Cheerleaders - what to do about them

[donsu]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2116060


The Texas state legislature set aside small matters like the implementation of the death penalty last month to consider a far more arcane ritual: cheerleading. The state's cheerleaders, it seems, have become indistinguishable from exotic dancers—or so says a bill submitted by Al Edwards, a representative from Houston. Edwards' legislation would divert money from high schools that allow cheerleaders to perform overly suggestive lunges and inside-hitch pyramids. "It's just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down," Edwards explained.

Fear of cheerleaders has a long and tortured history, stretching back at least to my sophomore year of high school, but rarely does it reach the high offices of state government or incite a reaction as hysterical as Edwards'. The cheerleader doesn't deserve the persecution. While critics like Edwards sneer, she has wrestled with a centurylong identity crisis. Is she too sexy or too athletic? Too snobby and remote or too calculatingly ambitious? This is America's cheerleading dilemma.

-snip-

In his remarks to reporters, Al Edwards, the representative from Texas, points out the futility of promoting abstinence curricula when cheerleaders offer a spirited rebuttal to it on Friday nights. He's right that music videos and hip-hop have further sexualized high-school cheerleading routines. But those same music videos have made the cheerleader seem relatively harmless by comparison. And even as cheerleading routines have become more lascivious, if only to vie for the attention of the crowd, they have also become far more dangerous: From 1982 to 2000, more than half of "direct catastrophic" injuries suffered by collegiate and high-school female athletes came from cheerleading.

The real news about cheerleading is that the cheerleader may be tilting back toward the captain-of-industry model pioneered by her antecedents. Only it's women instead of men—an intra-gender passing of the torch from George W. Bush (cheerleader at Yale) to Kay Bailey Hutchison (cheerleader at the University of Texas). Life as a student athlete suits the cheerleader better than the quarterback. While he studies his playbook, she mingles with well-monied alumni on the team airplane. Her grades are higher and she thinks more about life after college. She uses her high kicks and devastatingly sexy outfit to hide Wall Street-style chutzpah. The University of Alabama's cheerleading sponsor tells her charges, "You'll have the interview skills and comfort level others won't. You'll get the job over the one with all A's." What better payback for a century of leering and sexual degradation than career advancement? A message to the representative from Texas: The cheerleader doesn't want to torment you. She wants your job.

[shadowknows69]

1. I plead the fifth on the question of what to do with cheerleaders

because my wife reads this board. ;-)

[Ron Green]

2. The hypocrisy of the school cheerleading system

was brought into focus for me when I was teaching in a middle school in Texas. The dress code required skirts for girls to be not much above the knee, about the length of the fingertips, as I recall. At the same time, the routines performed by the cheerleaders, an elite group within the 8th grade to be sure, involved lots of ritualistic thigh and crotch display. This seemed to be quite all right, I guess due to the "official" nature of the cheerleaders' activities.

:wtf:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Craig3410]

4. I'll have you know......

that, at my high school at least, all the cheerleaders have to have 2.0 or above GPAs. So they don't really allow "sluts", as you so delicately put it.

And, to answer your question of what purpose they serve, they "lead cheers." ;)

[dbonds]

6. No relation between GPA and slutdom I have ever detected.

I knew 4.0s that enjoyed 'wild times'. Do they really lead cheers, or just 'do cheers' in those little outfits while dancing provocatively?

[Craig3410]

14. fine; also, I know all the cheerleaders, and...

none of the m sleep around. I do know that.

[GiovanniC]

7. Yes, Because All Sluts are Stupid

Which is just as ridiculous as saying all cheerleaders are sluts.

[Selteri]

18. Not all sluts are stupid

What defines a slut is really her leg action and how much they spread, or in the male slut's example, how often they penetrate.

[GiovanniC]

22. That Was Sarcasm Directed At the Person Who Said

Cheerleaders couldn't possibly be sluts, because cheerleaders have GPAs of over 2.0.

It was sarcasm, I just didn't denote it as such.

[redqueen]

28. Not that I think all cheerleaders are sluts...

but I do recall reading that that group tends to have way higher rates of promiscuity, not just sexual activity, during HS.

[GiovanniC]

31. Cheerleaders Tend To Be More Physically Attractive

They are made more attractive by the popularity "status" of being a cheerleader.

More attractive teens are likely to have more pressure to have sex.

All other things being equal that will lead to higher rates of teen sex.

Still doesn't mean that they are sluts, nor that they're stupid. That's all I'm saying.

[redqueen]

34. Oh I agree they're not stupid.

Although that 2.0 requirement would tend to imply ohterwise.

[cajones_II]

12. Maybe in your world , sluts don't have good GPA's

but they sure do in mine. Of course, I have the benefit of hindsight , which you need to aquire through time.

