Is cheerleading gay? Nahhh. But it does, I think, align itself naturally toward a feminine manner. Just as playing a combat sport like football, aligns itself toward a fairly hyper-masculine manner. Strength....speed...power...courage...cunning......and the girls cheering you on!
I won't try to put a egghead anthropology professor spin on the thing, but it isn't hard to imagine the instincts that inspire the whole football players and cheerleaders fun is similar to the women of a thousand years ago Viking village dancing about (and maybe kind of sexily !!) to encourage and inspire their warrior men of the tribe to go out there and battle on their behalf. haha
I'm sure there were lots of ladies in the street cheering when the legions came home to Rome.
What I suspect is cringey to many watching these guys is that all their moves and style was feminine when they clearly were guys.
Maybe if they were like the big strong dudes Megan and Mary Lou are talking about, lifting the girls up, flipping and spinning them around all over the place like college cheer squads do, it wouldn't go over with such a thud.
I don't think it's about gay so much as being outside the yin and yang of the masculine-feminine stylistic dynamic.
I'm sure there are some gays, including ones who play football, who are raising an eyebrow to this move.
Is cheerleading gay? Nahhh. But it does, I think, align itself naturally toward a feminine manner. Just as playing a combat sport like football, aligns itself toward a fairly hyper-masculine manner. Strength....speed...power...courage...cunning......and the girls cheering you on!
I won't try to put a egghead anthropology professor spin on the thing, but it isn't hard to imagine the instincts that inspire the whole football players and cheerleaders fun is similar to the women of a thousand years ago Viking village dancing about (and maybe kind of sexily !!) to encourage and inspire their warrior men of the tribe to go out there and battle on their behalf. haha
I'm sure there were lots of ladies in the street cheering when the legions came home to Rome.
What I suspect is cringey to many watching these guys is that all their moves and style was feminine when they clearly were guys.
Maybe if they were like the big strong dudes Megan and Mary Lou are talking about, lifting the girls up, flipping and spinning them around all over the place like college cheer squads do, it wouldn't go over with such a thud.
I don't think it's about gay so much as being outside the yin and yang of the masculine-feminine stylistic dynamic.
I'm sure there are some gays, including ones who play football, who are raising an eyebrow to this move.