as a former band geek, i must admit that cheerleading was definitely not my thing. however, in my high school, there was debate as to whether or not band was a sport, let alone cheerleading. aside from the physical exertion of marching band, we were sport-like in that we were required to maintain academic eligibility in order to participate. something that, say, the choir did not have to do. overall, i have to say i'm not sure i would consider band a sport. it's one of those things that belongs over in the corner by itself. cheerleading, on the other hand, can be a lot tougher than it may look. i came from a small town, small school, etc., so our cheerleader weren't too extravagant, but i once watched a big school (actually, i think it was college, but can we say "bring it on"?) competition on tv. it was like the cheerleading version of "drumline" and i suddenly had a much greater respect for the...sport. yeah, i think i'm going to have to call it a sport. (of course, my definition of a sport is any physical activity which i am incapable of performing for more than four and a half seconds.)
so what do you think?
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ok, so i just realized that my post had very little to do with the actual topic presented by the link. it is 4am, and i still have three hours to go. anyway, as for whether cheerleading is empowering or sexist, i will put it this way. girls who cheer freely choose to do so in the same way that women who strip freely choose to do so.
now, bring on the dispute.
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I don't really understand the viepoint that for an activity to be somehow valid, it has to be classified as "sport." That includes band geeks like myself and people who want to get chess into the Olympic Games.
The cheerleaders I know take cheerleading very seriously and consider it a sport at least. It seems like the people who do cheerleading are they people who get into it and don't think it's sexist.
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