[uppityperson]

19. Isn't 2.0 a C, meaning average? 1.0 is a D, almost failing?

not that gpa has any correlation with slutdom, but just checking what the 2.0 means.

[ohio_liberal]

39. Thanks

All the cheerleaders at my high school, from the 50's until today, were not even close to "sluts". We had to have a B average and we got demerits for inappropriate behavior. I sat out two basketball games because the BB coach saw me kissing my boyfriend after a game. My cousin, 15 years later, got kicked off the squad because someone saw her with a beer. We didn't (and they still don't) wear provocative uniforms or dance in any way that could be considered inappropriate.


Edited to add:

The schools with slutty cheerleaders who dance and dress inappropriately and have issues with their behavior don't have the proper guidance. There's supposed to be an advisor there somewhere.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. YO, BREAK IT DOWWWWNN

you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down

[Canuckistanian]

41. Get down with your own bad self

Funky, mama.

[NewJeffCT]

8. But, shouldn't girls from Texas be good, moral and god-fearing?

At least that is what the exit-polls said last year.

[BlueEyedSon]

9. I dunno... make a movie?

[NewJeffCT]

11. oh, gotta rent that one!

I have always had a "thing" for cheerleaders - probably because they have the image of being bubbly, perky & energetic and I'm the quiet, laid back type most of the time.

[tubbacheez]

10. Sex sells. And squads competing at high levels use every advantage

they can think of.

If the Texas lawmakers are really all that concerned about sexy cheerleading, they ought to tackle the ideological roots of the phenomenon:

- our societal can't-have-it-but-gotta-have-it attitude toward sex,

- our societal worship of winners and scorn for losers, and

- our cultural sympathy for personal appeal compensating for lack of technical merit. (The quote "You'll get the job over the one with all A's." seriously applies here.)



How do you build a teen's self-esteem? Teach them how to be competitive. What's competitive nowadays? We decide by choosing who we praise.

[Ron Green]

25. Once again, tubbacheez, you got it right. Nice post.

[tubbacheez]

35. Thanks Ron. :) n/t

[Cats Against Frist]

30. Thank you for this wonderful post

instead of the gross-o cheerleader jokes that are sharing this thread with your post.

Again, thank you.

[Cats Against Frist]

33. Oh, wow -- I just saw that you gave the thumbs up to one of my posts.

Odd.

They need a "mutual admiration" smiley.

:toast:

This is a pretty good one...

[tubbacheez]

36. Indeed! Cheers!

Also, I like this one to show acclaim.


:yourock:


(For me, the self-congratulatory aspect is implied by the fact that I showed up to post!) :)

[Texasgal]

13. This bill has died.

Thank GOD!

[hunter]

15. If they supported Bush, it's okay. No, really.

:evilgrin:

[uppityperson]

20. Aw, come on, if you find that sexy, you're a dirty old man.

:sarcasm:
My father told us daughters that we could no longer run around the house in our underwear when his friends were over. We were appalled-dirty old men! We were teenagers, they were mid 40's. Now I get it. Sex sells. But we're not supposed to have sex. Violence sells and is ok to watch on tv, but not sex. Cheerleaders sexy? you think?

[entanglement]

16. WTF? Don't they have more important issues to tackle?

Favorite line from the article:
"Al Edwards, the representative from Texas, points out the futility of promoting abstinence curricula when cheerleaders offer a spirited rebuttal to it on Friday nights..."
So now we finally know why the abstinence curriculum isn't working, it's bcuz of dem evil cheerleaders. :crazy:

[Selteri]

17. As a single male

I see nothing wrong with cheerleaders in the least. Yes, they wear skimpy outfits and gyrate. So do basketball players.

[ernstbass]

21. I agree with the dangerousness of the sport

My 15 year old neice sustained a comound fracture to her ankle because they weren't being spotted in a pyramid.

[GreenPartyVoter]

44. That's about not following safety issues rather than the danger in the

sport. It's no more dangerous than basketball and far less dangerous than football according to injury statistics:
http://www.geocities.com/aescougarcheer/basics.htm#safety

[wideopen]

23. My philosophy on cheerleaders

back during the high school days was "Oh hell, let's just screw 'em all"

[LizW]

24. Poor, naive Texas legislators

Cheerleading in the south is a business now. Camps, training, and uniforms run into the hundreds of dollars for school cheerleading. Plus, girls who don't make the school squad (and some who do) but who want to "cheer" join cheerleading gyms, where their parents pay hefty fees to allow the girls to train and participate on "competition squads". I know someone who paid over a thousand dollars to enroll her daughter, not including uniforms and travel expense.

Thank god I only have boys.

