Next week, we’re putting up an Amazon Wish List in support of Bishop Maginn’s newest activity, the “Cheer Team.” I’m very excited about it; it is so good for the school and some of its students. I shouldn’t be surprised at this anymore, but it seems to be controversial, at least to some.
The American cheerleader is one of our most enduring and exhausted cliches.
The popular girl, the white girl, the princess, she’s straight, her boyfriend plays football, she’s not known for her brains, but for her body, she is a snob, often cruel, her boyfriend is the football quarterback.
The cheer team forming at Bishop Maginn shatters this stereotype in every conceivable and measurable way. Just look at the photo above.
The stereotype of cheerleaders is being challenged, re-examined, re-defined. Just check out the compelling Netflix documentary “Cheer” if you want to know what life as a cheerleader is like in our country these days. It sure isn’t easy; it requires commitment, athleticism, drive, and character.
A small but articulate number of people are questioning my support of what the school calls the “Cheer Team.”
Bishop Maginn is the most diverse school I’ve ever seen; the school is a vibrant mix of inner-city, African-American, and refugee children, some white students also.
The School is struggling, many of its students fled during the white flight out of Albany, many others can’t pay full or any tuition, the Catholic Church which funds it, is nearly destitute dealing with sexual abuse lawsuits.
The school turns nobody down over money.
I don’t write this to promote controversy; I do it in the interest of being open and committed to civil debate and discussion.
Bishop Maginn, a haven for bright and needy students whose families have few resources, needs cheering up. The Army Of Good is helping to support the school and promote its dominant ethos and spirit – compassion, community, learning, empathy. We are helping to rebuild the school’s spirit, battered by difficult times.
These are mostly kids with nowhere else to go. The school has been heroic in committing itself fo them.
This discussion of the Cheer Squad is, so far, civil and valuable. I’ve reprinted two of the comments below and one response.
Sarah: “I keep hoping that women will manage to evolve beyond the desire to be cheerleaders, and I keep being sadly disappointed.”
Christian: Gotta say I think Nancy has a point. Several of your readers, here and on Facebook, have pointed out that cheer is often open to both boys and girls, yet we don’t see any boys pictured or any mention of actively recruiting them. It’s difficult to do because boys fear the assumptions people will make about their sexuality for participating in cheer. That alone speaks to the fact that cheerleading, although often athletic, is a form of sexualized “sport” created and perpetuated primarily as an activity to put the female body on display. Your readers can sugar-coat it as a sport, but the fact that cheerleading scholarships (unlike football, soccer, swimming, etc.) are almost unheard of puts lie to that feel-good theory. Personally, I have no interest in telling you or any of your readers what they should support with their dollars, but at least be honest with yourselves that cheerleading, despite the fact that its exercise, is at its core about the idea that it’s appropriate to judge a woman’s value by her appearance.
Jan: to whom it may concern, particularly those uninformed and judgmental individuals that are dismayed by these students’ desire to participate in “cheerleading”.. please note that it is an activity that shows pride and support for their school, is an athletic activity that moves their bodies whether it is dance style or gymnastic style, builds friendship, leadership skills, cooperation, creativity and respect for themselves and from others among the activity’s many pluses. These youth are open to joy, self-expression, laughter, and fun together…. please note that cheerleading is not gender restrictive and never has been….open your eyes, people, open your hearts.
I want to say I fully and whole-heartedly support the new Bishop Maginn Cheer Team and welcome the opportunity to challenge a hoary and outdated stereotype and to explain why I feel so strongly about helping the new team.
I’m not in the business of sugar-coating or lying, as I hope most of you are reading this know.
I love Bishop Maginn and my work there, but it can also be a wrenching and painful place. Children should not have to suffer the way most of these children have suffered.
First off, as many new documentaries show (Bring It On, But I’m A Cheerleader, Dare Me), the stereotype of the American cheerleader is outdated and changing rapidly. There are thousands of male athletic cheerleaders now; male cheerleaders will perform at the Super Bowl this year for the first time in history.
(Then, there is one of the greatest cheerleaders in modern times, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Nobody ever dared suggest she was vamping so people would value her body.)
Secondly, it is false to say there are no scholarships for cheerleading.
Schools do not recruit cheerleaders nearly as vigorously as they recruit football and basketball players. Still, more schools are offering cheerleading scholarships than ever, and the number is multiplying every year.
Christian is way off base when he suggests that the core idea of a group like Bishop Maginn’s Cheer Team is that it’s appropriate to judge a woman’s value by her appearance.
Most cheerleaders are valued for their athleticism, their ability to perform difficult and complex dynamics. America has always valued its people by the way they look; sadly, this is not the sole province of cheerleading: look at football, baseball, magazine covers, Hollywood.
Could a man who looks like me ever be cast in a Hollywood movie?
The Bishop Maginn cheerleaders do not in any way fit the stereotype Christian and Nancy seem to be talking about.
The team is as diverse at the school – different colors, small students, large students, black students, poor students, shy students, students with acne and physical limitations, students who are still learning to speak English, and don’t hang out with football stars.
