Cheerleading Should G-O A-W-A-Y

By    |   Saturday, December 1, 2007
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I really don’t see the point of cheerleading. How does our school benefit from girls running around doing flips? It’s mind-numbing. The only thing the cheerleaders actually do is inject their stupid cheers into my head. During two hours of JV football, the last thing I need is to hear is, “Let’s get a little bit rowdy, R-O-W a D-Y!” a hundred times. It makes me not even want to go to the football games, which is quite scary considering I live for football.

It makes me so happy that some pro football teams have actually gotten rid of their cheerleaders. The Pittsburgh Steelers refuse to participate, for example. And tickets to their regular season games are $600.

I love assemblies as much as anyone else; it’s a chance to get out of class. Every once and a while, they can even be quite entertaining. But when the cheerleaders come out, I can’t help it, I always find myself doing one of two things. If I have a test, I study for it. If I don’t have a test, I count the number of times the cheerleaders fall. I can’t help it. I’m not trying to attack cheerleaders; it’s just that what they are doing seems pointless to me.

I know that counting how many times cheerleaders fall isn’t nice, because there are some well-rounded cheerleaders out there. Cheerleading injuries are actually a serious problem. According to a recent study cited by ABC News, 16,000 cheerleaders get hurt a year. It’s become much more dangerous in the last two decades, with injuries having increased by 110 percent. reported that a girl in Massachusetts even died last year after falling. What happens if one of the people designated to increase our school spirit dies? The point of cheerleading would be reversed. Ironic.

Another thing that upsets me is that cheerleaders are pretty much hopeless when it comes to understanding football. I find it pathetic that the JV cheerleaders root for the defense when we are on offense.

For whatever reason, boys seem to be the main reason cheerleading is still around. I think cheerleading is sexist. It’s degrading. Girls are athletes, too, but cheerleading makes it seem like all they’re good for is cheering on guys. We don’t have guy cheerleaders cheering for the girls’ teams. How medieval.

Besides, I don’t know why girls would want to show their bodies off like that. Their outfits aren’t exactly family-friendly. Why does the school have a dress code if the cheerleaders are allowed to break it any day the football team has a game?

Cheerleading should be banned from our school. The songs are annoying, and the football game is about football, not them. On top of it all, cheerleading is dangerous. Why jeopardize girls’ lives? Join in. Boycott the whole idea of cheerleading. It doesn’t bring spirit; it brings horror, tragedy, and irritation.

  • Orlando

    You are soooo right. Cheerleading is very stupid and should just go away. Football, however is even more stupid and it should go first!

  • Lone Ranger

    If Suzie goes to school in a short skirt and Jared places his hand up her skirt during English class, he gets slapped by Suzie and expelled by the school. Now, if Suzie is on the sidelines of a football game and is cheerleading and Jared puts his outstretched hand in the air, Suzie will not only let him put his hand up her skirt, but she will willingly jump unpon it after spreading her legs for all to see.

    Many social stigmas and rules of conduct in our society are illogical and insane. At the end of the day, Jared is going to be feeling Suzie’s nether-region up under her skirt, and whether or not he gets slapped, expelled, jailed, or hailed depends on where he does it.

    The bottom line is cheerleading is about promoting sex…like it or not. And, I do not believe it is young women being exploited, but rather young women trying to steal glory away from the boys. You can see this throughout our sex-driven society. If women want your attention, they seem to always go into their playbook and call their favorite play…sexploitation!

    And aren’t young women taught that their primary export is sex. Think about it. When the US economy hit the skids 3 years ago, women flooded the skin industry to make more money. Sorry girls, you are taught young to promote sex and use sex to manipulate your way through life. Please put down the pom poms and go home and while you’re there, why don’t you work harder at character development and less on spreading your thighs.

  • Lone Ranger

    I can see where cheerleading may have had a purpose 120 years ago, when people did not know the rules of the game or what was going on back then, let alone if they should be excited by something happening on the field. But, things have changed and sports and all forms of state-sanctioned amusements have been readily accepted by society. Sports are now so ingrained in our minds and the rules that govern these sports, that cheerleading is no longer relevent, except to keep young, scantily clad women in focus on the sidelines, while the young men compete on the field of glory.

  • Lone Ranger

    Now, if Suzie showed up to school wearing a short skirt and began kicking up her naked leg in the air in front of 30 students and striking a pose with said leg next to her ear during English class, then demonstrates to the class how far she can spread her legs during a jump, but not before doing a little bump and grind dance, she would be asked to leave class due to lude and crude behavior unbecoming of a young lady.

