclusively on the Juliet character, and for them it really worked. The pain of discrimination is a valid point. For many years, girls and young women were excluded from all sections of the corps, based on nothing more than their sex. Then, slowly, women were admitted to the color guard section, and when that happened, the guard was typically all-female. Many corps were resistant to adding females to the horn and drum lines, and finally caved in only when practicality necessitated it (meaning, they couldn't get enough guys to fill out those sections). I'm trying to remember when Santa Clara finally started letting females into the horn line. Early '80s? It seems to me they were one of the last of the co-ed corps to finally allow that to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare_Candy Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Why gender limitations at all? Anyone should be able to march any corps. Ridiculous in 2011 to have two groups that ban women. And the only reason is 'tradition'??? Bring the guys back to PR Guard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 I don't think an all-female guard hurt them competitively at all--I thought it was appropriate for this year's theme, and quite frankly, I hope they stick with all girls for a while. There's plenty of other places for the boys to march. I tend to agree with this as well. Its nice to see something different. I had my doubts in preseason that Regiment could pull this off ( all female guard ). But they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Why gender limitations at all? Anyone should be able to march any corps. Ridiculous in 2011 to have two groups that ban women. And the only reason is 'tradition'??? My initial thought is to agree. Yet I've never really understood this comment. It's not like the old days, when choices for women on with whom they could march were severely limited. Now there are countless choices for both women and men. So why pick on two who choose, for whatever reason, to remain true to their feelings about their own roots and traditions? They are private organizations, and it is their choice on whom to pick for membership. When you get right down to it, that's true for all corps; there are just different criteria applied. There is some form of discrimination in all corps. While I don't think it's right, I'm pretty certain that body shape and appearance are used to judge who gets in and who doesn't. Should someone who is physically fit and can spin, but is overweight, be given the same opportunity as someone with equal ability, but who is thinner? I think so . . . but I'll bet that more often than not, it doesn't happen that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shostahoosier Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Do you exactly have a point? My post at least relates to the topic, which shows the cumulative guard placements for DCI Finals week (and where PR placed) for those who were interested. If you don't care about such things, you can keep your snarky comments to yourself. I care that the "Phantomettes" finished 3rd on the most important night of the year. ;-) I do apologize though as I was a bit snarky. I just hated it when DCI used cumulative scores to award captions. I think the night's performance should decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare_Candy Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 It is their choice; that doesn't mean it's not a stupid one. As far as 'plenty of corps' not really...especially if you can't afford flying to camps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.