Gender Diversity In Sport Essay

The article written by Grindstaff and West, Cheerleading and the Gendered Politics of Sport, spells out the ideas of gender diversity in sports along with the expression of different genders specifically in Cheerleading itself. Before title IX women were judged and sometimes even not permitted to participate in sports at the collegiate or even varsity high school levels. The title prevented any persecution to come to any women who participated in school funded events including athletics or even certain school clubs. After the passing of the title many females joined cheerleading making it a female dominated sport. In turn cheerleading switched from a sport which was created to emphasize character building and leadership to being based off the notions of physical attractiveness and sex appeal (Grindstaff and West, 309). This specific change in the ideals and the view that the public has of cheerleading distinctively shows the social divide between the two genders. Dividing the genders urged the creation of largely socially
In these interviews they asked males and females that participated in two differing types of cheerleading what social pressures and stereotypes that they felt. These interviews are an example of a qualitative method in which the research that was conducted did not produce data in which could be numerically analyzed. Overall, men who participated in cheerleading felt very strong social stereotyping of all male cheerleaders being gay. This was in turn called the “gay cheerleader syndrome”. Women who participated in cheerleading however were always highly sexualized and believed to be there for entertaining the men. Male cheerleaders work to preserve their masculinity in the sport by throwing impressive stunts, lifting weights with a sports team, and displaying a sense of hyper