Bring it On
Happy Super Bowl Sunday!
Another sexual harassment story from the sports world crossed my newsfeed this week. This time it's about an organized cover-up of sexual exploitation in cheerleading.
Nothing makes me less spirited than that.
Initially thought I would write about this one case, but I quickly uncovered a whole underbelly of abhorrent behaviour in the cheer world. In retrospect I shouldn’t have been surprised. We’re talking about cheerleading - arguably the most sexualized sport on the planet.
With the Super Bowl this evening and all the Marilyn Manson news (yikes) it felt like the right time to dive deep. So get out your pom poms! We're tumbling in...
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My rabbit hole starts with Hayden Richardson.
Hayden recently filed a lawsuit against Northwestern University claiming the cheerleading team knowingly subjected her to sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions. She claims that the cheerleaders were “expressly told to split up and mingle with extremely intoxicated fans alone and were not provided any security”. The team had asked to use a buddy system during tailgates, but their requests were ignored.
Moreover, Hayden states that cheerleaders were used as entertainment for school donors. On multiple occasions they were sent individually to “elite ticket holder” areas and were accosted by alumni.
Keep in mind many of these girls are fresh out of high school. 18-year-olds should not be left alone in skimpy uniforms to "entertain" parades of drunk men, especially older alumni. That's risky business and bordering on sex trafficking. Even exotic dancers have access to security.
And, before you even think to ask, no male team members were ever required to participate. Quelle shocker.
As bad as these allegations are, one of the worst parts of Hayden's lawsuit claims that the school attempted to cover up her complaints. It took more than a year for the Title IX office at Northwestern to open an investigation. Hayden was asked to compile additional testimonials from the team and was then, in a vicious form of victim-blaming, accused of forging the accounts.
Northwestern, of course, denies that it violated any law including Title IX regulations.
Those who’ve been reading this newsletter for awhile will remember my thoughts on this particular policy. As a refresher, Title IX is “a part of the Education Amendment Act of 1972, which prevents discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs."
Essentially, because college sports are "educational" programs, they are federally regulated by the Department of Education. Each campus has a Title IX office that deals with complaints around sex and sexual assault.
Back in 2019 the US secretary of Education (and literal demon) Betsy Devos announced new Title IX regulations. The most troublesome revision no longer requires coaches or university staff to report allegations of sexual misconduct to the Title IX office. Prior guidelines also discouraged informational resolutions for sexual assault allegations, but now it's totally kosher for schools to host informal hearings and mediations as solutions.
This sounds okay in theory, but The New Yorker points out that "there is a legitimate worry that schools could pressure victims into informal processes, which cost less than formal ones." For example, instead of presenting a board with the facts of the case, they could insist on a mediation process where a victim has to just "talk it out" with her accused rapist.
All that means is the grey area of assault claims becomes even greyer on school campuses - one of the places where it occurs the most.
And, of course, not everyone is capable of speaking out like Hayden has. Accusing an institution is a scary thing to do. It’s especially challenging when that same institution is providing your scholarship money to go to school. The Northwestern Cheerleading team contract indicates that any students "who quit or are dismissed must pay back all expenses incurred from travel, equipment and practice” meaning Hayden could be out thousands of dollars in advocating for her own safety.
As a student she shouldn't have to fight for basic security to begin with. Why even have a Title IX office if it's going to discourage girls from coming forward? To me, it sounds like these girls are more valuable to the school as informal escorts than they are as students, and that is a disturbing thought.
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Barbie Girls
Unfortunately the negative treatment of cheerleaders extends way beyond college. While there are a slew of issues in the student athlete world - among them the predator pipeline, image and likeness battles, and grades - the pro leagues are the definition of more money, more problems.
In 2018 nine women from the Houston Texan cheer team spoke out against the unsafe work conditions they faced on the squad. Part of their jobs involved entertaining fans in the stands which they claim required a safe word to alert security without disrupting the crowd.
In that same lawsuit the women accused their coach of harassment, body-shaming, and one brutal account of her duct taping a cheerleaders’ body in front of the squad. She reportedly called her team members “chunky cheeks” and “Jelly belly’ to encourage weight loss.