    However, if Suzie were to do the same motions on the sidelines of a football game, while wearing her sexy little skirt in front of 3,000 people of all ages, or at half court during a basketball game, she would be applauded for strutting her “stuff”.

    Seems like our public school system is guilty of promoting conflicting values outside the classroom. But, then again, over the years our public school system has become more of a whore house than a school house, so the antics of cheerleaders should come as no surprise.

  • Lone Ranger

    The last thing I will say on this matter is that cheerleading is not a sport…it’s an activity. I know over the past few years it has become more competitive and I have even watched the talented young women and men performing their dynamic routines on ESPN 2 and I dare say they are amazing. Now, I know they work hard and of course they are talented, but this, in and of itself, does not warrant our attention. Shoot, even porn stars have talent and work hard at their craft, but that doesn’t make what they do a sport anymore than the exotic dancer or the local city sanitation engineer.

    The bottom line is I don’t believe cheerleading is a decent way to express school spirit and it promotes the wrong values. How many worthy young women have complexes because they weren’t “sexy” enough to make the cheerleading squad? How many young men in the stands have indecent thoughts about these cheerleaders as they prance around in their short skirts? How many young women look at these cheerleaders and think this is what society values, so this is what they must become if they want to be popular and successful in school? How many cheerleaders receive preferential treatment from the school and peers alike because they had what it took, when all the other girls did not? How many cheerleaders begin to believe that all they need to do in life to get what they want is shake their booty, show some skin and prance around like a show pony? How many young men can see past all the sexy gyrations, skin, tight outfits, glamour and glitter and can focus on her inner beauty, virtue and value? Not one! So cheerleaders become sex objects to the opposite gender and objects of scorn within their own.

    And, there is a special place in Hell for those mothers especially, who force their daughters into this sex racket, hence trying to live vicariously though them in order to relive their own glory days or to gain some kind of social honor for giving birth to a CHEERLEADER! Don’t even get me started on those sick mothers who push their little girls into modeling at 2 years of age. And don’t get me started on those mothers who have killed, beaten, or put a hit out on another girl, so her daughter has a better chance of making the cheerleading squad.

    Perhaps cheerleading should go off on its own and see if it can sink or swim based on its own merits, without forcing fans of other “sports” to be their captive audience. But, if I were king, I’d make it go away.

  • Christopher Rose

    The Lone Ranger? More like tonto if you ask me…

  • Lone Ranger

    Very clever, Christopher! But, I do not think Tonto had a firm grasp of the white man’s language and I don’t think I ever saw an episode where Tonto wrote the white man’s language. In addition, I believe it is highly unlikely that he was ever invited to an event where the Americanized squaw was featured prancing around like a harlot showing off her goods in front of a crowd. Peace out. :0)

  • kori

    I think people need to spell words out instead of using “u, or r.”

    Anyways, I agree. Cheerleading is overrated, whether cheerleaders agree or not. It may be fun, until someone gets hurt and then what you send them a card and keep on cheering? Also there’s plenty of ways too stay fit..I personally do yoga and gymastics. But I do not try to “pep” people up with short skirts and horribly enormous tits. Excuse the profanity. But its..horrible. instead of giving are school funds too sports and cheerleading we should be putting the funds towards libraries, special classes, and things that will help everyone in the long run.

  • cheer leading is better than U

    cheerleading is the tuffest sport. it takes effort to practce 3 hours EVERY night. cheerleading, u have compatition, games u have to practice for.cheerleading may sound stupid but we support the team ulnlikeu losers on the bench getting no exersize. its called work, bach hand springs, dance moves, stunts lip take practice. i sure u would die on the first day sweating soooolong in a gym

  • cheer leading is better than U

    the only reason u call it bout sex is false. actully cheerleading u have a under armor shirt, ur half shirt for bottoms u have these under shortts to secure u when ur jumping.and the mini skirt.cheerleading is tuff out their for sooo long cheering hallf the teams competing in compatition 5 diffrent ones with a new5 minute rutin, jumps,stunts,soooo much more it takes dedication to be their every game, every practice, and actully it is hard work

