High School 'Hotness Tournament' May Madness Sparks Anger at Issaquah High School (VIDEO, PHOTO)
A high school "hotness tournament" has angered students and parents at a school in Washington.
Some male students at Issaquah High School in Washington have sparked huge controversy after they created an online tournament to judge other female students at the school for their looks and attractiveness.
It has since emerged that the competition was designed based on a similar tournament taking place on a local radio station, however, school administrators have admitted they are unable to clamp down on the controversial tournament because it was not being conducted on school grounds.
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A similar incident took place in 2012, but in that case the online "hotness tournament" was closed down after crude and offensive messages were being left on the website, allowing authorities to move in.
However, this year it appears as though gaining access to the new tournament website has been more difficult, and as yet parents and school administrators have been unable to do anything about it, as those behind the tournament have stopped the offensive messages from being able to be posted. However, the demeaning nature of the tournament has still left many angry.
School district spokeswoman Sarah Niegowski has admitted she completely understands why parents and students are outraged. She said, "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."
The online tournament has been dubbed "May Madness" but has angered many students.
Sophomore Devon Keller has told reporters at KGW: "This kind of thing is sexualizing us girls like we're some sort of trophy,"
"Almost every teenage girl has self-esteem issues. And doing something like that is absolutely ridiculous," student Tristan Robinson added.
David Mahoney has told reporters, "People who might already have depression might take it further and there's no way to know what's going on."
Authorities have confirmed they will continue to monitor the website, but unless they find something on the site that's offensive, vulgar, or illegal, they are unable to take any official action.
Here is a video news report into the incident:
