Cheerleaders

Another brilliant expose on the pitfalls of cheerleading. This actually got me more angry than the conspiracy episode they did. We're talking about our most valuable resources; children. And not just children, but young girls heading into womanhood. How can a society let the abuse that these vivacious and good spirited young females take place?

The injuries, and the defacto corporate monopolistic juggernaut that is "Varsity" controlling the entire cheer-leading industry, the personal tolls on families, and the whole corruption of not only corporate cheerleading America, but also the inanity of feminism trying to dip their uncomely claws into a sport from which they were probably rejected, is just ludicrous beyond belief.

Being a guy, I admit it. I had many a crush on many a cheerleader, and, in fact, fell deeply in love with one, but if I had known that she was exposed to the sort of dangers put in this episode, I would have gone ballistic.

I cannot believe these girls continue to expose themselves to the dangers of being tossed high in the air, or doing multiple flips with a callous female "coach" to tell them to get up. To that woman in particular, you could get away with that with any boy over age five. But a young girl? That's just barbaric.

Again, very enlightening. And again, it's Penn and Teller doing a Showtime cable show, so you know there's going to be swearing and nudity, BUT, if you're a parent, and your young girl is expressing an interest in cheerleading, please do yourself a favor and watch this show first before deciding whether or not to let her try out.

Enjoy.

No one presents like Penn & Teller. Today's cheerleaders have certainly rose above vocal cheers and shaking pom-poms, probably even more so today than when this episode aired in 2010. Watch season 8 episode 9 Cheerleaders and decide for yourself if cheerleaders are athletes. The arguments presented are very persuasive.

I am losing my Hulu subscription in 3 days and was looking for things to watch and although I can't stand Penn because of his foul mouth, I am all about the way he exposes myths. So I looked through the episode titles and picked out 18 of the 89 available ones that piqued my curiosity. I was all prepared to believe the one on Organic foods was the best and then I watched this one last and it blew that one out of first place. I was not even going to write a review of the Organic Foods one.

"Cheerleaders" would be more accurately titled "Cheerleading" since it isn't about cheerleaders as much as it is about the corporate body of cheerleading as a whole. The episode is focused on how cheerleading is not designated as a "sport" under Title 9 and how that specific issue leaves girls vulnerable to risk of injury, and that risk is far greater than what the general public has any clue. The statistics sited are mind boggling: Cheerleaders accounted for 30,000 ER visits in 2009, more than all other 10 sports combined: Soccer, Basketball, Softball, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Track & Field, Volleyball, Swimming, Field Hockey, and Ice Hockey.

If Cheerleading was given "sport" status, it would be regulated by the individual states, have coaches who were properly trained and certified in health, safety, first aid, CPR, etc. , have the proper medical equipment and risk/injury prevention apparatus on site (like spotters) and these injuries would be not only less likely to occur, but far less serious when they do. The motivations from those who want to keep cheerleading from being designated a sport are the same ones you might guess: profit and control.

America is sending their little girls off to cheerleading camps at very young ages and watching them grow up in the ranks as cheerleaders doing stunts requiring an extreme level of difficulty and athleticism and with coaches who have no more than a 3 hour training class on a Saturday morning. Its egregious.