  • Kaylyn Sparks

    I was captain of JV my freshman year. I am a senior now and I have not done cheer since, nor have i gone to any games since. I see everyones points, but cheer is hard and somewhat rewarding. Cheerleaders dont lift balls, they lift people. I have seen girls noses get broken, fall, get knocked out, and pass out while stunting! We learned like 50 cheers and i had to know every one of them perfect so i could call them. Plus i had to learn all of varsitys dances plus jvs dances and i still never got any credit! i practiced dances while girls did makeup and messed around and i still got yelled at for something because on cheer if your not preppy and a suck up to the bit… coaches :] they tear you apart! I would say cheer is for people that like getting their ego ripped to shreds and gossip gossip pmsing! maybe that is just in a small town though 2a school. Cheer itself is sooo much fun so let the girls who like it enjoy it! let them have fun too dont be rude. But if you do decide to be a cheerleader just take my advice.
    1- get on the coaches daughters good side.
    2- never argue with anyone because you will regret it when they start doing personal attacks.
    3- never think that if you start on varsity that that is where you stay. I started on varsity, got brought down to jv, back up to varsity, down to jv, and then put as captain of jv. And this was all BEFORE camp! It was torture because everytime its like being slapped.
    4- Dont care about what the amazing cheerleaders say to you if your not as good… chances are that is the only thing they are good at lol

    and lastly, come on guys the uniforms are a lot more modest than volleyball or track or gymnastics or wrestling! If you saw the girls downstairs then she probably got in soooooo much trouble for not wearing spankies (the only thing volleyball wears for pants btw) she probably got kicked off and eaten alive by people cause people take any chance they can to hurt cheerleaders. Just remember these are teen girls with feelings they are not objects to critisize and eventually they will become wives, mothers, doctors, hairstylists, ect. Cheer is painful on your ego and self esteem enough just from the coaches and girls, they dont need everyone attacking them, give them a break they are probably starving and in pain.

  • Anna

    All the girls who are saying it is hard… have you seen gymnastics? 10x better, and they are actually getting a workout. you should try it if you think Cheerleading is hard.

    As for uniforms, they are racy, weather they are “classy” or not…

    Another thing, cheeleading is NOT about popularity, half the girls i know that are cheeleaders, are quirky girls who dont give a crap about what they look like and who they are friends with.

    As for football, its a distraction, and its unnecessary considering 1 the football players cant hear and dont give a shit about them. 2 it annoys the fans. and 3 whats the point of standing in the cold/hot to “cheer” when nobody enjoys it anyways…

  • karesha

    I agree. Although high school cheerleading is not the major problem. cheerleaders at pro sporting events, should be changed. Not only is it demeaning to women all around but it is also far from family friendly. They do not bring sprit, they dance around in sexual moves and change mens tempers. They make it hard for women to gain respect. The worst part about all of this is our kids outlook. I took my 5 year old to a basketball game the other day. when the dancers came out in their Belly shirts and underwear shorts my daughter said, ”mommy why are their bellys showing? by having cheerleaders at family friendly events wearing less than must west to bed or to swim in is causing a downward fall in socitiy in many ways. My daughter wanted to be able to dance like them at the end of the night. I had to teach her that those women do not respect their own bodies like God wants us to. Then we are teaching our sons to want those women. Next we are causing our husbands to sin. We are allowing our own sex to hold us from having more power in this world. We are promoting sex and an image that most women could never have back after child birth. We are hurting every one around with this so called sport. And yes I guess it is a sport to pratice flaunting your body in a sexual way. That takes a lot of hard work. If you high school girls want to go pro just remember there is a corner at every street. And you won’t always have the body you do now, so don’t come crying to us when you cant make money off being sexual anymore. Use your brain now and realize all you are is a sexual image. Throgh your.couch a playboy and put on some clothes. There are perverts in this world. Sorry for the typos im on my phone internet.

  • Dr Dreadful

    Karesha, your caricature of men as being unable to control themselves at the mere sight of a woman’s belly button is just about as offensive as the mysogynistic opinion of your fellow women that you clearly hold. Do you actually understand anything at all about human nature?

  • karesha

    Also if it were a sport and if it was not demeaning than why do our pro football players make millions while our pro Dallas cowboy cheerleaders not even make enough to live on their income.

  • karesha

    Dreadful, do you understand anything about respect, and gaining it as a humman being and not a sex object? And its clearly not just belly buttons, they are dancing in sex positions. Have you ever sat front role on the court and watched the maverics dance team? When you do so, then ill hear you out.

  • Dr Dreadful

    Karesha, I’m not disqualified from having an opinion just because I’ve never sat in the front row at a Mavericks game. (I actually think cheerleading, along with basketball, is rather tedious.)

