"Butterfly..."
Cheer Squad in Texas
In the NY Times there was an article about Cheerleading. In Texas they have approved a bill that would allow state education officials to prohibit "overtly sexually suggestive" cheerleading routines. You can read the full article here. I am not currently in the whole cheerleading scene, but it's not hard for me to imagine some cheer routines that blur the line between athletecism and exhibitionism. The article references MTV, the movie "Bring it On", and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders as major influences on the current state of big time cheerleading. They should have thrown in the movie Orange County for good measure (hence the title of the post).
Anyway...don't you think it's amazing that the government has to step in to help curb "exploitive" routines done by cheerleaders? Where are the parents, squad leaders, and coaches of these teams? Why aren't they looking out for the integrity of the girls in the first place? Our culture has such a warped sense of what a young persons sexuality should look like and how it should be used. When are "we" going to stop hyping girls sexuality and start valuing their person-hood? I really believe cheerleading can do that. Allison, my sister Beth, and my sister-in-law Mary-Kathryn all love(d) cheerleading at their respective (Christian) schools. They had longer skirts than the PS kids and their routines were a lot less suggestive, but they still had a great time. I guess capturing that kind of modesty is what this bill is attempting to do, but I sure wish it didn't have to come to that.
3 comments:
Kate is right on. If we see girls as sex objects then anything they do can be construed as sexual. The problem with this bill is that it doesn't specify what is to be considered sexual. I live in Baytown, Texas, just outside of Houston. While we aren't the most conservative community out there, if there is anything going on in the cheerleading that is cause for complaint, you bet the church ladies are going to say something. I'm sure that there are routines out there that cross the line, but I think this bill would restrict more than it should.
Next it will be the plays we can produce. HORROR!
Jason also posted this topic on his Heir Force blog. One of his youth group kids made an excellent point: If the government is so concerned with young girls exploiting themselves sexually, maybe their attention should be more focused on Go-Go bars and stip clubs...
oh the horror. its true. in high school...back when i was a wee bit immature, i would watch cheerleading competitions during halftime of monday night football..and why would i do something like that? uh huh.
but all these girls see is women athletes being over-sexualized. think anna kournakova, amanda beard, jenny finch, and a million other high-profile women athletes who sell themselves in the media sexually. Who are these girls supposed to look up to?
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