FFS. 1 in 4 schools offers "cheerleading" as a sport.

[HerBeatitude]

wtf is going on in schools?

This article says it all for me.

How can we make these schools stop it and encourage girls to take part in sport for their own achievement instead of to cheerlead for the boys?

TheCoalitionNeedsYou wrote -"Because it's cheerleading? Football is running and kicking, you don't call it that."

At least football involves a foot and a ball. Gymnastics and dance don't usually involve cheering and leading.

If school cheerleading was calling "gymnastics and dance" instead, perhaps that might help emphasize how different it is from the sexualized adult version.

Vesuvia, the adult version is not sexualised. The commercialised version is sexualised, but as the commerical version doesn't involve off-ground stunts, it doesn't actually qualify as cheerleading; it is actually pom dance and not a sport.

I do think a few of you are fixated on the commercial version of cheerleading, which only accounts for a tiny proportion of people involved in cheerleading and only came into existence very recently. Some dance is sexualised, but it doesn't make all dance sexualised.

For people who want to know what is taught in schools. There is a programme on it from teacher's tv.

www.ukca.org.uk/teachers/a-school-sport-to-cheer-about/

Ok - shall we rename cricket, tennis, lacrosse and snooker while we are at it?

Dd's school has a cheerleading club.
She did go for a bit, not because she wanted to particularly but because I work later on Weds so she has to go to whatever club is on offer.
I didn't really think about the fact that it is indeed horribly sexist, but you're right, girls should be encouraged to participate in the sports and not just cheer on the boys. :( :(

I think I'll be writing to the head about this one.

But it is not about cheering on the boys this thread has shown that the UK version of cheerleading is not like the commercial one in fact most cheerleading is not like that.

I do think it's the name that's a problem. AFAICS there are two (now mostly distinct) things with a common origin.

There is "scantily clad girls and young women shaking their bottoms and waving pom poms to cheer on male sports teams" (i.e. leading cheers) which does still go on and "cheerleading" seems to be the right name for.

And there is what's being described by posters here -- a sort of street gymnastics / dance gymnastics which doesn't involve leading cheers. If you are going to call a sport that doesn't involve leading cheers "cheerleading" then you have got to expect some confusion.

They do chants and songs whilst dancing and gymnastics. And the scantly clad image is a new thing not the original.

For me it's the name, the history, and the connotations, 3 problems. Luckily my 3 dds are very much not the types to want to do cheerleading, cos I would be extremely discoursaging. They can do ballet or gym or all sorts of things if they want to do that sort of activity, but cheerleading would have to be a no from me.

I don't care how many people insist it's actually nothing to do with cheerleading in pretty outfits for the boys. It's still far far too close.

Yes, but it's the professional image. When I go to rugby there are the LV girls and while they all seem to be absolutely lovely people I do not like the image and the connotations. Fifteen thousand people a week, just in that stadium, are getting that as their "cheerleading" image, and this in the UK.

Like the problem you get calling a game involving running while carrying a ball 'football' (if you are American).

Perhaps we could rename football running, kicking and adultery?

OK I know, it's childish. Sorry, I'll get me coat.

The overwhelming image of cheerleading is of scantily clad young women prancing around doing sexually suggestive routines. To organise this activity for young women in an educational setting (even if they are not doing the sexy routines) is exposing them in a certain light which is inappropriate at school.

I'm sure there are arguments for pole dancing as a sport but that makes no difference imo, it is wrong wrong wrong.

Fennel, I imagine people who take part in cheerleading and know what is actually involved don't care that you insist in interpreting their sport in a sexist way, or that you are bringing your daughters up to be similarly sexist.

As for saying that you would be happy for your daughters to do ballet, previous MN threads have derided ballet for being about being pretty/feminine/man pleasing/body punishing/body fascism/beauty standard imposing and so on.

Ultimately people will always make negative remarks about activities associated with women. How people can compare cheerleading to football and claim cheerleading is the sport with the image problem I do not know. I am grateful that DD and DS preferred to participate in cheerleading.

Well I'm not actually wild about ballet either but my dds did try it, briefly (they refused to go after a term or so cos they didn't like pink or pretending to be fairies, chips off the old block there). But ballet is on my "OK if they want to have a go" list, and cheerleading joins the "no no no" list.

