Victoria Coren and Tony Parsons have recently written articles in the Guardian and Mirror respectively on what they think about Cheerleading.
Both seem to be jumping on some sort of anti-cheerleading bandwagon whom are only supported by their small fanbase, but even their arguements against cheerleading (for some reason, the fact that people enjoy cheerleading upsets them) are ludicrously personally bias and based on missguided assumptions from what they see on American TV.
Cheerleading is not a sport reserved entirely for pretty young girls. It is not something which is there purely for the entertainment of men, or the sexual gratification at the expense of the respect and dignity of the performers, because that is exactly what they are, performers. Its interesting where the definition is drawn between what is for the perverse pleasure of others and what is simply an appropriate thing to wear (they are usually pleasant to look at, eye catching, are breathable and generally allow for movement.) A cheerleader wearing a short skirt with shorts underneath and a long sleeve top is quite clearly a slut, whereas a swimmer wearing little more than a smile is an athlete...
Pictured: Acceptable sporting attire
Of course, this is only the case for women, which aforementioned journalists seem happy to comment on while ignoring the other side of the coin. I am tackling one side of the argument because of the lack of research these so called hournalists have put into the latter of their argument, that it is not a real sport. Men do real sports, right? Why can't women do real sports like football or rugby? Men are oppressing them, and so they are forced or voodoo-mind controlled into thinking that dancing for them in skimpy outfits while waving pompoms is as good as any other sport, the fools, damn those pesky men!...
Stop objectifying these cheerleaders!
The arguments of these opinionated media whores simply do not take into account that men and young men are involved in this sport, maybe not to the extent of women, but enough to merit a difference for an all girl, mixed, and all male stunting groups.
While we are on the subject of stunts, lets try and tackle this 'Its not a sport' issue. A report in 2008 discovered that cheerleading is the most dangerous sport for women (in America) and as it is the American style of cheerleading which is catching on fast. I have just found the following video of what has been going on this past year in America, and remember that cheerleading is nowhere near the scale over here as it is over there, but we are pushing to better outselves in this way and the techniques are often emulated...
Not Pictured: Sport...
...lets take a look at what is considered a sport:
- Angling
- Arm wrestling
- Ballooning
- Billiards
- Bowls
- Clay pigeon shooting
- Curling
- Darts
- Folk dancing
- Health and beauty exercise
- Lawn tennis
- Life saving
- Orienteering
- Pool
- Skateboarding
- Skipping
- Snooker
- Yoga [source]
He's been training all his life!
Try it, then tell us its not a sport.
*I am aware that in English, Cheer Leading is a two word phrase, but I use Cheerleading for the sake of arguement.
Well said Sye. Keep flying the flag :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's the early 21st century and women should be playing sport not being pieces of T*ts and Ass on the side. Cheerleading should have died out in the 1970's.
ReplyDeleteI don't approve either of beach volleyball, why don't the women just wear the same kit as their male counterparts? Then they wouldn't be accused of just being there for eye candy.
We should all be so grateful that we didn't grow up American and have to tolerate cheerleading at school, college and every single sporting event.
Just google NFL and NBA cheerleaders... are their outfits and dance moves really appropriate for a family event? I want to watch a game or match without a table dance squad!
Males participating in cheerleading are still very few and far between. My cousin is american and he says that he has never encountered a male cheerleader in school where he teaches.
Stunts: To take such a risk for something that is not even a sport is foolish.
I worry that the kids involved are not being trained by professionals. The parents of any injured kid should sue.
Sye with the greatest of respect I don't mean to attack you but the articles you mention are critical of schools not tackling obesity by trying all sorts of different sports. Cheerleading is the lazy way out.
Anonymous #2,
ReplyDeleteI cannot speak for american Cheerleading as that is a different kettle of fish to how we do things here in the UK. I certainly have my reservations at some of the moves of recent times. Consider for a second that those moves are not for the crowd, that the moves are for the person performing them and the joy they have while doing it.
Modern Cheerleading has developed from what it was in the seventies and the fifties before that not through the desire of the audience, but the desire of the Cheerleaders themselves. It is THEY who say what they do and do not dance, or which stunts to perform, or tumbles to try. We are happy to allow gymnasts to perform difficult and dangerous tumbles whilst wearing revealing outfits, but not Cheerleaders.
Our squad trains four times a week. Three to four hour sessions at a time with an additional session coming in the next academic year. We do cardiovascular and muscle conditioning as well as flex conditioning are just part of the warm-up, before all the dances (which are usually arm movement-based, not your typical Lady GaGa stuff) tumbles and yes, stunts. By arguing that Cheerleading isn't a sport you are dissmissing all the work that goes into it. Darts is a sport, I wonder what the rates of obesity are between Darts vs Cheerleading (but I can see why you would assume Cheerleading is the easy way out.)
Speaking of stunts. Did you climb tree's as a kid? Your brothers or sisters? Your friends? Ever give piggyback rides? Ever been to the circus and seen acrobats perform dangerous feats of wonderment?
Which other sport do people do that in? Gymnastics doesn't have a 'stunting' category, and acrobatics is not a sport. Say you are someone who has the desire to do all those things, and say there was a standard to doing them such as how safe they are, how clean they look, how quickly they can be executed. Say there was a competition where you could compete for who can climb the fastest tree or give the longest piggyback ride.
Take the audience out of the equation. A lot of squads over here don't perform to audiences at sporting events. They train for competitions, and perform at competitions. That's all they do. But I can see that they are somehow different from for other sports such as gymnastics, football or even beach volleyball.
I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that you are not a Cheerleader and have never tried it. I know that because you have the same attitude as all the other people who's experience of Cheerleading extends to what they see on TV or if they happen to catch a performance at an event. If you worry about the kids involved, dismissing the dangers and fitness 'worth' of Cheerleading only serves to hinder their safety. By saying Cheerleading is not a sport, your saying it doesn't deserve state regulation and all the safety, funding or other benefits it could receive.
If people want to do it, they are gonna do it, with or without an audience. It has as much to do with feminism as the debates of equal pay to tennis players. Except, female Cheerleaders have upped their game because they don't want people to dismiss them as airheads. The girls work so hard to be able to do what they do, and do it better than others in their field. They aren't doing it for you or for anyone else in the crowd, they do it for themselves and their squad. Cheerleading is a competitive performance sport and so far I have not seen anything to convince me otherwise.
Finally, your speaking to a male Cheerleader. The argument of Cheerleading being demeaning to women is largely defunct when arguing it with me. Just because most squads DON'T have males, doesn't mean they can't join, there just seems to be some nasty preconceptions floating around that Cheerleading is all short skirts and dancing.
Well done Sye, you've put your opinion across eloquently and I agree with you 100%. We work harder than a lot of the sports teams. We cant do what we do with a pint in our hands like darts and snooker players can. You can't sit down like chess players can. We have to be at peak physically condition and yet we still injure ourselves,
ReplyDeleteWe do not strive for the gratification of men, or the gratification of prize money or even trophies. We strive for self gratification, achieving something we've never done before, a harder stunt, a new tumble, getting our moves exactly in sync. It is that feeling that makes us applaud one another, it is that feeling that pushes us.
We know we can do it because of the team aspect of the SPORT. I'm pretty sure football players don't turn up to training expecting to put their lives in their team mates hands, and they'd find it pretty hard to do that.
Well said Sye. keep up the good work.