Is cheerleading too sexualized? Yes. Is it dangerous? Yes. Is it too exclusive and snobby? Yes. Is it too expensive? Yes.

But should the idiot legislature be trying to regulate it? NO. This is part of parenting, like it or not. If parents are willing to let their children do this, it's not the place of the state to tell them they can't.

[LisaL]

27. Well, what if parents were willing to prostitute their children

for money? You know perfectly well that some parents do that. For instance, this woman was recently arrested for prostituting her 11 and 13 year old. Should this woman be allowed to let her children "do this"?
Just cause parents are willing to let their children do things, doesn't mean nobody should be able to tell them they can't.

[entanglement]

32. Are you equating cheerleading and prostitution? n/t

[tammywammy]

26. In my high school

in Texas, the cheerleaders were all good students, and though a couple were a little wild, most weren't. Most of the girls that I had contact with were extremely nice people.

Also, DFW is the cheerleader haven. It's a huge business. These girls weren't just "popular pretty" students, they had rigorous training and competed in multiple events (not just football or basketball games). Cheerleading was included in the sports section of the yearbook, not just student activities. So, it wasn't just a popularity contest to get chosen as a cheerleader.

Also, as for school dress code issues, on Fridays during football season the girls would wear their uniforms to school, but they had to wear pants with the/or instead of the skirts, since the skirts didn't meet the 3-inch above the knee rule.

Maybe my high school was different, we had 3 cheerleader squads, and all 3 placed in the top 5 in the national championship (JV placed 1st). They weren't just silly girls screaming chants during games, they did hard athletic routines and competitions.

BTW most of this knowledge comes from being editor of my high school yearbook, and also knowing a few of the girls for many years, though I myself was never a cheerleader or interested in being a cheerleader.

[Divameow77]

29. 10 years ago

the biggest "sluts" in school were probably the girls down the street smoking not the cheerleaders. The cheerleaders only gave oral.

Why the uproar about the girls in skimpy outfits shaking their behind, it's okay for the wrestlers to wear skin tight revealing outfits and "grope" each other? How about the football players and their skin tight pants, ooohhh.

Most of the high school squads I have seen do not wear that skimpy of outfits (like the picture further up) that would be college or professional squads and those women are adults.

[tubbacheez]

38. I think this whole "slut" concept is misapplied.

You're right that male athletes have ample occasions to wear revealing attire and exhibit what essentially amounts to sexual courtship behavior aimed at attracting a mate.

In fact, one could view the entire youth sports context as one highly sophisticated way of doing a very primitive thing... letting adolescents of the species practice showing off to each other for future mating potentials.

In that light, the only tangible difference between the varsity wrestler and the varsity cheerleader is sex of the student.

And whether or not the male-dominated Texas legislature gets turned on or not.

[Zorra]

37. Bush in 60's exotic dancer drag:

[hunter]

40. Psssst..... I hear he wasn't wearing any underwear!

Sorry. I just thought I had to throw some cold water on this thread.

:silly:

[geniph]

42. Weird. Either things are different here

in the Seattle area, or they've just changed a lot since I was in high school (granted, that was a LONG time ago) (not THAT long, dammit!). When I was in high school, the entire school - including the most dorky outcasts, like me - voted on who would become next year's crop of cheerleaders. Snooty girls got votes from their own clique, but not from us weirdos making fun of them way up in the bleachers. The less inhibited girls who appealed to some of the guys never got votes from the square-john straight-laced students (or the vast majority of the girls). Our cheerleaders were nearly always the blandly pleasant, pretty, sort-of-popular, good-student, usually churchgoing types that no one downright disliked. Since they were always seniors, many of them were too well known to be able to pretend to be something they were not. They were only partly chosen for their cheerleading ability - mostly, they were chosen for the ability to not offend the other students.

How do schools that take this whole cheerleading thing seriously - the ones that treat the cheerleaders almost like professionals - pick who the cheerleaders are? Is it not a vote of the entire student body that selects them? Is there a cheerleading "coach" that chooses his/her squad? That would tend to select for a very different type of girl than when the entire school gets to vote.

[GreenPartyVoter]

45. No voting anymore that I know of. Most schools hold tryouts and pick the

ones who are the best at the job, just like any other sport team would do. With competitions in the pictures schools are thinking more about winning those than popularity contests. :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

43. As a coach of a middle school team that never has and never will

"shake it", I say to this legislator, "BUTT OUT".

Schools and and competition judges mainly have the sense not to let this stuff go on. All-star teams do it, but the parents themselves pay for the kids to be on those teams. They don't like their daughters looking and acting like Jon Benets then they need to be the ones to step up and tell the coaches "no dice".

Coach ~Jen and her little sweeties: http://www.geocities.com/aescougarcheer/photogallery.htm