The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders has their "making the team" show for the 3rd season now. I started watching it last year, only because one of my professors told us that one of the recent grads made the team. So I thought it would be really neat to be able to see her on tv (which it was!). I remember watching it last year and getting really mad sometimes, one time even driven to tears.
I was watching it again today and I again got very upset. Whenever I get upset at the show is when the coaches calls out one of the girls for being "fat." Last year I got really upset because I was (and still am) struggling with and improving my self esteem and body image (as I'm sure many women are) and to see these absolutely gorgeous women be told they are fat broke my heart! I remember wondering how many 14 year olds are probably watching this show right now dreaming of one day being a cowboys cheerleader but now realizing that she better always be skinny and never put on a single pound. Today I wasn't driven to tears but it was a similar concept. They were measuring the body fat percentage on all the girls. They are supposed to be between 11-14%. One girl I think ended up being 18. I thought her body was flawless. But the person doing the measuring said "you don't want to put THAT body in that teeny tiny uniform!" I guess I'm just not looking for the same imperfections. Then later in the show they talk to one of the veteran cheerleaders about how her 10 pound weight gain from last season is unacceptable and that her 22% body fat is the highest of any of the girls in the training camp. They wear two piece outfits and she was sitting down so there MAY have been a little roll (probably of skin) or something, but honestly I don't even think that was there and I thought she looked amazing. Now at the same time, yes those outfits ARE very tiny. But I just can't see any of those girls as not looking amazing in them!
All of this got me thinking even more. The demands that society places on us to look "perfect" is so intense. Seeing this just made it worse. Yet I wanted to keep watching. I tell myself it's for the dancing (I was a dancer growing up) but not a lot of the show really shows the dancing. Then I realized that even though I am aware of the demands now I am still very much influenced by them. I'm drawn to the show because these are the women who are "perfect." Oh, I want to look like that! I think to myself. (And I really dont look bad, I lost 30 pounds a year ago and while I doubt I'd pass the standards to be a cheerleader I think I look really good) It just breaks my heart that I am affected but know about it. What about all the girls who don't even realize that striving to look like that is not what's most important (if it's even important at all?). I just hope there comes a time in the future where advertisements aren't so driven by "beauty" or better yet that the definition of beauty is drastically broadened.
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We don't really have cheerleaders in the UK (yet - there have been repeated attempts to introduce them), but we do have a similar thing where male sports stars are very famous and so are their girlfriends and wives (the so-called WAGs) while female sports stars get little or no coverage. I think it's a real shame that young women are encouraged to aspire to be a cheerleader rather than a member of a successful women's sports team. I played football very seriously for many years and the exercise is great for your self esteem and the expectation on your body to score a goal or make a great play seems psychologically much healthier than arbitrary fat percentage based on "ideals" that have nothing to do with real women.
Jeez - 11-14% body fat?!?! That's really low. I think that a healthy body fat percentage for women is in the 15-25% range, with endurance athletes being on the low end. At the 10-12% range we're talking borderline amenorrhea with the related health consequences. Not exactly something I'd want anyone to aspire to.
It always hurts when I see exploitation within cheerleading, and unfortuately it happens way too often... because seriously, I happen to love cheerleading and cheerleaders, but only within certain boundaries, such as:
1. No obsession about weight except for practical reasons (stunts, etc), nor about getting curly or ethnic hair relaxed to make it more 'professional'.
2. Cheering for the right reasons. I hate to see women basically doing pole dances for troops. That's not what cheer means to me.
However, the exploitation of cheerleaders about weight is pretty similar to that of similar performers, like gymnasts, certain swimmers, skaters etc - male as well as female, but mostly female. To take that last example, figure skating is remarkably like cheerleading in the way that it's as much about being pretty and smiling whilst you're doing it. The kind of cheer I love is that which is focused on the spirit and the energy of the performers and ability to get the crowd in the mood - NOT how conventionally attractive they can be according to a patriarchal standard.
Yeah, I've seen that show. It's ridiculous. They go through all that work for a job that they don't get paid for.
