Cheer Leading Stereotypes

Cheer leaders often get a bad reputation around school and in the public. They are often portrayed in a negative light  and seen to be something they most likely are not. A stereotypical cheer leader usually seen as mean, cliquey, provocative and not smart. These stereotypes are not true of cheer leaders, but where do people come up with these? Movies are the main source of where these stereotypes are generated from.

Movies such as "Bring it On" and "Fired Up" make people think that cheer leading is something it isn't. These movies are where the public get these negative stereotypes about cheer leaders. In both of these movies most of the things shown do not actually happen. For example, there are no dance battles between cheer teams. The cheer team does not do provocative dance moves during their routines, nor do they wear provocative clothing. There is no sacred spirit stick that if you lose it bad things will happen to your team. Movies place a negative images on cheer leaders making the public think down on cheer.

Lots of sports teams are seen as cliquey and cheer leading is among those teams.

In movies the cheer team only talks to other cheer leaders and our very unapproachable but this isn't true. Actually most cheer leaders do not hang out outside of cheer they would rather be apart. Although you do have some very close friends on cheer that you always hang out with there are others you only see at practice and games. They do not travel in a pack around school and town everyone goes their separate ways after practice. Cheer leaders are not like the mean girls in movies walking around the hallways in packs making people move out of their way or fighting other cheer leaders.

The stereotype that cheer leaders are provocative is beyond false but since the movies show it that is what people believe. Cheer leaders wear very covered uniforms unlike in the movies where they have on very tiny uniforms. Cheer leaders practices in shorts and t shirts not barely anything. They also do not go around hooking up with all the boys on sports teams. In "Bring it On" and "Fired Up" the cheer leaders are shown shaking their butts and stretching for the boys, this doesn't happen.

As seen in movies all cheer leaders are shown as the dumb girls and it isn't true. Anyone is capable of being smart whether they are involved in cheer or not. There are some girls who are not the smartest but that is not due to being apart of cheer. Cheer leaders are not going around school paying the smart kids to do their homework, they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves. In fact I graduated with multiple cheer leaders that were valedictorians.

Cheer leaders are far from what is shown in the movies but people continue to think of them so negatively. Movies portray them so negatively that the public thinks this is what goes on. Hopefully a movies comes out one day showing the world how different cheer leading really is.