User:LuckyIngabire/sandbox

Cheerleading, an activity requiring major physical exertions and skills, has yet to be granted sport status in numerous countries, specifically, the USA. The reason being is unquestionably rooted in the history of the sport, and its male-dominated societal ideals.

Cheerleading “is recorded as having been initiated in the United States of America as an elite white, male activity that aimed to control crowd involvement at college football games.” Significantly, George Bush Sr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Regan, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower were examples among many influential male cheerleaders in the US. Moreover, in this setting, team members were hardly selected based on their physical abilities and skills, but rather their charisma, personality, and leadership abilities. In fact, cheerleaders merely performed to channel emotion and actively boost the spirit of their audience.

Today, 97% of American cheerleaders are female. The shift in the demographic and ideals of cheerleading – due to the reorganization of gender roles post Second World War – coincided with leadership becoming less important and overtaken by concerns with attractiveness, sex appeal and popularity – qualities which explicitly favoured white, middle-class women. This explicit change in meaning and value speaks volumes on how western societies perceive women in society; specifically, as not being physically apt and skilled individuals, but rather weak, uneducated sex-objects.

Likewise, men who practice the sport are no longer seen by the public eye as masculine but instead are portrayed as weak, quirky, and feminine. In fact, in 1911, the President of Harvard University claimed that cheerleading was a “deplorable avenue for college men to express emotion, offering nothing of value to respectable educated men.” Not only is the concept of femininity applied in a derogatory way, but it is also used to diminish all genders. Despite this attempt to define cheerleading as effeminate or manly enough, in America, 50% of collegiate cheerleaders are male.

Notably, cheerleaders, regardless of their biological or gender identity, are depicted as feminine which, in turn, is an adjective traditionally linked to diminished societal ideals in relation to gender roles. Though male cheerleaders are depicted as feminine, they are not sexualized like female cheerleaders are. In actuality, in one of her studies Emma A. Jane, media commentator, found that “cheerleaders are a staple of Anglophone pornography and are frequently framed as objects of universal heterosexual male desire.” Perusing this further, in 2003, two out of fifty bestselling X-rated videos and DVDs in Australia were cheerleading-related titles. Though this may represent a minor fraction, none of the other forty-eight films involved women’s sport.

This portrayal of female cheerleaders in media has severely impacted the way western societies view females in sport. Further evidence of predilection for cheerleading themes in sexual contexts can be found in news media reports. As one sports writer compiling a list of the “25 Hottest Cheerleader Squads in Sports” explains: “You can make an average girl into a ‘hottie’ just by adding a cheerleader costume.” These findings suggest that mass media is perhaps the primary means by which gender constructs are reified and articulated to the public, and in turn, performed by the public. Therefore, if females, specifically female athletes, are to be respectfully portrayed in society, they must be respectfully portrayed in media as well.

In short, the shift in its principles and the sexualisation of cheerleading are possibly the main reasons why this physically demanding activity has yet to be granted sport status, in North America. To begin with, Western societies, specifically the US, failed to recognize the progress Cheerleading has made in regards to their purpose: More precisely, Cheerleading is no longer solemnly dedicated to motivating crowds during sporting events, but also to becoming a better athlete by developing their abilities. For instance, team members are no longer chosen based on their “charisma, personality, and leadership abilities”, but rather on their skills, strength and endurance. Furthermore, the shift in demographic coincided with leadership becoming less important and overtaken by concerns with attractiveness, sex appeal and popularity. This eventually led to the sexualisation of Cheerleading, its athletes, and in turn, women in sports. Society’s inability to see these athletes as proficient individuals, but instead as “objects of universal heterosexual male desire”, has unquestionably impacted the way society perceives this specific activity in the sports world. So, is cheerleading not considered a sport because it has yet to meet the qualification to be granted sport status, or is it because of gender constructs?

(LuckyIngabire (talk) 17:49, 17 November 2016 (UTC))