The ability to categorize and evaluate is an important part of human intelligence. We've been hearing about stereotypes, how we all make judgments about people on how they look or talk and the assumption is that these things are all bad. Or we typically observe groups of people and assume that they are a certain type of way simply on untruth and what we see in movies and television. Stereotypes and misconceptions are everywhere. Whether it’s school or work, our thoughts and judgment of other people wonder like its human nature. As shown in TV and movies, our minds can instinctively depict how certain kinds of people and race act. We all use categories—of people, places, things—to make sense of the world around us. But it’s not all true, so …show more content…
At every football game, rally, and school activity. The loud and proud, the energy, the pompoms, and yes, the tight mini skirts. We have our cheerleaders full of team spirit! Say if you didn’t know a cheerleader well and you were to ask someone, “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cheerleaders?”. They’ll most likely tell you they think of airheads, snobs, preppy, mean, pretty, mini skirts, sluts, loud, pompoms, annoying, popular, dumb, gay, fake, skinny, blonde, American, girly, and drama. Cheerleaders may be portrayed as these things, but they aren’t complete reality. These are stereotypes and misconceptions that are true and untrue and are quite …show more content…
Ask some cheerleaders what comes to their mind when they think cheerleaders. Gonzalez thinks, “sassy, loud, and outgoing”. Others said, “dedication, bruises, acrobatics, stretches, hard work, makeup, elite skills, adrenaline, power, hard work, competitive, effort, and creative. Next ask,” What does it take to be a cheerleader?” Gonzalez said,” They have to be able to pick up routines fast, dedication, and have some type of skill in dance or gymnastics.” Most people believe that you have to be skinny and have blonde hair. In reality, cheerleaders are not just skinny. They're all types of male and female personalities. They do not have to have blonde hair or white. Cheerleaders are in all types of races, all types of skin color, eye color, and hair color. Coaches do not go off on your appearance. They go by your dedication, attitude, and skill. Now ask the cheerleaders,” How do you feel when majority of people stereotypically believe that you are stupid, snobby, annoying, mean, and slutty. Gonzalez sighed and said,” It's annoying because not everyone is like that. Most people feel that way because how cheerleaders are in the movies. Yes, some may be all those things but many are really nice, smart,
For competitive cheer you have to athletic if you want to be good. The cheerleaders are non stop tumbling, stunting, jumping, or dancing for more than two minutes. They never have a break in the routine that is pushed to the max with all the difficulty you can make and all of the legal things you can do in a routine. The sport
When I arrived at my new and enormous high school, I got lost. It was June, and since classes had just ended for the day, large crowds of kids filled up the hallways, and I got bumped around like I did not exist. Thankfully, a cheerleader saw me and figured that I had come there for tryouts since I wore shorts, cheer shoes and a big bow in my hair. She took me to the gym where at least sixty girls had shown up for the competition. The first things I saw were cheerleaders doing high level tumbling on the gym floor with no fear. The upperclassmen led us in warm-ups, and they seemed nice. A lot of the girls I met had been cheering since they were five and six years old. I saw a lot of talent in the room, so I knew it would not be easy to
Being a cheerleader means setting an example. Cheerleaders conduct themselves in a respectable way and are very proud so that they can be good leaders on and off the sidelines. We are proud to represent our school and proud to be cheerleaders. We are the epitome of school spirit and we lead the other students in our school to be more spirited and show what it means so be enthusiastic in school. We lead the crowd and of course, we lead the cheering!
Have you ever just thought and engaged on curiosity on how it feels like to stand and balance on hands of people? Being thrown high in the air with just trusting three people to catch you? Lifting people together while exhibiting strength and trusting that the stunt won’t completely fall? Lastly, having the guts to cheer, shout and to put on that cheerful smile despite all the pain and sacrifices you made just to complete the routine? These people are extraordinary athletes. These athletes just don’t perform difficult stunts but they also uniquely combine the factor of performing and getting the crowd’s attention through their routine. They are called Cheerleaders. Most of the people who aren’t familiar of the content of the sport would think that Cheerleading is just for the purpose of performing and cheering for their own team or school, but to Cheerleaders, it’s more than just those conditions. It’s just something more special than that. It’s a vision and of course, pure passion.
Movies portray cheerleaders as the popular girls that everyone likes and aspires to be. But when reality hits at Salem High School, it’s a completely different story. Cheerleading was taken as a joke by the other athletes and even students. It was considered a hobby, but to me it was a passion and something I worked hard to be. Being on the cheer squad in high school was difficult to deal with in school because we were constantly being snubbed by the other athletes and students in our school ever since we were kids in junior high which should not happen because everyone has the right to do what they love and they should not be judged for it being different than everyone else. It was always us versus them up until my junior year of high school when we finally earned the respect of our peers.
