Before beginning this paper, I asked ten people to tell me the first five words to pop into their mind when they thought about cheerleading; the results likely will not surprise you. Every individual questioned associated cheerleaders with short skirts and being loud. Three out of the five males questioned replied “hot” or “sexy” as one of their first responses. Six of the respondents replied that they associated being “ditzy” with the word cheerleader. None of the respondents said that male cheerleaders were even considered when forming their answers. Cheerleading has existed since the late 1800s (“History of Cheerleading,” n.d.). Since then numerous stereotypes have been associated with cheerleaders. These stereotypes are often greatly embedded in gender roles within American society. In this paper I will discuss the gender issues and stereotypes embedded into cheerleading, using my personal experiences as a cheerleader as a guideline.
Fourteen years of my life have been spent on a cheerleading squad. As a child I cheered for a recreational football squad, in high school I cheered for our varsity football squad and multiple competition teams, and after graduation I cheered for a NAFL team. My high school did not recognize cheerleading as a sport until my senior year. Our squad attended every game, had a minimum of two-hour practices five times a week, and was even on the same weight room regimen as the football team. We competed with other squads in our district, region, and state; placing high in our district and regional divisions, and yet were only considered an “activity”. Gendered norms have socialized Americans to value sports traditionally dominated by males, and usually of an aggressive nature, over those dominated by females. For this reason, activities such as cheerleading and dance do not receive full recognition as sports.
In my fourteen years as a cheerleader I have never been involved with a squad that included males. Over 3.5 million individuals in the United States are currently cheerleaders. Ninety seven percent of these cheerleaders are female (Adams and Bettis, 2005). This statistic alone proves that the organization of cheerleading is clearly gendered. While cheerleading is currently dominated by female athletes, this was not always the norm. Cheerleading originally developed as a male sport. During the 1870s cheerleading began at Princeton University. Women did not become active in cheerleading until the 1920s (“History of Cheerleading,” n.d.) While I could not find any evidence to suggest why cheerleading shifted from a male orientation to a female orientation, I suggest that it could be a result of an increased popularity in highly aggressive male sports such as football. Cheerleading mirrored the gender norms of society. Cheerleaders remained in the supportive roles of males who participated on more popularized teams.
Today a number of squads have both male and female participants, though the male members are usually not required to have the same level of skill as females, or even participate in all activities such as dancing or tumbling. Many squads use their male members only as the “muscle” of the squad during stunting. For years in my competitive cheerleading division, those teams who had male squad members were not required to have males participate in the dance or cheer portion of competition routines. These members could simply step in during stunting. My senior year of high school, however, the competition guidelines changed, requiring all members, male and female, to participate in all cheers, dances, and jumps, as well as stunting.
The first male that I witnessed to enthusiastically participate in dance routines with his squad at the competitive level was ridiculed and mocked by spectators and even other cheerleaders. This male was performing at the same level of spirit and animation that his female counterparts would be praised for, but since he was male, his performance was deemed comical, or at the very least a novelty. At this time male cheerleaders had gained gradual acceptance as being the power behind highflying stunts and lifts within my district. Male cheerleaders were not known as being star dancers, or for entertaining the crowd with their animated facial expressions. The fact that males for some time were only used as muscle power during competitive cheerleading only further enhances gender expectations found in society for males to be strong, powerful, and in control.
Females and males involved in cheerleading are treated differently in other ways. Young girls are encouraged to become cheerleaders at young ages. I have never witnessed parents encouraging their young male children to become involved in the sport. This lack of male participation can be explained by the stigma attached to male cheerleaders. Males who choose to partake in the activity are subject to having their sexual orientation and masculinity questioned. Females too, are often giving labels such as
"prissy,” “ditzy,” and “easy.”
