Wondering what folk thought about this news story in which a NW {NW = Northwestern University What Exit?} cheerleader sued the school for alleged harassment.
She contends female cheerleaders were required to mingle w/ drunken tailgaters and alums, where she experienced physical and verbal harassment.
She contends that distress over these incidents caused her to bomb the LSAT. She remains on the squad. At least one other cheerleader corroborated her complaints. If this would happen at an academically rigorous school like NW, I would have to imagine it occurs at other schools as well.
My personal impression has been that, in addition to their athleticism and spirit, many if not most cheerleaders intentionally display a significant element of sexuality. No, that should not excuse harassment. But it struck me as odd that the complainant objected to being required to dress in skimpy outfits, or pay attention to their looks, at tailgaters and alumni functions. Does she also object to wearing the same outfits on national TV?
(Curiously, we have friends coming over this p.m., whose daughter was a cheerleader at this school. Will be interesting to get their take on this.)
Correction, the uniform shows off the female form, legs, for even the littlest cheer girls. And yes the uniforms on pro and college cheer teams reveal abdomen, bust and I don’t see much butt.
So where’s the sexuality in that?
Or perhaps you mean when the cheerleaders are told to get friendly with the tailgating fans that then they are perceived to be sharing their sexuality?
Okay - I guess I’m alone in my perversity. And I guess there is no basis for the common trope of women dressing as cheerleaders for sexual role play. And I guess various hip movements I see HS and college cheerleaders do are just dance/gymnastic moves with no sexual overtones.
I’m not “blaming/shaming the victim.” But I think it naive to suggest there is no sexuality involved in being the only people dressed skimpily in a large largely male group. Am I truly the only person who thinks there is an element of sexuality intended in the manner in which cheerleaders dress and present themselves?
You are certainly not alone in swimming in a vast sea of masculine willful ignorance, lack of empathy and victim-blaming. That sea is populated by nearly half the world’s population.
My read is this that the issue is not that she was asked to dress a certain way, it’s that was was told to give the “girlfriend” experience to alumni and donors. Maybe not have sex with them, but flirt and act receptive to sexual banter. That seems like an unreasonable requirement for a cheerleader. Wearing a revealing outfit on national TV is not the same as being required to let someone specific say creepy shit about your body and having to act like you enjoy it.
My take on what @Dinsdale said is that cheerleaders are required to dress in that way and then told to pal around with the tailgate crowd. That doesn’t seem like blaming the victim, but blaming the school authorities who impose this regime on the cheerleaders.
But, dressing in those outfits for games, rallies, etc. is for a performance. The audience is distant; there is no physical contact. Being FORCED to mingle with drunken boosters reeks of “escort”, which is not what she signed up for.
You don’t see any difference between having someone see a little skin from a distance, vs. being required to mingle within touching distance of a bunch of drunk and grabby men?
It strikes me as obvious that there would be a difference between observers who are miles away from you and have no possibility of physical contact (on national tv) and cannot make comments, “suggestions,” or insults directly to your face and “observers” who right there next to you, who are all too happy to tell you exactly what they think, and are in a position of power in the situation (they’re wealthy alumni that the college is courting - you’re the bait.)
They want to be cheerleaders, they know it requires wearing the uniform. But they should not be subject to harassment for doing so. If they are expected to attend events in their uniforms they should expect someone will make sure they are treated properly. I don’t think you can stop all the ogling, but if a drunken alum is bothering a cheerleader, they should be able to tell someone who will step in and make sure it stops. Strip clubs have bouncers, someone harassing a stripper will end up outside on his ass, There’s no excuse for cheerleaders to be treated more shabbily than strippers (who should not be treated shabbily either).
As others have said, she’s suing because she felt she was being put in a situation that goes beyond her regular cheer leading duties.
I trust that you meant no harm and that you don’t condone harassment, but in a way, you kinda are victim blaming here, whether you’re aware of it or not.
Take another gander at the OP then because your take is completely your own thought bubble.
My take is he thought the lawsuit was frivolous waste of time because she was basically asking for it by wearing a cheerleaders uniform when fraternizing with fans.
Saying that, given the nature of cheerleading outfits, cheerleaders should consider the expectation that they participate in social events where sexualy changed behavior from alums is tolerated and even encouraged to be trivial. That considering that they show their stuff to the world on national TV, it’s being precious to object to having specific individuals say sexual stuff to them in person.
I don’t think he’s consciously aware of it; as someone else said up thread, a lot of guys would probably put what happened to her in the category of ‘boys will be boys’ and she shouldn’t be so naive as to believe that she won’t be smacked on the ass once in a while for being a cheerleader. It’s blaming her for the aggression of those who harassed her. She signed up to cheer, not to get spanked and pinched.
I used to be the “host” of the corporate tailgate tent at the NFL games for my company. This meant I would arrange the event and be there on the day making sure everything regarding food, drink, etc went well. Our senior salespeople or executives would schmooze with the customers or prospects and then take them into the games.
Sometimes we’d pay extra to have an ex-player drop by, sometimes the mascot, but always a couple of cheerleaders. Our corporate guests would take pictures with them, and several times a guest decided to touch the cheerleaders inappropriately. These guys were C-level executives for medium sized businesses (say $100m-$500m in revenue in the mid 1990s) and had massive egos.
The cheerleaders would point out the offender to the security staff and they’d be turfed out immediately, their names taken and permanently banned from the stadium.
After a change in ownership the situation changed gradually. It started to take on the atmosphere of a bad strip club. Fortunately by then I was no longer assigned hosting duties when this happened. A lot of the salespeople were uncomfortable with it, but they didn’t want to tangle with the CEO/CFO/CIO/COO of their biggest customer.