Objectification of Women’s Bodies
“Ideas matter. Ideas that depict women as less than men influence men to treat women as less than men. Ideas that objectify women result in women being treated like objects (sex objects, mostly).”
Beth Allison Barr, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth
I grew up in the ‘girly’ and sexualized sport of cheer. I was 4 when I began and 18 when I retired. Makeup was required and my uniform showed my stomach since age 8. Through the years, venues made it mandatory for athletes to have their stomach’s covered when not competing due to young athletes being sexualized. When I transferred gyms it was required we cover our stomachs at practice. As an older athlete, we were only allowed to practice in sports bras if we were the only team in the gym. This has since changed due to the overbearing heat in the summer. However, as a coach I worry about my athletes. I’ve heard and experienced firsthand blatant sexism and sexualization of my athletes. For a short time I worked alongside a male coach who’d gotten complaints from many athletes. When I met him for the first time I was 18 and I believe he was about 30. He’d say off-putting statements such as “you look 15” and almost seemed happy when he realized I was an adult. He was fired shortly after I filed a complaint. I am lucky that the gym was on top of things and believed each and every complaint. Yet, that is not the case for gyms across the country. A highly publicized case is that of Jerry Harris from the Netflix show ‘Cheer.’ While the world was in disbelief, me and fellow cheerleaders were unpleasantly not surprised. He’s not the first nor the last. His actions were brought public while many others get swept under the rug.