I believe that cheerleaders provide hope and gleam when it’s required the most. Cheerleaders are kind-hearted and continuously display it without hesitation. If you think about it, cheerleading is the only sport where it’s mandatory to smile; Whether it’s scorching hot or freezing cold. When on duty as a cheerleader, there is no time to slack off. The games would never be as enjoyable without the cheerleader executing their full
While the definition of a sport may vary by the person, the dictionary definition for a sport can be best described as, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment” (Oxford Dictionary). Cheerleading has been a topic of an ongoing controversial debate as to whether or not it should be recognized as a sport. Players that engage in sports, such as, football, basketball, and baseball all display a genuine liking for their sport, which generally emphasizes why they take part in the activity. Similarly, cheerleaders have this same mindset, but society tends to overlook their passion through the generation of the argument that cheerleading does not require
RAH! RAH! GO TEAM! This is what most people think of when they hear the word cheerleading. Movies usually give people the impression that cheerleaders are just stuck up blondes that rule the school and cheer at football and basketball games.
Many think of cheerleading as just an activity which is nearly mindless. They do not recognize the hard work and skill that is crucial in becoming a first-class cheerleader. They believe that there is no ability or athleticism that is needed. They almost demean cheerleaders as unintelligent. They believe that cheerleaders are only out to look pretty and to entertain a crowd.
There is two things in this world that you should be scared of. The first thing is spiders, and the second is a cheerleader who has just been told cheerleading is not a sport. There are approximately 400,000 individuals in the Unites States in this day and age that participate in high school cheerleading (www.varsity.com). If you ask, most of them would tell you that they work their butts off, and they would say that cheerleading is a sport. In some cases some cheerleaders are fighting for their right to be called athletes because their school districts tell them that they aren’t. By doing this the school districts are portraying the message that cheerleading is a joke, and that it isn’t a real sport. It sets stereotypes for cheerleaders, and they have to work to overcome those stereotypes everyday. The school districts all over US not classifying cheerleading as a sport are in the wrong. For several reasons, all school districts should recognize cheerleading
Reilly’s Sports Illustrated column is not only inaccurate and full of unreliable information, but also he targeted cheerleaders based on one of his personal opinions. He didn’t write his article based on statistics and reliable information. Reilly simply wrote it based on what he thought with very few sources. In the first sentence he states “Every Friday night on America’s high school football fields, it’s the same old story. Broken bones. Senseless violence. Clashing egos.” To an extent this may be true for some cheerleaders, but the way that this opening statement is worded, it makes it sound like Reilly is saying this for every cheerleader out there. If this state...
Cheerleaders are usually referred to as dumb, skinny, and un-athletic. The most commonly known cheerleaders are scholastic cheerleaders, or cheerleaders that cheer for school functions. Girls that cheer for their schools are often ridiculed for wearing too much make-up, or being stuck up. A large number stereotypes are given to cheerleaders through movies. Several people say that the typical cheerleader is skinny, and un-intelligent. Not all cheerleaders have a specific image, they’re all unique. Cheerleaders can come in a multitude of different sizes and shapes. To be a cheerleader being skinny is not a requirement. An innumerable amount of schools have cheerleaders who are bigger, these cheerleaders are the base of the pyramid-literally. Not to mention most cheerleaders are actually smarter than everyone thinks. Many cheerleaders are placed in honors classes and in advanced placement classes. Another stereotype introduced to cheerleading is that boys can’t be cheerleaders, and if there is a boy cheerleader, he’s often called gay ("Omni Cheer Blog"). Uniquely, boys are the sole reason that cheerleaders exist. Boys invented cheerleading to raise awareness and support for sports teams. Likewise, not all cheerleaders prance around in a short skirt, like everyone thinks. There are athletes who take the sport seriously. As of right now the odds are against competitive cheerleading to be considered a sport. People and schools refuse to accept competitive cheerleading as a confirmed sport because the “new” sport will require new guidelines and rules ("Competitive Cheerleading
The young people of the cheer world have helped create a new and exciting way to show spirit, which needs to be recognized. Cheerleading is a sport. A sport that is still coming out of the wood work. This sport is only going to grow with or without recognition. To cheerleaders it's official, and now it's time for the whole world to be on the same page.
The New York Times states that cheerleading is the fastest growing girls’ sport, yet more than half of Americans do not believe it is a sport. A sport is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” (dictionary.com). Cheerleading at a competitive level is physically demanding and requires team work to be the best. The misconception of cheerleaders being weak, nonathletic crowd entertainers makes people believe cheerleaders are not athletes and that cheerleading is just a hobby but cheerleaders that compete at a competitive level are in fact athletes because it meets the standards of what a sport is, which includes rules and regulations, and overcoming air resistance.
Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping are important topics at the cause of debating within social psychology. A stereotype is a generalization about a group of people, in which certain traits cling to all members, regardless of actual individual variation (Akert, Aronson, & Wilson, 2010). As humans, people assign objects and individuals into categories to organize the environment. Individuals do this for not only organization, but also survival. Is stereotyping inevitable? That is the question; according to Devine (2007), it is, but Lepore and Brown (2007) have to disagree. Devine believes that “stereotyping is automatic, which makes it inevitable.” On the other hand, Lepore and Brown are not convinced that stereotyping is automatic, and have claimed, after observation, that it depends on the individual.