Skimpy cheerleader outfits, good for business or exploitation
Cheerleaders today, are an integral part of sports. People may think this a good thing or they may think it is simply exploitation of young women. But whichever way it is looked at, women cheering for sports teams have been around for a long time and it
is likely to be around for a long time still.
Even though women cheerleaders were meant to be a positive thing to uplift the spirits of sports teams and try and help them win, over time they have just become underdressed young dancing girls. With the recent news of a cheerleading squad in a high school
in America that has protested over their skimpy outfits, there might be some change on the horizon of this interesting profession.
Cheerleading has many definitions, some say it is simply an activity done to uplift and cheer on a sports team, while others say it is a competitive sport that tests athletic ability and skills. There are different divisions of cheerleading in the World
of sports.
There is firstly a high school cheerleading level, then there are university level cheerleaders and finally there are professional sports cheerleaders. What is interesting is that all three different levels of the physical activity have similar outfits and
uniforms that they wear.
The standard cheerleading outfits that are seen all over America and in other parts of the world are usually skimpy. It usually consists of little tops and tiny skirts or shorts with a lot of skin showing. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is up
to people to decide for themselves but is there any reason for the skimpiness of the outfits? Well there seem to be a few that can be found.
In a lot of women’s sports, and we can include cheerleading in this category, the outfits that are worn serve a distinct purpose. Take tennis for example, these days and in the past, the standard in clothing was the short skirt. This allows for greater mobility
on court and does not hinder a female player’s movements. On the other hand it can be seen as a way to increase the popularity of women’s sports by getting them to dress in a provocative manner to increase the number of fans.
This is the second reason and one of the biggest factors why cheerleaders wear skimpy clothing. If we look at the university level sports industry, we come across some interesting facts. Any team that wants to uphold its NCAA status has to pull in at least
15,000 fans to a game, any less than that and they risk losing their status. Those 15,000 fans pay good money to the university to come and watch games and are a strong revenue source. This is the same case with professional sports teams.
All professional sports teams need paying fans to come and watch the games. It is a fact of the World today that s*x sells. This is why we see beautiful people in advertisements on TV and why most celebrities are very s**y, good looking people. It looks
as if sports teams at the university and professional level, use s**y, skimpily dressed cheerleaders as a way to entice fans to come and watch more games and part with their hard earned money.
Recently a high school cheerleading squad, in Connecticut, protested over their skimpy outfits which caused their midriffs to show when they did manoeuvres and also forced them to wear very tiny shorts. The cheerleaders said they felt embarrassed and underdressed
when they wore the uniforms and did not want to perform in such outfits. While that case is still going on, the cheerleading squad of the University of Idaho, in 2008, got their skimpy two piece outfits changed in favour of a more conservative uniform.
There are two sides to this issue, one is an economic one, which is that skimpy outfits on women pull in larger crowds of people, who pay money to watch games and increase the revenue of sports franchises. The other side is that the skimpy outfits demean
cheerleaders and take away from the serious job they are doing. This issue does not look like it will be solved anytime soon and could rage on for a long time to come.
Tags: