OT Let's Talk Cheerleading! (so Much Disrespect) (rant)

Welcome to our Cheerleading Community

Members see FEWER ads... join today!

Off Topic
Jul 24, 2015
226
142
I don't get why there is so much disrespect towards Cheerleading. Why is it that female Tennis players in high schools, and professional players can walk around in their mini skirts and throw ball around, but when cheerleaders are at competitions or coming from competitions and getting a bite to eat or something every one has a problem with it and some people even go as far as telling us that maybe we should "cover up" but don't say anything to the Tennis players. I mean even when I was in high school the Cheerleaders were only allowed to wear their shell tops while the lacrosse players and Tennis players got to break the dress code. Let's not get me started on the uniformity of the Volleyball team where the uniform is basically spanks and a top, but if its a Cheer skirt its a problem.

The main thing that makes me mad about this whole thing is the boy/girl rule for certain schools. Football players and Cheerleaders can't be on the same bus (for most districts in NC), but the boys and girls teams in other sports can ride the bus together. Makes no sense at all! Not to mention sometimes the football coaches would even go as far as telling some cheer teams that they can't be around the football players once the game has started (giving gifts at the locker room as a way of spirit etc) but the other teams can do it all the time.

How come something so simple as Bowling can get declared as a sport, but if Cheerleading gets declared as an official sport in a state 90% of that state goes haywire and say we don't do anything. I'm sorry, but I find it sad that so many sports get so much more respect then us and we get the short end of the stick every time. I mean people even make a porn mockery out of out of our sport. How is that even okay?

I mean I understand that many people don't know about All stars especially people who don't participate in Cheer period, but there is no excuse. Scholastic Cheer is something everyone knows about and there some pretty tough, competitive teams out there and they know it. How dare anyone say "we don't do anything" and its "not a sport" but excuse me can you do a full? or BHS to standing tuck, or a jump sequence to a standing tuck? I don't think so.

If I recall, we are the only sport aside from Acrobats and other circus like "Arts" that tosses up HUMAN BODIES in the air, create crazy stunts and pyramids, and not to mention the ridiculous amount of tumbling that we can do. I'm sure we've all seen the crazy tumble sequence Angel Rice had to do on Smoed last year. With some of the Tumbling skills a lot of Cheerleaders have they could possibly make it into the Olympics. I'm sorry, but there is no reason as to why we should not be declared a sport. I do realize that this is not true for many states in recent years, but there are many people who still disrespect Cheerleading and Cheerleaders for the simple fact that they Cheer, and they're some states that will never admit it to be a sport. Competition Cheer is a sport regardless of what people think. I'm just not quite understanding as to why some states do not want to qualify Cheer as a sport, and why some people refuse to admit that its probably one of the hardest things out there to do. Even some spirit teams are hard!

Sometimes I Just think its simply because we're not throwing a ball around and running after it. Newsflash people, running after a ball aren't the only things that can qualify you as a sport!

PS: I mean no disrespect at all to other sports out there I'm just trying to make a point about how we always get the short end of the stick. I'm so, so tired of it. I know I can never make people understand who don't want to understand, but the least they can do is respect it and not make a mockery out of It.
 
OP: Think of it this way, there are things that are illegal, felonies even, not because they're all that bad, but because there is a social prejudice that has existed for a long, long time. Many people have been conditioned to think of the "porn mockery" when thinking of cheerleaders. It's not dissimilar to the hot, muscular, beefy, dim-witted football player character.
Until there is a concerted effort to eradicate the character, things won't change in the eye of the general public.
 
I literally have a video rant about this coming next month (LOL unintentional plug). I'm glad I'm no Lt the only one that notices it and can't stand it. I've noticed the same thing with sports bras. Anyway (sadly) Mamarazzi is dead on. Doesn't help that many administrative members and lawmakers have negative stereotypes about cheer in their head.
 
I literally have a video rant about this coming next month (LOL unintentional plug). I'm glad I'm no Lt the only one that notices it and can't stand it. I've noticed the same thing with sports bras. Anyway (sadly) Mamarazzi is dead on. Doesn't help that many administrative members and lawmakers have negative stereotypes about cheer in their head.
I agree it just infuriates me beyond believe. Its okay if a lot of the NFL players are abusing their women on a daily bases and get ignored punishment, and football is still respected, but the minute an inappropriate Cheer meme is made and goes viral on facebook, or you hear about Cheer team wearing skirts that some how break the school code we get told we are sexualizing our selves and we're not a sport and don't deserve respect. The list goes on about how many derogatory things happen to us. The funny thing is most times its from people who don't even know the difference between a Toe Touch and center leap in dance and then go off and say cheer and dance are the same thing or even go as far as saying Cheer is dancing. Seriously? I thought people were smarter then that, but it doesn't help that the NFL are calling dancers Cheerleaders. I've never understood that crazy method. NFL "cheerleading" is based solely off of Pom dancing. There is only like 1-2 two NFL teams that are actually Cheerleaders. It also doesn't help that the NFL sexualize the dancers and then call them Cheerleaders. See the problem there? It really pisses me off big time.
 
OP: Think of it this way, there are things that are illegal, felonies even, not because they're all that bad, but because there is a social prejudice that has existed for a long, long time. Many people have been conditioned to think of the "porn mockery" when thinking of cheerleaders. It's not dissimilar to the hot, muscular, beefy, dim-witted football player character.
Until there is a concerted effort to eradicate the character, things won't change in the eye of the general public.
My problem is, no matter what we do as Cheerleaders or coaches to try and prove our sport to be worth something its never taken seriously half of the people end up giving us backlash. I remember when Champions League was at the movie theater and a bunch of cheerleaders high schools and all stars were going to see it, I heard a bunch of bad language from outsiders talking pure crap about us and being mad that this movie is even out. As said before, I know I can't change the way people think if they don't want to change the way they think. That's just like trying to help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Its just frustrating that everything we do to try and prove our selves is looked down upon. There is not a single thing about that would not declare us to be a sport.
 
In my eyes, I think people talk crap about cheerleading is because the movies make stereotypes of cheerleading and they think that us cheerleaders are slutty. But most people in the world are just uneducated people that knows NOTHING at all about cheer and what happens. Plus, cheerleading became a high school sport in California last year so that's a start I guess :p
 
I agree it just infuriates me beyond believe. Its okay if a lot of the NFL players are abusing their women on a daily bases and get ignored punishment, and football is still respected, but the minute an inappropriate Cheer meme is made and goes viral on facebook, or you hear about Cheer team wearing skirts that some how break the school code we get told we are sexualizing our selves and we're not a sport and don't deserve respect. The list goes on about how many derogatory things happen to us. The funny thing is most times its from people who don't even know the difference between a Toe Touch and center leap in dance and then go off and say cheer and dance are the same thing or even go as far as saying Cheer is dancing. Seriously? I thought people were smarter then that, but it doesn't help that the NFL are calling dancers Cheerleaders. I've never understood that crazy method. NFL "cheerleading" is based solely off of Pom dancing. There is only like 1-2 two NFL teams that are actually Cheerleaders. It also doesn't help that the NFL sexualize the dancers and then call them Cheerleaders. See the problem there? It really pisses me off big time.
It pisses the *beep* out of me that they even call themselves cheerleaders!!!!!!! Like, why don't they call themselves pom dancers?
 
In my eyes, I think people talk crap about cheerleading is because the movies make stereotypes of cheerleading and they think that us cheerleaders are slutty. But most people in the world are just uneducated people that knows NOTHING at all about cheer and what happens. Plus, cheerleading became a high school sport in California last year so that's a start I guess :p

It pisses the *beep* out of me that they even call themselves cheerleaders!!!!!!! Like, why don't they call themselves pom dancers?

I agree. As a dancer my self, I find that quite annoying. These "Cheerleaders" are nothing but Pom dancers, and as a dancer, dance is a hard no doubt including Pom dance. Cheer and dance each has its own difficulty but are both separate things and the general public will never understand that until sports organizations stop comparing them.
 
Reputations and stereotypes are extremely hard (if not impossible) to erase. It's this same reason that racism is not over, nor do I think it will ever be over. We can make strides in the right direction and work to change the mind set and perspective of people, but there will still be a bunch who are going to see what they want to see. People are stubborn, and no one likes to admit they are wrong. So, cheer could be a national sport and have a place in the Olympics. Some will still see the glitter over the skills, and the short skirts over the talent, and the big bows over the hard work.
 
It pisses the *beep* out of me that they even call themselves cheerleaders!!!!!!! Like, why don't they call themselves pom dancers?
They don't pick their names. They were called cheerleaders because when those dance teams were first started (in the 1970s), cheerleading was seen in a sexual light (thanks to Hollywood and the adult industry), whereas dancing was and still is seen as dignified art. Since the purpose of 99% of these teams was to market sex appeal and not cheer (think back to the last time you saw a REAL cheerleading routine from an NFL team? Might take you a while, unless you're thinking of the Packer coed and all-girl teams or the Ravens coed stunt team), they were referred to as cheer teams rather than pom dance teams. Unfortunately, because they have received and still do receive more visibility than actual cheerleaders (Packers and Ravens are the only teams with actual cheerleaders, and the only reason I might pay any attention to the Superbowl this year LOL), everything that most of them do (dance sexually while wearing extremely revealing costumes that aren't meant to be nearly as functional as they are sexy) is interpreted as what ALL cheerleaders do. Hence why you have moms using the old "I don't want my daughter cheering because of the skirts" excuse, while turning around and signing little Susie up for another sport with a similarly "revealing" uniform (see: field hockey, tennis, lacrosse, volleyball). People are prejudiced hypocrites and don't want to admit it because it makes them look bad.
 
and lets not forget that most of these people are uneducated C:
There's a big difference between being uneducated and not knowing enough about cheer to understand it.

ETA: Not to be negative Nancy but I think that if you're a cheerleader you just have to learn how to let the ignorance of others roll off your back. It's just a part of the "sport". You can't escape it. Every single sport has stereotypes that are just that. Football players are probably just as tired of the "dumb jock who only thinks with their (you know what goes here)" stereotype as we are of ours. The faster you learn to roll your eyes and forget about it, the happier you'll be. At some point it won't even bother you.
 
Last edited:
They don't pick their names. They were called cheerleaders because when those dance teams were first started (in the 1970s), cheerleading was seen in a sexual light (thanks to Hollywood and the adult industry), whereas dancing was and still is seen as dignified art. Since the purpose of 99% of these teams was to market sex appeal and not cheer (think back to the last time you saw a REAL cheerleading routine from an NFL team? Might take you a while, unless you're thinking of the Packer coed and all-girl teams or the Ravens coed stunt team), they were referred to as cheer teams rather than pom dance teams. Unfortunately, because they have received and still do receive more visibility than actual cheerleaders (Packers and Ravens are the only teams with actual cheerleaders, and the only reason I might pay any attention to the Superbowl this year LOL), everything that most of them do (dance sexually while wearing extremely revealing costumes that aren't meant to be nearly as functional as they are sexy) is interpreted as what ALL cheerleaders do. Hence why you have moms using the old "I don't want my daughter cheering because of the skirts" excuse, while turning around and signing little Susie up for another sport with a similarly "revealing" uniform (see: field hockey, tennis, lacrosse, volleyball). People are prejudiced hypocrites and don't want to admit it because it makes them look bad.

Neither of those teams are in the super bowl......


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Back