Stereotypes In Cheerleading

Sport: “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” This definition by Google dictionary defines what a sport is, and what it takes to have the title of “sport”. When looking at the Cheerleading, it fits all of the requirements of a sport, despite what many opposing views might think. However, Cheerleaders deal with the constant battle of the opposing view considering cheerleading to not be a sport. This particular activity is not just about cheering on teams in the sidelines, or showing support for their school and community. Cheerleading is also about competing for major titles, and doing life threatening stunts for crowd entertainment. Society doesn’t

Due to the troubling stereotype, women do not get nearly as much recognition as athletes as males do. Many female athletes are not recognized because of the constant battle between the male sport. Even the most popular female athletes are told they’ll never make as far as male athletes in the sport. One of the most popular female athletes, Serena Williams, constantly deals with being compared to male athletes. “when tennis great John McEnroe recently claimed that women’s champion Serena Williams wouldn’t even be a “top 700” men’s player, his controversial comment made headlines on sports shows and beyond”(Chaffee). McEnroe compares Williams to the male tennis athletes, showing just how often women are seen as “weaker” than men. This tends to be a major issue for women, and why recognition tends to lack in those fields. Obviously, women constantly are compared to male athletes, thus leading to popularity of women’s sports to fade. All in all, causing less people to watch the sports, and lack recognition the women

News reporters typically focus more of their time covering male sports. Stemming from a popular stigma in which a number of journalists refer to female stories as “gender-bland”; commonly referred as female athletes tending to lack story, and are uninspiring to the public’s eye. As result, leading many of the female involved athletes to not be mentioned, and as recognized as the males in headlines. In a piece of research by USC news, statistics prove women’s stories averaged about 77 seconds, which is 50 percent shorter than men’s stories, and for local stations females only receive and average of 44 seconds of coverage. It is quite common for women to barely be seen on the news, and in articles. The little amount of recognition forms a toll on what society thinks of women, and truly lacks equality for women. Due to many journalists, and society not giving females the equal amount of coverage as men, it causes society to form biased views, all in all, making unfair judgement towards the female