The same phenomenon happened in Buffalo with the Jills team director forcing women to undergo a "jiggle test" before performances.
In one of the worst accounts I found, five Redskins cheerleaders were flown to Costa Rica in 2013, had their passports taken away, and were forced to pose nude infant of onlookers who were invited without their knowledge.
Honestly the stuff of nightmares.
Yes cheerleaders are hired to look good, but there’s a big distinction between being sexy and sexualized. Let's not forget that these women are athletes. Say what you will about the sport, but you don’t sign up to be a cheerleader purely on looks.
At least you didn’t historically.
In fact cheerleading was originally a mans’ sport. Back in 1898, a bunch of bros got together to support their football team by cheering on the sidelines. It was such a dude-centric activity that The Nation magazine claimed in 1911 that “the reputation of having been a valiant ‘cheer-leader’ is one of the most valuable things a boy can take away from college.”
Reading a sentence like that clearly shows that cheerleading hasn't always been sexy. Women were only allowed to start participating in 1923, and they weren't signing on to be eye candy. The idea of the “hot cheerleader’ is a marketing ploy that has slowly evolved into what we see today.
The shift happened in 1967 when a burlesque dancer performed for a Dallas Cowboys game. Men went batshit, and managers saw dollar signs. From then on, cheerleaders’ outfits got smaller and the branding got more deliberate. Like Barbies, girls started being cast to fit each classic male fantasy. Blonde, brunette, red head, bubbly, sultry, etc… Teams became a collection of hotness.
I’m not saying it isn’t smart, but I am saying it’s gross. I'm also saying it's a trap. When you sign onto a job because of your looks, it opens up a whole world of creepy. As a cheerleader, part of your job is to keep up appearances. You're agreeing to be the plastic dream girl the team needs.
Even though leagues frequently put out swimsuit calendars of cheerleaders, teams have been known to police girl's behaviour in their private lives. In yet another lawsuit, former cheerleader Bailey Davis sued the New Orleans Saints for firing her over an instagram post. She was told it was “trashy and inappropriate."
Just for fun, here's the post next to her required cheer uniform. Which of these is trashier to you?
I mean come on….
The message is that you can be sexy for us, but not for yourselves.
You really can't win though, because you'll get in just as much trouble for not being racy enough. Another lawsuit against the Miami Dolphins claims that management told cheerleader Kristan Ann Ware to stop discussing her virginity. As a Christian woman, Ware is saving herself for a marriage. She was told that the team was "just trying to help you develop into a real woman.”
Fucking ew.
On the flip side we rarely hear stories about male athletes being fired for conduct off the field. In fact, their athletic prowess often keeps them above repercussions for abhorrent behaviour. Especially in the NFL. If management is going to hold someone accountable for a sexy photo, maybe they should also look into firing wife-beaters, rapists, and murderers.
Just a thought.
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Pyramid Scheme
Alas, the exploitation of cheerleaders extends way beyond their looks. Deeper down the rabbit hole we go....
Quick question, do you have any idea how much these women are paid?
Being affiliated with pro sports teams, I imagined NFL cheerleaders were loaded. In full transparency, I had a bit of a hard time feeling bad for these glamorous athletes. Sure the body shaming is atrocious, but at least you’re making a good living.
In reality, most pro cheerleaders have second or third jobs just to survive.
Considering the NFL makes around $15 billion dollars a season the only thing I can say is - what the fuck?
On average cheerleaders earn $75- $150 a game paid at the end of the season. That doesn’t include practices, travel, or social media commitments, but some leagues will fork out small bonuses for public appearances. Just listen to this sentence from a cheer career site: though the wages vary dependent on franchise, most NFL cheerleaders can earn at least minimum wage.
How generous.
Just so we’re clear, each NFL team plays sixteen games in regular season. If you don’t make the playoffs then you’re looking at a cheque for less than $3000 at the end of your contract. And that doesn’t include fines. Cheerleaders can be fined for all sorts of things: missing practice, not polishing your boots etc…Not to mention that the physical upkeep expected of these women is insane. Hairstyles, manicures, spray tans, and even costumes come fully out of pocket.
