Earlier than the 1950s, cheerleading existed as a predominantly male sport (Davis 1990). Conversely, due to the feminization and sexualization of cheerleading in the years since, men who cheer are deemed as gender nonconformists. This nonconformity from gender norms affects the stigma, which, according to Goffman (1963), arises when an individual acquires an undesired deviation from what is foreseen as the standard. Significant effort goes into disputing the stigma. Davis (1990, 1994), for example, discovered that male cheerleaders essentially create and validate their masculinity as they cheer by accentuating the sex-based partition of cheering behaviors. Cheerleaders are anticipated to tumble, execute stunts, chant, inspire crowd involvement,
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The bulk of this research is fixated on the increased participation of women in male-dominated sports and the resulting consequences. Central to this study is the way that male and female cheerleaders contemplate issues such as gender, sexuality and stigma. This study varies from past work on male cheerleaders by concentrating not only on the gendered separation of labor in the sport, but also on insights and tactics used to build and preserve the gender …show more content…
Boys who cheer carry a shameful identity as a result to their nonconformity from gendered proscribed roles regarding gender participation in female dominant athletic activities. This identity given is "disgraceful" since it is not labels that all essentially know about, however if recognizable, it can be problematic. Throughout the one-on-one interviews, the boys and girls that spent their recesses learning how to become cheerleaders expressed the undesirable outcomes associated with being a male cheerleader. This even occurs with prior research demonstrating that men are condemned because of their involvement in what is considered a girlie sport. (Goffman) Consequently, boy cheerleaders are labeled as non-masculine and gay for "crossing over" into feminine territory. The following comment captures some very specific judgmental comments. There is a fifth grader named Isaac that frequently visits the cheer designated area during recess because he’s mesmerized how “people flip”. According Isaac, he said during his one-on-one interview that “everyone thinks that cheerleading is more of a girl's sport than a boy’s sport. Any guy that wants to join is teased a lot, which is really sad. Boy cheerleaders are really brave because they have to deal with being bullied and getting called “gay”. The comments bother them, but
The bulk of this research is fixated on the increased participation of women in male-dominated sports and the resulting consequences. Central to this study is the way that male and female cheerleaders contemplate issues such as gender, sexuality and stigma. This study varies from past work on male cheerleaders by concentrating not only on the gendered separation of labor in the sport, but also on insights and tactics used to build and preserve the gender …show more content…
Boys who cheer carry a shameful identity as a result to their nonconformity from gendered proscribed roles regarding gender participation in female dominant athletic activities. This identity given is "disgraceful" since it is not labels that all essentially know about, however if recognizable, it can be problematic. Throughout the one-on-one interviews, the boys and girls that spent their recesses learning how to become cheerleaders expressed the undesirable outcomes associated with being a male cheerleader. This even occurs with prior research demonstrating that men are condemned because of their involvement in what is considered a girlie sport. (Goffman) Consequently, boy cheerleaders are labeled as non-masculine and gay for "crossing over" into feminine territory. The following comment captures some very specific judgmental comments. There is a fifth grader named Isaac that frequently visits the cheer designated area during recess because he’s mesmerized how “people flip”. According Isaac, he said during his one-on-one interview that “everyone thinks that cheerleading is more of a girl's sport than a boy’s sport. Any guy that wants to join is teased a lot, which is really sad. Boy cheerleaders are really brave because they have to deal with being bullied and getting called “gay”. The comments bother them, but