The Cheerleaders Don't Want to Root for the Girls

I played basketball in high school and I know that most of us (the "us" referring to the group of us that played sports year round while the cheerleaders cheered) resented the cheerleaders. Their absence was sort of symptomatic of how the entire system - parents, teachers, guys- ignored our events. The feeling was only in uniform though, they made sense at the other events. And it was just that, the guys games were events, people went and watched. I suspect these girls aren't as interested in cheering because they are doing it to a very small crowd.

The feeling that cheering for other women is bad or wrong - where does it come from? Why do they feel that way? Is it because girls teams are so often considered second-class to the boys teams and therefore not good enough to deserve it? It is because we're not supposed to be nice to other girls? Is it because cheerleaders is seen as a sexual fantasy (to some) and it's "wrong" to display that when it's women that they are cheering for?

These girls are teenagers. Something in our society has fed this feeling to them.

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.wordpress.com/ ), Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ), and Sassymonkey Eats ( http://sassymonkeyeats.wordpress.com/ )

I'm not saying that you CAN'T be a cheerleader and a feminist, I'm just saying that these cheerleaders clearly are not only not feminists, they aren't even giving the female basketball team equal respect.

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sports and Fitness ( http://www.blogher.com/topic/sports-fitness )
Sarah and the Goon Squad ( http://sarahandthegoonsquad.com/ )
Draft Day Suit ( http://ronmexicosblog.blogspot.com/ )

Not too up on cheerleading squads these days, but shouldn't they be co-ed?
It seems to me that if they were co-ed that some of the problems that exist with our perceptions of cheerleaders might be alleviated.
With a co-ed cheerleading squad maybe the emphasis would be on school spirit and less on creating the high school equivalent to Las Vegas Show Girls.

And yes, I consider myself a feminist and I believe that you can be a cheerleader and a feminist.

elana
Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&CareersFunnyBusiness ( http://funnybusiness.typepad.com/funnybusiness )

First of all, you were right, as a feminist, this pissed me off. On far too many levels to get into. BUT, I am left with a question - does anyone else see this as furhter indication that women just might not really support other women? Are we, sometimes, so caught up in getting the prize - the guy, the promotion, the credit - that we see other women as obstacles rather than partners? Thinking back to the post a couple days ago about women being bad bosses (which is absurd) I can't help but ask if the throughline here is a spirit of competition with each other rather than a spirit of community? It's just a question. But I think it's one we might all have to dig deep to find an answer for.

Ask Your Mother...
Easy Answers to Hard Questions About
Sex, Love and Relationships
http://askyourmother.wordpress.com/

You know...I was driving home from work tonight and the thought hit me.

Women compete with other women. We do it all the time. In fact, when I was young and single I had a bartending job. I would get all dressed up in the sexiest clothes I could find. Sure, it helped with tips, but I didn't dress up for the men. I dressed that way to look better than the other girls who were going out that night.

Guilty as charged. I hate to admit it but at that point in my life it was true. Thankfully I grew up and realized that women need to support each other.

Perhaps these cheerleaders feel the attention will be taken away from them, and given to the girls on the team. Just a thought. I could be wrong.

Dana fromThe Dana Files ( http://thedanafiles.com ).

Lisa,

You are STILL a cheerleader! You manage to encourage women (and men I'm sure) to grow, do, and be our best selves. In fact I think many of the contributors to BlogHer are cheerleaders in a must more positive way than those uniformed girls in high school.

But no. I won't wear a letter sweater or saddle shoes at BlogHer 07 in Chicago this summer. (do cheerleaders still wear those things? Or have I been watching too many '50 comedies??)

Debra
A Stitch In Time ( http://astitchintime.blogspot.com )
Deb's Daily Distractions ( http://debsdistractions.blogspot.com )

...then cheering is not a sport and has nothing to do with school spirit. If you only want to cheer for male teams, then clearly it's just about sexuality and flirting and being popular and a whole bunch of stuff that a school system doesn't need to be funding.

I wish that school would kick every cheerleader with a problem off the squad. For one, because cheering is about school spirit and positive energy, and clearly these girls don't have any. And two, because there's probably tons of students with both who would love the opportunity to cheer.

Hey, you're right - look at me all pissed off! ;)

Liz Rizzo ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/liz-rizzo )

I blog at Everyday Goddess ( http://everydaygoddess.typepad.com/ ), The SexySmart Blog ( http://sexysmart.typepad.com/ ), and On The Lot ( http://community.thelot.com/blogs/lizriz ).

Killer headline Dana.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://www.blogher.com/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

In all honesty, I think it's the teen girl phase of "I'm only a cheerleader to be cute and interesting so that boys will like me and I will have a date for the prom."

It's infuriating because girls' sports are just as important as the boys'. Ten years ago when I was in high school, we had cheerleaders for all sports both boys and girls, but I noticed the squads with the most "prestige" were the ones who cheered for the boys.

It's almost reinforcing sexism and this is coming from the women of the future!

Dana fromThe Dana Files ( http://thedanafiles.com ).

I'm glad to see people saying that they cheered for the girls teams and liked it. I was really surprised when I was doing the research for this post. I was disappointed in the girls. School spirit should be the same no matter who you are cheering for.

Right?