So, though it sounds like they're making minimum wage on paper, the reality is that they take home much less than that. Not a lot to show for a part time job riddled with security issues, body shaming, and sexual harassment.
And what about those swimsuit calendars and photoshoots?
Nothing. They get nothing. As members of the squad they are used as marketing materials and never see a cent of that profit. When you're paid to be beautiful your image belongs to the team you work for, not to you.
The story that made me the most angry was about the 1978 Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys won and, even though they performed at the game, the cheerleaders weren't compensated at all because their wages were only tied to home games. One team member shared her frustration stating, “these guys get these $10,000 rings and these big bonuses, and they couldn’t even give us our $14.12.”
Ya girl. It's awful.
The main argument in not paying cheerleaders more is that these women can use their time on the team as a stepping stone for other careers. Other women talk about the sisterhood and camaraderie found in joining a squad.
I say you can do all of that and also be paid a living wage. I don't think having exposure needs to be tied to being treated like dog shit, but I guess that's just me....
More than that, when you compare their experiences to NFL players, who make on average $860,000 over the same season, it’s a bit jarring.
Here's another comparison: the average NFL mascot earn between $25,000 and $60,000 per year and often receives benefits. This was aptly pointed out in a 2017 lawsuit against the San Francisco 49ers. Even more humbling, the Buffalo Bills pay $10 an hour to have snow removed from the stadium. Are we comfortable with cheerleading wages being closer to maintenance than to mascots? Something definitely isn't adding up.
Before we start blaming these women for their career choice, I want to point out that no one goes into a job thinking they’re being exploited. Cheerleaders are sold the idea of fame and sisterhood. They get to continue a professional dance career with all the prestige of being affiliated with a pro team. It becomes easy to overlook some of the hardship when you can say “I’m a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.” That holds weight. It just, unfortunately, doesn’t come with anything else beyond street cred.
The problem isn't that women are accepting this treatment - in my research I came across eight different lawsuits that say the opposite. The issue is that teams have been able to use women as cheap labour and marketing materials without repercussion. We've created a system where this kind of mistreatment is acceptable and then we shame women for speaking out against it. I can't believe how many times I saw the sentence "why would anyone want to be a cheerleader?"
Here's the hard truth. Women want to become cheerleaders because men in suits told us it was a desirable thing to do. I grew up watching shows (written by men) filled with beautiful, popular cheerleaders. From a young age we're force fed images of impossibly hot, confident dancers and lead to believe that their lives are glamorous. The narrative is that these women are happy, and who were we to think otherwise?
Over time they've created a world where all of these girls are entirely replaceable. One causes a stink and a new 18 year old is fresh for the slaughter. Don't shame women for taking a job that we've been groomed to aspire towards. Shame the systems that allow that same job to be exploited.
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Stuntin’
Now one thing I have to point out is the distinction between NFL cheerleading and the more hardcore cheerleading you see in Bring it On and Netflix’s Cheer. At the end of the day the NFL girls are entertainers. They are talented dancers, but they don’t do much “cheering” the way we understand it today.
Not that that world isn’t drowning in its own scandals.
Competitive cheer is a war zone of bodies and concussions. Between the stunts and intense training, it’s amazing any of these athletes make it out alive. In fact competitive cheer “results in the largest number of major injuries among women and girls of any sport"
Oddly enough, this style of cheer shares a different set of problems with the NFL: head injuries. On this topic a UC Berkeley cheerleader is suing her team for negligence around injury. She claims coaches pressured her into performing stunts after sustaining a concussion.
And the lawsuits just keep coming...
Seemingly it doesn't matter if you're in college, a competitive cheerleader, or a professional entertainer. If you're a woman in this sport, your body doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the fans, your coach, and apparently rich student alumni.
The Atlantic says it best. Cheerleading tells “one of the oldest, darkest stories in American sports—of athletes with no pay and little support breaking their bodies again and again, all for the greater glory of an authority figure they dare not question."
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The End Zone
I want to close off with a quick good news story - this year Sarah Thomas will be the first ever woman to ref the Super Bowl.
Hell ya!
We may have a long way to go in the fair treatment of cheerleaders, but there are small victories happening for women in sports every day. Enjoy the game tonight, and please, cheer extra loud for our girl Sarah.