    As far as respect is concerned, I found none whatsoever in your comment 63. Your implication that men cannot control their sexual urges, and your conflation of cheerleading with prostitution, are crass, ignorant and, frankly, vile.

  • karesha

    Dreadful, you took everything I said out of context. Ur points your trying to make against me have nothing to do wIth the overall meaning I am trying to get across. As long as we.women use our bodies to reach an over all goal, we will always have a cap on how far we rise. To most men not All we are sex objects. Thanks to the good moms out there that we do have some good men. Now us women really have a chance to change the future. How we raise our kids really matters. Raise your daughters and sons the way you would want ur son and daughter in laws or your husbands to be. Think smart.

  • emily

    Um…not to burst your bubble or anything (the article was really well written) but cheerleading is totally a sport, and takes a ton of dedication and hard work. It’s not just jumping around and screaming,it’s carefully coordinated movement and takes a lot of teamwork to pull off. To say that it is demeaning to women is I think a misprepresentation of what it is cosnidered nowadays. I personally find it very empowering, and it’s also a lot of fun! You should all check out the professional cheerleading videos out there-now that’s amazing!

  • giovanni

    so… i like football im 9 me and my cousin have fun im not being offensive but football may be fun and all but u need offense and defense cheerleaders are grat cus they give spirit and dont think im a girl im a guy andu do need offense and a bit of defense they show spirit byo my peeps and was up

  • giovanni

    u women are gettinng a bit over dramatic

  • giovanni

    for reals u may be 13 trough 17 year old women but even though im i aint afraid too speak okay its time for me to be nice and pure good again like im always and to be the top of my school lke always and wobbly wobble wobble

  • giovanni

    awww typo i put trough instead of through

  • Amber

    I’m sorry, but can you lift people? Toss them? Tumble? Get up at ten to six every morning for practice? Competitive cheering is HARD (and also tons of fun, but currently that’s beside the point), and takes a lot of dedication and trust between team-mates (this is coming from a flyer-the one they toss in the air, for the cheer-illiterate.). Many people here don’t seem to actually know what competitive cheerleading is, and the stereotype that cheerleaders are dumb and slutty is certainly more demeaning and altogether hurtful than the sport itself, especially when the cheerleader in question is actually planning on becoming a particle physicist. I shouldn’t be judged for the sport that I participate in, I should be judged for the kind of person that I am.
    Well, that’s my two cents. People should REALLY do their research before writing/posting coments about things they know absolutely nothing about.

  • louis lefrou

    you’re crazy. i’ve had many injuries from cheerleading, i.e. knee dislocation, broken/sprained ankles, twisted thumbs, broken back vertebrae. we are never respected for what we do in our school and it makes us angry. i do not like your opinion, i think you change it because apparently, you have never been to the World All Star Competition held in Florida, where they defy gravity and are for sure a sport.

  • annie gage

    Cheerleading is not sexist by any means. There are plenty of guy cheerleaders. The sport needs to be appreciated more. The cheerleaders at my school never fail to pump us up, have a great reputation and have some of the highest ranks in our class. We work hard and have many practices before and after school. Cheerleading is the farthest sport from being sexist. Football? 99.9 % are male. Baseball and softball are separated by sex but cheerleading is not. Cheerleading requires a lot of technique that normal people could not do. We go to the gym, we tumble, we train, we practice and yes, sometimes we get hurt. But what sport doesn’t? You need to take a step back and look at what you are evaluating the sport at. There are very few people at my school that do not appreciate our performances. The parents of the football and basketball players often thank us. So instead of bashing cheerleading itself, you should recognize that your school has poor school spirit.