The team hardly fits Christian’s stereotypes of cheerleaders or explain Sarah’s disappointment.
I think Jan nailed it right on the head. The Cheer Squad is about pride and community.
Many of these new cheerleaders are refugee and inner-city children.
Many have spent years in refugee camps, have endured persecution, hunger, trauma, poverty, and terror and are struggling to acclimate in a foreign country where their very existence has attracted hate, hostility, and controversy.
I cringe at the stories they tell of persecution in their homelands and our public schools: jeering, beatings, robberies, exclusion. There is none of that at Bishop Maginn.
It is not for me to judge them or tell them which activities I want them to pursue.
It is for me to support the things they wish to do to adjust to America and to heal and help their friends and their school, which they love quite dearly.
Many come from different cultures with different values; they need not abandon all of their values for ours. They don’t need to adopt Sarah’s view of what women should aspire to be. They should and do know they can choose any path they want in our country.
Every time I talk with Bishop Maginn students, I hear stories of abuse, neglect, even horror. They have the right to choose any activity they wish, and which makes them feel stronger, more connected, encourages self-expression and confidence, and yes, happiness.
Joy is something they desperately need, and as Jan explains, joy is a part of cheerleading. Jan, my heart is open to these young women.
Bless them, they will be working hard for many hours a week and will learn about healthy exercise, nutrition, and dedication. There is nothing terrible about that.
Cheerleading is a sport; it is a gymnastic process, however Christian sniffs at that. It takes hard work, commitment, community, teamwork, leadership, and compassion – these girls want to cheer for their school, which has taken them in and offered learning and safety, and supported them when nobody else would or did.
Many of these girls are shy and barely speak English. They are excited about this new opportunity, eager to join, willing to work hard. Next Tuesday, I’m meeting with all of them and will offer them my support in person.
I’ll also take a video and show all of you what they are about.
They need mats and maybe some pom-poms or good sneakers, I’m not sure yet. I hope you will help me to help them by supporting the Wish List, which should be up and running next Tuesday or Wednesday.
This should not be an expensive wish list.
I appreciate the civility of Christian and Sarah, whose comments were too brief and shallow to grasp. The right of women to choose their identity is an important discussion to have on many levels.
I’m in. See you next week.
I had a similar negative attitude toward cheerleaders & wasn’t thrilled when my daughter became one. But I discovered these girls work really hard. My daughter loved it. She developed some serious muscles! There are even adult groups for women who still want to do this as exercise! There are big competitors they can travel to, it has become a sport of its own. Sure some of it seems pretty silly – the make up and glitter and big bows. I hope Bishop Maginn will be wise in their choice of costumes and not choose anything risqué. With a number of different body types go accommodate, they will probably keep it tame & sane.
Nice post, Nora, thanks..
Hey, Steve—my name is Sarah, not Nancy. If you’re going to quote me in two different blog entries, I’d appreciate it if you got my name right. And yes, Christian is correct: cheerleading serves to reinforce traditional gender stereotypes, big time. I would encourage young women to participats in sports themselves rather than enable others to do so.
Steve? So this is a joke right? And I am supposed to take this seriously? For the record, this is my blog and I choose whatever posts I think are interesting. You squeaked by the first time, but I think we’re done..We all know who you are, and the Senate can get back to dealing with the President.
Again, you see to almost willfully misunderstand your commenters; I never said anything about how this squad perceives themselves or their intentions. Only that our society in general perceives cheerleaders–ironically, especially at the professional level–as being little more than scantily-dressed eye candy. I have no doubt these young and inexperienced high-schoolers have little knowledge of this.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/09/nfl-cheerleading-sexist-demeaning-women-reform-end-column/897735002/
Image pursuing a sport where the height of success–being on a pro football squad–amounts to being required to dress scantily and mingle with male backers. Isn’t it a shock that this “sport” isn’t yet in the Olympics?
I stand by what I said. If you believe that the vast majority of Americans perceive cheerleaders as athletes, you’re deceiving yourself. You think otherwise. Fine. But I defy you to show me any other “sport” that has spawned it’s own pornography genre, as has, sadly, cheerleading. I’ll save you some time; football porn doesn’t exist. Neither does it exist in any other sport. And is this truly what the young daughters of conservative cultures (as you often point out) really want to be even remotely associated with? If it were my daughter, I’d certainly encourage her to use her gifts and skills elsewhere.
Christian, I’m not sure my disagreement is willful, we just don’t see it the same way. It doesn’t mean either of us is malicious or dangerous, that is the new American disease. I’m sure you have your opinions in good faith and for good reasons. I just don’t agree with you.
I’m writing about supporting cheerleaders at Bishop Maginn and you said that to be honest, I am deceiving myself and others by suggesting cheerleading is a sport rather than a way to value women only for the way they look. That is not the case here, so why suggest it is? Why would I assume this has nothing to do with the school’s intentions or those of the cheerleaders, or my support of them. Why mention it here at all?
