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Should CHEER LEADERS be banned from sports events?

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Professional cheerleaders are used in a number of sports and can be found in most of the countries across the world. The cheerleading groups are mainly made up of women but the members of cheerleaders groups are paid very less as compared to the members of the team they support. Although it has not been claimed that cheerleading should be banned at the school or college level, nor it has been demanded that amateur cheerleading should be banned but the demand is for banning professional cheerleaders who are there to support the teams participating in the in men’s sports instead of generally presenting a college or a school.

Points in favor of the ban:
1. The supporters of ban on cheerleading claim that professional cheerleaders cause the men to think of woman as mere objects only who exist on the sidelines of the sporting event, looking pretty and wearing short skirts while the male members of the sports teams are considered as the real heroes of the game. It has being claimed that this has an impact on how men generally think about women. It may also make them feel that men are more important as compared to women. Even when the male members are also present in professional cheerleading squads, it only reinforces the above mentioned below regarding women as the men lift the women around as if they are objects of decoration only.

2. Cheerleading undermines significant social norms:
it has been claimed that professional cheerleading has an impact on how woman are viewed in general and therefore it could be harmful for the society. Although it is important that all the members of society should have a freedom of choice, this freedom has to be curtailed when it starts to cause harm to other members of the society. Therefore in this case, professional cheerleading should be banned.

3. Cheerleading ends up sexualizing women:
It has also been argued that professional cheerleading presents a bad role model, particularly for the teenagers who take part in it. Wearing short clothes and showing too much skin, the routines of teenagers taking part in cheerleading, are more sexual and less concentrated on the gymnastic stunts. It can create a problem, particularly when youngsters are encouraged for doing so as it reinforces the idea that the men playing the sport are being rewarded or gratified for their performance in the sport. In such a case it glamorizes the performance of the men taking part in the sport and they may start to feel that they are entitled for such gratification. These men can become angry when they are turned down. This in turn can result in a rise in sexual violence against woman.

4. The superficiality of cheerleading makes it a very poor role model:
A large number of young girls and women are suffering from eating disorders and this can be attributed, at least in part to the desire to become thin which is the result of the constant show of the perfect woman. This message is reinforced when the professional cheerleaders show their bodies and the men cheer them.

5. Cheerleading denies a central role to women in sports:
It cannot be denied that women are equally talented and sports and to prove this, there are a number of highly talented sportswomen can almost all the fields of sports. However, on seeing the cheerleaders, many may believe that the role of woman in sports is only confined to such activities. It is also true that woman’s sports activities to not receive equal coverage as compared to the men’s sports. Therefore it is important to promote the success achieved by woman in sports. However the activities like cheerleading can detract from the achievement of this objective. It is also been claimed that several women taking part in professional cheerleading will also have sports talent but they never get a chance to show it. This perception of woman being on the sidelines of sport can be judged from the fact that a number of have Women’s sports teams do not have cheerleaders and similarly many cheerleaders are not comfortable while cheering for girls’ teams.

6. Cheerleading harms the academic achievements of its members:
Many people, particularly women do not attend professional sports because they do not want to watch scantily clad girls dancing and for this reason, they also keep their children away from these games. Professional games can play an important role in bringing the communities together.

Points Against the Ban
1. Liberty of the woman:

On the other hand, it has been claimed that women should be given the freedom to choose the activities in which they want to take part and variations of men should not be significant in this regard. Therefore if the women enjoy cheerleading and at the same time also want to earn some money, it will be unfair to stop the woman from cheerleading only due to the reason that the other people may not think good about them. Everybody should be given the liberty to do what they want to do in their lives.

2. Images of scantily dressed women are present all over the media:
It has not been proven that people think any less of the women cheerleaders. There are a large number of factors due to bridge the people may consider woman as less important. For example the fact that there are far less women politicians or directors of companies as compared to the males. Therefore a ban on professional cheerleaders will not help in bringing about any change in the attitude of the people. At the same time, the images of scantily dressed women are present all over the media. The impact of these images is much more as compared to the impact that the people have on viewing the cheerleaders.

3. School and College Cheerleaders are different:
It is also a fact that generally the cheerleaders from school and college do not always look up to professional cheerleaders. More often the cheerleaders from schools and colleges concentrate on competition in the sport and also the on representing their school or college. These cheerleaders do not wear the same dresses as are borne by the professional cheerleaders. On the other hand their best effort is on improving the acrobatic element in their act so that they can become better than the other cheerleader squads. As a result, the influence of professional cheerleaders on these cheerleaders is almost negligent.

4. Professional cheerleaders also need to be respected:
The professional cheerleaders are also required to be respected for the athletic talent present in their act. Therefore it is important to promote the games or the coverage by media of the female sporting events if they want to encourage woman’s sports instead of focusing only on the sports played by men. The professional cheerleaders are not a hindrance in treating any sports event seriously.

This article has been written by KJ Singh a MBA Graduate from a prestigious Business School In India
Article Published:June 28, 2014
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