Am I the only person here who is sick and tired of the exploitation of women? Go to any NBA game and there are "dancers" - scantily clad, thin women with breast implants - who writhe like strippers. Go to NFL games and there are cheerleaders with bare midriffs, short skirts, and implants pushed up to there.
Why don't we, as women, stop supporting these functions? They already have men at these events. Why do they need stripper-esque entertainment? To keep women and children away? Why not make these events family-friendly?
Do you think any other demographic would take their own being exploited for the pleasure of another? COME ON GIRLS - let's hold onto our purses and DEMAND RESPECT !!!!!
I'm with you carol ann. A lot of people have tried to convince me that cheerleading is good for women, etc, etc, but I just don't see it. What's good for women is to get off the sidelines and participate in the main event. What's good for women is a world where things aren't male-centered. Dressing in a skimpy little outfit and shaking your titties for teh menz has never been good for women, and it never will be.
Competition cheerleading isn't for the men; it very much so is the main event. My stepsister is a comp cheerleading coach, and she needs girls (and boys, if they participate) of all sizes because some people are thrown into the air while others have to be the ones who catch them and support them in stunts. I don't know if there are any competition cheerleading teams outside of high school and college, though.
I sat through one episode of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders reality show once. The one thing that struck me was that the older women judging the cheerleaders seemed like they were missing out on so much in life, and that they were just dragging the girls down with them. There was a chance for them to be role models and they just FAILED.
They are incredible athletes performing feats very few of us can do.
Like most athletes, their bodies have to be in peak form to perform those feats.
In addition, these women are entertainers. Their audience is not only men (who aren't generally as interested in choreography or thin ness) as well as women.
Speak to or read the blogs of women from the strip industry and you'll discover that men like all female body tyes, women with a little meat on their bones and confidence do well in strip clubs, Marilyn Monroe and the pin-up body types of the 30-50's are considered attractive.
Excruciatingly thin is in the fashion industry. Women pressure eachther to be thin more than men do.
As dance goes, you have to be fit, not unnaturally thin.
The women who judge on that show do not represent the average male.
Women buy beauty magazines that are determined to make us feel so unattractive, we'll buy the sponsors products-
If you have curly hair- hate it and buy the straightening lotion, flat iron, etc.
straight hair? Oh No! get that stuff that makes it wavy and curl it with the curling iron!
Don't buy those mags.
If the show is making you feel like you are not worthy or attractive-
Stop watching it!
I agree that they are athletes, but why are they always the accessories? Why don't they have their own event? And why does their "sport" require such skimpy clothing and so much titty-shaking and ass-flashing? If it's not about their sexual appeal then they should lose that shit and just perform like gymnasts or something.
Beyond that, it seems to me like the underlying paradigm is intrinsically sexist. Men go out on the field and compete. Women stay on the sideline and cheer on their big brave heroes. I just don't see how this model could ever not be sexist.
Hi Rachel,
As a former grand national champion,
I can tell you that it is not only it's own sport with events, it is an industry.
Have you ever been to a cheer competition?
Personally, while my other friends were doing drugs in high school, I was practicing my tumbling, double stunts and routines. I had to maintain a B+ average.
I didn't cheer the games, I used the half time as a practice time and competed 4 times per year with my squad.
We were incredible athletes who worked in synchronized movement.
It informed my ability to lead, overcome fear and challenges and work as a team.
I don't understand why the Dallas Cow"boys" get paid tremendous dollars to play football while the cheerleaders get paid next to nothing yet have to stay in perfect shape, always look perfect and spend a great deal of time preparing, practicing and showing up as do the guys. It's like their full time job, why don't they get paid for it? I read they receive $50.00 for each home game. I couldn't believe that! To me, it's archaic to expect this kind of effort from the females without paying them for those efforts. I believe it's bad enough that they are objectified in those skimpy outfits but it's flat out unjust and chauvanistic to pay the men the kind of money they make for field time and not the women. The sad thing is because those spots are coveted, and as long as women will compete to do that with little monetary compensation, nothing will change. I guess it's enough that they have to right to starve themselves to wear the costume and the right to work their butts' off for the team but I don't think that's what was meant by those who fought so hard for "women's rights" and equality. What man made this policy and why haven't the women challenged it? This is 2009, not 1959.