If that's bringing my daughters up to be sexist in some people's eyes, (though I don't see why), I'll live with that.

Msrisotto, pole dancing is not a sport. The sports council have made that clear. Pole dancing is based on the dancing that was developed in sex clubs. The body that accredits pole dance trainers in gyms has made that clear.

Cheerleading is primarily associated with university and school students, as those are the institutions that usually teach it. It has never had any association with the sex industry.

Fennel, I think it is sexist because you are applying a standard in terms of history and contemporary culture to sports associated with women that you are not applying to sports associated with men.

oh I've got lots of issues with male sports too....

Tennis, women's football and rugby, hockey, squash, they are all fine by me if you need competitive sports.

my dds like skateboarding and cycling and kayaking and windsurfing, those all seem fairly OK to me in terms of gendered expectations and body image ideals. There are lots of sports and activities that don't focus on beauty and slimness. And, crucially to me, on prancing around for the boys.

MillyR wrote - "the commerical version doesn't involve off-ground stunts, it doesn't actually qualify as cheerleading; it is actually pom dance and not a sport."

I'd be interested learn the reasons why the marketing people usurped the sport of cheerleading with their commercial dance.

TheCoalitionNeedsYou - "Like the problem you get calling a game involving running while carrying a ball 'football' (if you are American)."

So, just because Americans use the name "cheerleading" doesn't mean that the British must use the same name for that sport.

MillyR wrote - "it only became about sexy women in the mid 1970s for commercial reasons."

I think a difference between the USA and the UK is that cheerleading picked up sexualized connotations (albeit unjustly) long after it became an established sport in America. The sexual connotations were around long before cheerleading was introduced into British schools.

Not sure why football is suddenly getting it in the neck from some posters on here btw.

If you want to come and watch my gang of 7yos getting some exercise and working as a team and supporting each other and developing their balance and co-ordination skills, we're at it at 9am on a Saturday.

No adultery in sight. Nor racism nor hooliganism.

Vesuvia, you can google the history of cheerleading, but anyway...

Cheerleading started out as a varsity amateur activity. It spread into high schools. As universities became co-educational, cheerleading stopped being a male activity and became a co-ed activity. Amateur cheerleading also happened at professional football matches. Then in the 1970s a football team owner of the Dallas Cowboys decided to make cheerleading professional. He auditioned only female dancers rather than cheerleaders and dressed them in skimpy, sexualised outfits. Other NFL owners did the same later on.

University cheerleading squads remained co-ed and became more and more focused on the gymnastic stunts - so there became a division between cheerleading as a sport which students can get scholarships to the best cheerleading universities to join their squads, and pom dancing done by commercial groups like the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

I very much doubt that the average UK school pupil has ever heard of the Dallas Cowboys. Cheerleading as a sport appears in many tween films such as Bring it On. Sexualised pom dancing isn't taught in US schools and so has no reason to be in tween films. Films like Bring it On are among the few tween films that pass the Bechdel test.

Lots of primary schools and secondary schools in the UK now teach cheerleading. Both my DS and DD did it at Primary school where they were taught by both male and female cheerleaders. Just like ballet and other dance disciplines, in the younger years there are lots of girls, but in the older years in competitions and performances, there are more boys/men as they are integral to the team for lifts and partnered work.

It would be pointless to call it another name because it is not just dance and gymnastics - it is a specific style of dance and gymnastics that has been created and developed by cheerleading squads over many years. In much the same way, Jazz has developed from a fusion of North American and Caribbean dance styles and has become a specific style that we continue to call Jazz.

It is generally an advantage to be small and thin if you want to be a competitive dancer, cheerleader or gymnast, but for obvious reasons to do with the physical demands of the activities. In much the same way it is useful to have long limbs for rowing and climbing, and to be tall for Basketball.

Clary, I have nothing against anyone playing amateur football. But there are some really dodgy goings on associated with professional football. I don't see why some stupidity amongst some high profile players or fans in any sport should ruin things for children and young people who want to pursue the sport for their own enjoyment. I just don't like the double standard on this thread.