  • Sealy

    Hi I am a freshman cheerleader with very bad spelling but very good logic (it’s almost a curse I can be right all the time cuz I know if I’m wrong when i don’t want to be) I love cheerleading but wanted to give one of very few non biased comment in regard of the logical errors made by almost everyone who commented on this page(and non biased doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion on whether cheer is good or bad, it just means I don’t agree with the things I like, I agree with the things proven right or more precisely don’t agree with the things proven wrong and partially agree with the things proven right)
    I have bulleted some of the statements or opinions of the person who posted this and proven them wrong (practically everything on here is wrong) anyway enjoy actually hearing a logical debate about cheerleading…
    •”how does or school benifit from doing flips?”
    Although u don’t have to benifit from sports to have them,(how does the school benefit from girls bumping a ball over a net to another girl . They don’t but people like it do the school should have it). Anyway, cheer does “benifit the school” it takes much energy and makes you more healthy and agile, it teaches you how to work together in sinc, plus it encourages others and teaches us to support one another
    •you think the cheerleaders at your school are “stupid anoying mean consided bad”
    That doesn’t mean everyone is like that. (in fact you could never prove that even if you surveyed 50000 cheerleaders and had proof of them all being terrible, that still wouldn’t mean you could say all cheerleaders are like that) you can say some cheerleaders are like because you have only seen some like that not all… Also even if some are bad you shouldnt insult the entire sport some football teams may only beetup nerds and do terrible(or may even own a waterpark and not practice which makes them do bad :) ) but you shouldnt get rid of football some people enjoy it and are professional about it in every way
    •”Steelers refuse to participate”
    Fine it’s their choice that doesnt mean we should all follow their example their many people that love cheerleading whether it’s watching it or doing it
    •”I count each one that falls. ; it’s just that what they are doing seems pointless to me.”
    (You shouldn’t ever make fun of someone’s pain or mistakes that’s like lagging when a football player gets hit and has to go to the hospital)
    I’m giving you reasons why cheerleading is good right now and prooving all your reasons wrong, so you shouldnt still think its pointless. It’s as “pointless” to cheer a crowd up and get everyone going with complex dances, stunts and chants as it is for people to run around with a football(not saying I don’t like football, I do but if cheerleading is frivolouse what makes football important and seriouse and not for intertainment?)
    •”Cheerleading injuries are actually a serious problem”
    Yes it is but that is what we have practice for. When you fall during cheerleading, it is because someone in the stunt was too weak there was a communication propblem and the list could go on but it isn’t really necessary right now. If the cheerleaders actually dedicate themselves to cheer and work to get stronger and remember the routine etc. these problems most likely won’t happen. Just like uneven bars. If someone wasn’t strong enough or messed up they would get injured. But they take that chance and work hard because they love what they do and taking a chance on injury in some cases is worth it when done right it won’t happen. Just like gymnasts on uneven bars, cheerleaders take chances sometimes for an over all benefit and work each day to prevent someone from falling. Some cheerleaders do not do this but that shouldn’t include the whole group of chearleaders.
    (p.s. some people say cheerleading isn’t a sport and cheerleaders will stupidly respond id like to see you try . For the record I’d like to say that both sides are wrong. Going by the definition of “sport” it is when one or more persons do a physical activity against one or more teams. Therefore cheeleading in some way is and isn’t . There is competitive cheer which is a sport and cheering at games which technically isn’t but if u consider that practicing or an extra requirement of cheer then it absolutely is a sport. Dancing is a sport both when performing and when competing so it is in a way similar to cheerleading)

  • Jose


  • Just An Opinion

    Okay, this is just my opinion, I am not saying anybody else is right or wrong, after all, everybody is entitled to their opinion.

    So, I happen to know a bunch of people who cheerleed, and may I say, wow, has their self-obsession ever gone through the roof. I swear they have gone from being happy, friendly, 18 y.o.’s with little to no interest in boys, to being so self-obsessed, that they only think about themselves, oh, and the pack of guys they now hang with. So, I appreciate that this is not the same for everyone, but hey, I’m just saying what I have witnessed.

    I swear their “cheering” does NOT cheer anybody up, in fact, if anything, it just makes people wanna lodge something in their mouths just to make them be quiet.

    So its a demanding “sport”, yes, I appreciate that, but, how many other types of sport or dancing are out there that are just as demanding, if not more so. I can say from experience how hard irish dance is, especially when you start it at 18 and have to work to catch up. Now there’s a “sport” that demands respect.

    Thank you for putting up with my rant.

  • lollylolly

    Right on i agree 12748584% !!!! Personally i find whole idea of cheerleading degrading and pointless. To me the whole cheerleader persona makes a probably nice girl appear ditsy; as if they actually give a serious fuck about the team or let alone understand the sport they’re cheering for; why would you want to cheer on a group of guys who don’t cheer you on or support you?I don’t get why they wanna expose their pussy to the entire school either the ones at my school practically twerk LOL . Until i see guy cheerleaders for girl sports teams … i will forever rant about this

  • Abby

    someone didn’t make the cheer squad.

  • Tia

    I agree SCHOOL cheerleading is stupid and annoying but competitive cheer is a sport and it might be dangerous but cheerleaders don’t get enough credit for what they do plus most people can do half the stuff we do

  • Tia

    Can’t do half the stuff oops