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Article
Cheerleading and the Gendered Politics of Sport
Social Problems (2006)
  • Laura Grindstaff, University of California - Davis
  • Emily West, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract

Cheerleading occupies a contested space in American culture and a key point of controversy is whether it ought to be considered a sport. Drawing on interviews with college cheerleaders on coed squads as well as five years of fieldwork in various cheerleading sites, this paper examines the debate over cheerleading and sport in terms of its gender politics. The bid for sport status on the part of cheerleaders revolves around the desire for respect more than official recognition by athletic organizations; cheerleaders recognize the prestige associated with sport, a function of its historic association with hegemonic masculinity, and they claim that prestige for cheerleading by highlighting its recent transformation into a more athletic, competitive activity that is no longer “just for girls.” However, the support function of college cheerleading, combined with its “feminine” performance-demands, make the bid for sport status controversial. Male cheerleaders in particular distance themselves from the feminine elements of cheerleading because they want to avoid being perceived as gay. The gender politics at work here illustrate both the elasticity of gender categories and the limits of that elasticity, as gendered boundaries are drawn and redrawn between what gets to count as sport and what does not, and as cheerleading simultaneously challenges and reinforces the notion of sport as a male preserve. Because masculinity and femininity are performed side-by-side in coed cheerleading, this research underscores the importance of relational analyses for examining and critiquing the construction of gender and sexuality.

Keywords
  • gender,
  • sport,
  • performance,
  • hegemonic masculinity,
  • emphasized femininity
Publication Date
2006
Publisher Statement
Published as Grindstaff, Laura and Emily West, "Cheerleading and the Gendered Politics of Sport," Social Problems, Vol. 53, No. 4 (2006): 500-518. © [2006] by [the Regents of the University of California/Sponsoring Society or Association]. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by [the Regents of the University of California/on behalf of the Sponsoring Society] for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on [Caliber (http://caliber.ucpress.net/)] or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com.
Citation Information
Laura Grindstaff and Emily West. "Cheerleading and the Gendered Politics of Sport" Social Problems Vol. 53 Iss. 4 (2006)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/emily_west/6/