What Does Girls' Cheerleading Communicate?

Abstract

In spite of feminist "consciousness raising" and contrary to much apparent good sense, cheerleading as an institution continues to flourish. More girls, it often seems, would rather be cheerleaders than be athletes or scholars; cheerleaders rather than in the counterculture or gainfully employed. And many boys and parents and grandparents would support this preference. Nation-wide, schoolgirls vie ardently and arduously for positions on cheerleading squads. Competition at colleges is even keener than in highschools. Cheerleading summer camps and clinics prosper. National and regional cheerleading organizations proliferate. Squads increase in number and variety at many schools. Why?Before an answer to this question is attempted, a number of reservations are in order. First, the present essay is intended as a preliminary study. Thus, it avoids the complications introduced by co-educational cheerleading: this study concentrates exclusively on all-girl squads.' Likewise, the present essay is synchronic in the sense that, with a few exceptions, it does not-in the interest of simplicityaddress the historical dimension.Nevertheless, it is the sure and rapid evolution of cheerleading in the last sixty years that suggests that the pop-cultural counterpart of an empty ecological niche existed and was in due course occupied by the practice in question. Cheerleading represents an elegant solution to the problem of communicating a bundle of messages that define an important sector of our United States' popular culture. As a subtext to crowd gathering and athletic competition, cheerleading makes sense and communicates in a variety of ways.On the conventional, surface level, three justifications are frequently advanced by schools and organizations sponsoring cheerleaders. Like many institutional rationales, these explanations are superficial. Nevertheless, they are clearly ways in which cheerleading communicates. 57

Cheerleading and the Gendered Politics of Sport

“…If sport is an arena in which men express and sustain hegemonic masculinity, cheerleading is said to embody the qualities associated with "emphasized femininity" (Connell 1987), notably supportiveness, enthusiasm, and sexual attractiveness (see Kurman 1986). Cast as a feminine auxiliary to sport for the latter half of the twentieth century, cheerleading has served as an icon of normative-meaning white, heterosexual, middle class, and American-girlhood, as well as a ready target for those contesting that ideal (see Adams and Bettis 2003;Hanson 1995).…”

The conundrum of C/cheerleading

“…For example teaching and learning could include how identities and body shapes are sculpted through working out with gaming activities like 'We Cheer' from Nintendo Wii (Francombe, 2010), allowing a problematization of how Cheerleading may support rather than resist the visibility of the small, slight, female body, leading to a normalization of girls' bodies through aerobic activity (Azzarito, 2009). Or how normative identities are reinforced and/or challenged in Hollywood movies (Bettis & Adams, 2006) or television shows Kurman, 1986) through cheerleading. Such critical engagement with Cheerleading's popular culture manifestations can also open up a critical discussion of the ways in which students 'learn' about body image and gendered identities.…”