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sports and Fitness ( http://www.blogher.com/topic/sports-fitness )
Sarah and the Goon Squad ( http://sarahandthegoonsquad.com/ )
Draft Day Suit ( http://ronmexicosblog.blogspot.com/ )

I was a jock who decided to try out for the cheerleading squad in my junior year so I could get a special pin on my jacket. Ha! I cheered for both guys' and girls' teams and I had fun cheering for both but for different reasons. The guys games were bigger and it was easy to feed off the crowd's energy. A couple of my close girl friends played basketball, so it was like an incentive to keep their spirits up when they were on the court.

Some of the other cheerleaders resented me because I was a jock; a few of them also didn't care to cheer for the girls' team. I suspect it was because the girl players didn't oogle them the way the guy players sometimes would; the girls couldn't be "sex on parade." I loathed cheering, but I got that pin, by gawd.

Dana
Mamalogues.com ( http://www.mamalogues.com )
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ( http://www.stltoday.com/mamalogues )
Pop Mama ( http://www.stltoday.com/popmama )
Since Eve ( http://sinceeve.clubmom.com/ )

When I was a cheerleader,* girls basketball and volleyball ranked right up there with boys football and boys wrestling. Despite my high school alma mater's lack of a Web site ( http://mt.localschooldirectory.com/schools_info.ph... ), our girls athletic program was fantastic and gave many student athletes an opportunity for college via scholarships.

Great post Sarah -- sounds like crummy leadership on the part of these girls' parents and schools. At ours, cheerleading was a sport, and came secondary to anyone's other sports. We had holes in the squad in the fall and the spring because some of the us also played soccer and varsity volleyball. Girls basketball was my favorite since my sister played JV.

* Yes, I cheered for one year -- tried out for my very bored senior year in high school to act out against my parents' wishes. It worked -- and I was surprised to find that it kicked my suddenly short-skirted fanny. Most of my colleagues on the squad had been doing it for four years and were in much better gymnastic shape than I.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://www.blogher.com/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

I LOVE Dana's post about being a bartender and putting on sexy outfits NOT to catch eyes of men, but to out-hot the other women. That's what I was trying to say earlier. FAR too often, women compete with each other, rather than supporting each other. The cheering issue is just a tidy metaphor, the kind of story you'd use in fiction to make a point. But it happens in the real world..... I see it in the workplace all the time. I SWEAR, I have an easier time negotiating deals with men because they don't get competetive with me. BUT, they get competetive with each other. It's almost funny, my CEO and I will often decide who will lead a negotiation based on the gender of the people we have to negotiate with because men compete with men, and women compete with women, so we can diffuse the situation sometimes by just putting the right one of us in there. That said, it's a cheap trick, and we know it. Within our own office, we work tirelessly to create a non-competetive atmosphere that allows individuals to thrive and succeed and be supported no matter what - but we still have to deal with the real world out there. (But then, I'm a woman boss, and that's how I want to run things. Like a family, not a foxhole.)And I don't know about all of you, but when I find a smart, sexy, strong, outspoken, dynamic woman who can be supportive and fun and open and honest, I hang on for dear life. My girlfriends are the most important thing in the world to me, and I will do anything to make sure they know how incredible they are, in every way.

Ask Your Mother...
Easy Answers to Hard Questions About
Sex, Love and Relationships
http://askyourmother.wordpress.com/

As a HS basketball player I can tell you that (many years ago) we women players did not want the cheerleaders at our games. I can remember thinking, at the time, that they didn't belong at our "legitimate" sporting event because we found them to be be props.

I can remember, vividly, arguing with the head cheerleader to keep them away from our games. I think I told her their short skirts and slutty half time dances weren't wanted.

I don't know. It was high school. It was drama. It made sense when I was 16. Now, like all of HS, it seems very silly.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain ( http://queenofspainblog.com/ )

Cheerleading when I was in school was all about women cheering for "their men". The ideal dream couple would have been the head cheerleader and the captain of the team. Cheerleaders were gleefully and willingly ogled by every boy in the throes of puberty in my school.

To have women cheering for women athletes? Heaven forfend -- what if one of the athletes was a ...gasp..LESBIAN! (Shock, horror, homophobic apoplexy.)

I honestly think this is a sexuality issue.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs relentlessly at Time's Fool ( http://timesfool.blogspot.com )

Ah, I'm smiling. Indeed, it seems so juvenile, but, there is a good way to let competition age us gracefully. I no longer try to out-hot my friends, (but I'm almost 40,) instead i revel in their hotness, and learn from it. I revel in their brains and learn from it. I revel in their strength and learn from it. And I do let it change me, I let it "improve" me. And I think that when we are all together, being hot and smart and fun and creative, the heat builds, and as it rises, we all rise with it. It's no longer competition, more like education, and it brings us all to higher ground. The view's good up here. :)

Ask Your Mother...
Easy Answers to Hard Questions About
Sex, Love and Relationships
http://askyourmother.wordpress.com/

Exactly! It's so darn true it hurts. The fact that I wanted to "out-hot" (LOVE THE TERM) the other women is so true. I'm very ashamed to admit it. I was only 20 years old and it was 8 years ago, but I think there's something in our female brain that triggers us to act that way, whether we like it or not.

In fact, tonight I was at my old high school's hockey game and it still exists today. The girls compete to look sexier than the others. Even best friends try to out do each other. I suppose we women don't really learn our lesson until we become older and wiser and out of college. And those of us who do realize it early on are far better off in the long haul of life.

Dana from The Dana Files ( http://thedanafiles.com ).