There are plenty of sports now in the Olympics that weren’t recognized when the Greeks created them, including baseball and shooting. I would bet cheerleading will make it one day at the rate it’s going, but I am not a cheerleading advocate, I’m just supporting some people who want to do it. I wish them well.
Now you raise the bar again by invoking the issue of pornography here, and you will undoubtedly be stunned and outraged if I feel the need to defend the girls of this Catholic school from that creepy association. I can hear you claiming you never said a word about how the squad might be perceived or what their intentions are, other than to mention that their chosen sport spawns pornography.
You have a lot of nerve.
You should encourage your daughters in any way you wish, it’s none of my business, and of no special virtue. That doesn’t make you right. I encouraged my daughter to choose any activity she wished to engage in, and she did, and turned out to be quite a successful, moral and wonderful person. What does that have to do with cheerleading?
You can see from the comments that many people do consider cheerleading a sport, including the parents of the children doing it. I am not qualified to define what a sport is, and I find it much too boring to try. Not my turf.
The students at Bishop Maginn deserve the same consideration as your daughters. Their parents can guide them, not me. Again, you are, in my view, quite willfully wrong. You don’t get away with these insinuations and then claim they have nothing to do with the story, school or children I’m writing about.
I will encourage these enthusiastic and energetic young women to use their gifts and skills in any way they see fit, and not listen to self-righteous people lecturing them on what they ought to do without ever laying eyes on them. I will support them in any way I can.
Telling other people what to do is the venom embedded in the structure of the Internet, I don’t do it. Best to you, Christian, I do thank you for being mostly civil if a bit overwrought.
I am on the side of Jan and Nora. I, too, was shocked when my daughter told me she was going to try out for cheerleader in 7th grade. And she was one through 12th grade. When all was said and done, it was a terrific decision on her part. She learned to not be afraid to be in front of people, she learned to pick up directions fast, she kept physically throughout those years, and she gained a ton of self-confidence. Oddly, cheerleading was directly responsible for he getting a 4-year, full scholarship to college, which was given to 5 students at her university each year, based on. their extra-curricular activities in high school. And with her cheering skills, she made it into a show choir in college. And all this was from that decision at the end of 6th grade.
I think these girls will be fine. It will be very important who the coach will be.
I see this “cheer team” as cheering for school spirit and how this school has helped so many children shine! WE have to get over the assumption that a cheerleader is only for sports. When I was in school we had both types, and I am in my 60’s.
Thanks Marianna, I think we also have to get over the impulse to tell other people what to do and what is right for them…I know these girls, they are courageous and admirable and full of love…They are making the right decisions for themselves, I am sure..I can’t wait to help them get the squad going..
I cheer the Cheer Team
Why do you refuse to post my comment correcting your error about my name? Are you that afraid of appearing to make a mistake? Considering that it also contained a further comment on the subject at hand, I am disappointed in what now appears to be Senate-level intellectual dishonesty.
Senate level dishonesty! Wow. I am moving up in the world. Perhaps the Senate will take this up tomorrow. Sarah, I will be honest with you, as I read this, I have no idea who you are or what you are talking about. If I used the wrong name in quoting you, I’m sorry, it was quite accidental, and I make mistakes almost every day. but I don’t think it’s quite the world-shattering issue you seem to think it is. Go back to watching cable news. I post the comments I think are useful and interesting not that feed people’s egos.
Sarah, this kind of snide and self-righteous posting gives me a headache, I don’t allow it on my pages and it makes my heart sink. We are trying to have a real discussion about a real issue of importance to people, and your name or my focus is not what we are trying to work out. If you have anything of substance to add to the issue I’ll be happy to post it, but your messages so far are disheartening and small. You reduce the issue to the lowest common denominator – you. Your identity is important and you are correct to call attention to it. The pomposity and hyperbole are just silly and make your point trivial. I know this is the language of social media now, but not here. We make mistakes, we correct them. Simple as that. My wish for you is to get bigger and live beyond your ego. And don’t fall victim to absurd exaggeration and complaint – it just makes you look silly, and I’m guessing you are better than that. We all make mistakes, and I always apologize for mine. But we can’t take back the credibility we give away…
I should like to add that I am not online all day checking each message,and I get hundreds of messages, I do sometimes get them confused or forget about them. You may have a different situation. When I got your first snotty message, I had no idea what you were talking about, the post in question was already a day or two old. I’m still not sure what you are huffing about, but if I got your name wrong, I’m happy to have you correct it here. I’m sorry, but not very. Your sentiments were accurately portrayed. I have no apologies to make for me, I do the best I can.
I’ll be honest with you, I won’t publish any more snarky or insulting messages from you, it’s a waste of my time, probably even yours. If you have anything substantive to add to this discussion, as Christian has, I’ll be happy to post it. If you want to whine and jeer, go on over to Fox News or CNN and jump into their online discussions..You can fit right in.
Yeah for the Cheer Squad! All you have to do is look at the joy in those beautiful girls faces to understand that they want to lift their school and classmates up by showing their support in front of those attending an event! I hope that they enjoy the experience as they bring their cheers and dance to the audience! I’m sure they will motivate the audience too!