Saturday, February 6, 2016

"If cheerleaders are necessary, why are there no cheerleaders for any women's sports?"

As I completely forgot that I would be working during the Superbowl this year, I won't be able to comment on much of it before class, so instead I decided to look at some information about cheerleaders. I opted for an article from 2013 on cheerleaders in the NFL, with the title "NFL cheerleaders: Gratuitous sexism or all-American fun?" (link here) According to the article, "Cheerleading first came to the NFL in 1954, when they were premiered by the Baltimore Colts as part of the team's marching band." Now, "26 of the 32 current NFL franchises have [cheerleading] squads."


The reason that I picked this article, however, is that it shares perspectives from the cheerleaders (granted, only a select few of them) and other women in the sports industry. According to Joanne Gerstner, a past president of the Association for Women in Sports Media, "It's entertainment, it's Hollywood, it's spectacle." Missy Mooty, a 26 year old member of the Minnesota Vikings cheerleading squad, states, "I think it's everyone's dream, if you're a dancer, to pursue that passion at a professional level."

According to the article, however, the Vikings pay the cheerleaders but "not enough to make a living, meaning cheerleading is combined with a career, full-time studies or balanced with family responsibilities." Compare this with the lowest salary on the Minnesota Vikings team to be $450,000, which is certainly enough to make a living (link here).

As for the attire of the cheerleaders, Mooty says that "in the culture of the dance world, that's just kind of the uniform, we need to be able to move and our bodies, our lines, need to be defined... [the uniform] can be very sporty and be very flattering." Another cheerleader in the squad, Kaylee Munson, says that "Everyone has a different point of view... of course, my grandma just loves our costume."

These two cheerleaders don't really have a problem with the presentation of the cheerleaders, but Gerstner has a more critical view. She says that "when the whole essence of your job is basically hanging out in a tiny bikini and a bandeau top, it kind of undercuts the rest of your argument that you are a well-rounded person... it's almost like, in Paris, having the dancing girls doing the cancan while the guillotine is going down." Gerstner also says that "they might be intelligent, grounded amazing women but we're solely left to judge them by the outside packaging, which is getting skimpier and skimpier as cheerleading evolves in the United States."

And a male perspective on the issue? David Tossell, NFL head of communications, told CNN that "cheerleading has a long tradition in the majority of American sports at both professional and amateur levels. Cheerleaders are part of American football culture from youth leagues to the NFL and are part of the game day experience for our fans."


I suppose what stuck out to me the most is the quote from Gerstner, that ""if cheerleaders are necessary, why are there no cheerleaders for any women's sports?" from my perspective, that makes it pretty clear-cut that cheerleaders are not there to encourage the team, nor are they there for themselves; the pay for cheerleaders seems to be low, and if it was about giving a professional dance job to women, then they would also be in women's sports, but they are not.

The takeaway from this is that cheerleaders are utilized solely for men, and even then that assumes a very heteronormative perspective. Considering Mooty's claims about the dance world, it seems pretty obvious that these girls are there for the pleasure of heterosexual men, and really have no relation to the team. While Mooty and Munson don't see themselves as objects or as performing in a negative culture, it seems that they are being used that way and being robbed of all features beyond "looking sexy."

1 comment:

  1. I agreed with the quote that you used that said, "they might be intelligent, grounded amazing women but we're solely left to judge them by the outside packaging, which is getting skimpier and skimpier as cheerleading evolves in the United States". Many people don't realize how tough the process of become a NFL cheerleader is. Only the best of the best are chosen which means these women have to prove themselves during the tryouts that take many hours and many rounds. I've known a couple of people who have tried out and made it all the way to the last round but were cut after that. They would mention how much effort they needed to put into the tryouts just to be considered to make it past the first round. Hundreds of girls tryout and only a couple are chosen to become the cheerleaders to represent an NFL team. Those who make it can do things that most people can't even understand, yet we don't give them credit for it because when we see a cheerleader, our minds automatically go to their looks on the outside.

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