Pop music, heavy on the bass, easy on the lyrics, blare from the speakers as the players exit the court. Their heads hanging low, sweat pouring off their bodies, they are spent. Behind them, bolting out from the sidelines like fourth graders just let out to afternoon recess, come the dancers. They wear the standard: tights, knee-high boots, and a sparkly bra. They convene in some clever alignment at center court and begin their routine: Hip thrust left, leg kick right, pirouette, hair toss front, turn around; repeat.
In sharp contrast to the action of the basketball game, to the NBA’s massive “make it better” campaign, the attempt to diversify the sport’s audience, to the politically correct world of the athletes themselves; these cheer “leaders”, dancers if you will, provide a distracting dance routine, forced and contrived, whose display is nothing close to that of the competitive dance squads across the country. NBA cheerleaders have been reduced from the uber-athletic, diverse and competitive teams we see up through the collegiate level and ‘Bring It On 7’, to a blatant sexist display, devoid of athleticism and any dignity. What is more disturbing, we are expected to accept that this is just "part of the experience", a normal and respectible part of the modern professional world, which ultimatly insinuates that degradation of women is ok.
Sports and misogyny have gone together for as long as sports have been around. Men have their ‘man-cave’ where they are free of women and they can watch football, drink manly beer, curse and ogle women in their underwear sparkly costumes. It has always been a sort of “gentlemen’s club”. Professional sports feature men competing against men and sold as a man’s product to consume. Within the last 20 years however, with more lucrative TV contracts for the various sports leagues, the burden on leagues, and therefore teams, have become greater. There have to be more viewers, more ways to sell the product. In part, this is the reason many professional sports leagues have attempted to bring in more female viewers. I even (accidentally) attended the “girls night out” at a pro baseball game. A free, pink, grocery bag was distributed to the first 20,000 women and during the game the Jumbo-tron featured girls in the crowd having “a blast” and enjoying the game with their girlfriends. The Portland Trail Blazers are no exception to the trend and although the Oregon sports market is unique and complex (The Blazers are a huge social event), they too want more women to be fans, to buy their beer, to watch their telecasts.
With this fact many people argue that the inclusion of women inside this lucrative “man cave” signifies the absence of sexism in the modern sports era. There have been very important legal challenges won, which contribute to this notion that women and men and sports coexist equally. Indeed, just as a man, I can buy a courtside seat, be treated royally by the Rose Garden staff and equally enjoy a Blazers’ basketball game without anyone giving my presence a second thought. However, what we have now is something subtle yet just as damaging as outright discrimination. As the female sports fan, we are encouraged to enter the man cave, encouraged to be included, but are ultimately expected to submit to the misogynistic sports culture. No matter how un-sexist our inclusion in the sports world may appear, we are still subjected, with little regard for the negative message’s impact, to sexist displays and crass behavior and we are expected to accept it as a part of the sports world.
The message this sends to women and men is that women are permitted to partake, but no concessions will be made. It is a theme seen across the world, in every industry. And when I see the Blazer Dancers perform overly-sexual routines and pretend to “lead our cheering”, I can’t help but become angry. How dare you expect me to be okay with this? I do not believe degradation should come with the price of the ticket. The cheerleaders aren’t necessary, in any sport, to attract or retain viewers, so what is the point? A rhetorical question I am sure. Because these women are selected not by a panel of professional cheerleaders and classically trained dancers; they are chosen by the local beat reporter with no dance training what-so-ever. Back at the arena, I am supposed to see these women jumping around and think they are there because they can really dance and their body is a physically fit one, that they are what beautiful looks like.
Our society is not even close to dispelling this insidious illusion of equality. Indeed, I'm not sure most people even recognize its existence. While millions of women are breaking stereotypes and becoming avid fans, we are not treated equally, are not given fair consideration, and still subjected to demeaning displays. There will not be true equality in the modern sports era until the dance squads include both sexes and actually dance, until ridiculous souvenirs aren’t necessary to lure women to the stands, until the need for a “man cave” becomes completely irrelevant.
-Sophia
