The Cheerleader Effect

Every collegiate cheerleader is someone’s daughter

She can see beer cups lining the floor of the row. She sighs before forcing a smile on her face. The camera flashes towards her. Her picture appears up on the jumbo screen. She hands out the first card for a free dinner to PF Chang’s to a man who is about 45. He takes the card, looks straight into her eyes, flashes a smile and says, “Is your number on this card? Because if its not then I don’t want it.” He laughs and high fives his buddy and 10 year old son. She smiles politely, forces a laugh and says, “not this time” and walks back down to the tunnel. Her uniform is nicely pressed and her shoes are sparking white, but she feels dirty and a bit anxious. He’s old enough to be her father, he has his son with him, and he just asked for her number. When harassing a college cheerleader, do you know that is somebody’s daughter?

Harassment is something that is happening to college cheerleaders all around the country. From inappropriate comments to degrading actions directed towards them, college cheerleaders are extremely vulnerable to harassment. College cheerleading programs have put measures in place to deal with and try to lessen these harassment cases. For example, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas cheerleaders and dancers are required to have all social media accounts on private. There are rules as to what can be posted on their social media, and for a while no bathing suite pictures were allowed on their profiles because of cases of stalking. This isn’t an issue that is just taking place in Sin City however.

College cheerleaders around the country confront this harassment almost every time they put on their uniform. Whether it is a game or an event, they have to enter that arena ready for anything. Throughout four years of cheering for collegiate athletics, cheerleaders have expressed that they experience upwards of 50 incidents of harassment. Harassment has become a normal occurrence for these girls.

Former UNLV cheerleader Maddie Afusia said, “On multiple occasions fans do things like ask us to take a picture with them and then place their hands inappropriately on our butts. When we sell t-shirts they’ll ask for our numbers or make comments like ‘what else can I get for $10’. Some people even get mad when we politely decline and they say we are ugly anyways.”

Maddie Afusia went on to explain that the harassment she has experienced has not come from other college aged students. Her teammates agreed.

Alexa Reveles, a current UNLV cheerleader stated, “I would say (a) majority of the time it is older men doing the harassment. I think I’ve only gotten it once from a guy who was around my age. Other than that I can say it’s always been older men.”

But why is this even that big of a deal? Many could argue that the men are just joking around with the girls. Some say that college cheerleaders put themselves in a position where they are open to public comments and scrutiny. Men that are harassing these girls may not even be aware of the harassment because it is possible they have been doing this since they were children. It stems back to the fan’s childhood and the way they were taught to view college cheerleaders.

I am a former colligate cheerleader. My father, Mark Gonzalez commented, “Growing up, I saw cheerleaders were on the sidelines and courtside, and they were there to be looked at. They were pretty, they were fun to watch as they tried to build pyramids, do cartwheels, perform stunts with the mascots, and shake their pom poms when the camera man zoomed in on them. Beyond that I didn’t grant cheerleaders much more standing or credit for who they were.”

Many people today are still viewing cheerleaders as objects on the sideline. This is a respect problem. A change of mind is necessary to view these girls as that, girls. Not sex symbols or pretty girls at your disposal. From a father’s perspective, this harassment is horrifying.

Mark said, “When my daughter became a cheerleader I realized how sexist I was (or was still overcoming), and how much it offended me to hear the sexist comments being directed at my daughter and her teammates. It hurts to hear those comments, and it shamed me, to know those same thoughts and words were once mine”

Maddie Afusia took this further stating, “There are so many fans. I think a lot of the time they’re older than my dad! Doesn’t matter what age, where you are, what you’re doing… If you’re in the uniform you can expect good, bad, and ugly comments. It comes with the territory.”