Controversial contest pits girl against girl for ‘hotness’ at Issaquah High School

It’s how Facebook got started as well as its predecessor Facemash, as discussed in the movie “The Social Network”.

“People came to Facemash in a stampede, right? But it wasn’t because they saw pictures of hot girls, it was because they saw pictures of hot girls they knew,” says the Mark Zuckerberg character. “I’m talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online.”

But, that’s college. Now, someone at Issaquah High School is doing that for teenage girls. It’s called “May Madness,” an online tournament where students vote on which girl is the sexiest.

It’s the same idea as “The Dance” bracket done by KJR’s Mitch in the Morning. Only in that contest, they’re pitting adult female celebrities against one another. In May Madness, underage female students are encouraged to “look their finest” while the vote is going on.

Some students tell KING 5 it makes them very uncomfortable.

“This kind of thing is sexualizing us girls like we’re some sort of trophy,” said sophomore Devon Keller.

“Almost every teenage girl has self-esteem issues,” added student Tristan Robinson. “And doing something like that is absolutely ridiculous.”

Sarah Niegowski with the Issaquah School District says they have been able to shut down the website before. But so far, not this year.

“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 Niegowski.

May Madness has been going on at Issaquah High School for at least the last five years, but it’s just the boys voting on the girls. A couple of years ago the girls set up a May Madness bracket of their own, voting on the most attractive boys at Issaquah High School.

The voting isn’t done on Facebook, but they do have a fan page there. The comments so far on this year’s contest are mainly coming from girls who hope they make this year’s bracket.