The Cheer Reader
Inside an American Institution
Will be published approx. on 6. October 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-4773-3457-7 (ISBN)
Description
Wide-ranging essays on cheerleading, from the pep rally to the NFL sidelines to All-Star competitions, and why it matters.
A staple of Americana, cheerleading is right up there with Fourth of July fireworks and a slice of apple pie. Yet this often cliched image of cheer belies its complex history and current status as a global industry made up of diverse participants and forms. Indeed, cheerleading-its culture, controversies, and evolution-has always offered a revealing lens on race, class, gender, and sexuality in American society.
Cheerleading was born in 1869 as a diversion for Ivy League men. The Cheer Reader collects fourteen wide-ranging essays on what happened next and why it matters: how cheer became feminized, sexualized, professionalized, even radicalized. Contributors examine the role of cheer in the Civil Rights Movement, a landmark student free speech case, and the emergence of queer cheer teams in the 2000s. Other essays consider cheer's record rate of injuries, social media "cheerlebrities" and eating disorders, and the working conditions of NFL and NBA cheerleaders. Amid these tensions between empowerment and objectification, cheer is only getting more popular, with some seven million participants worldwide. The Cheer Reader is a nuanced account of the activity they share and what it means today.
A staple of Americana, cheerleading is right up there with Fourth of July fireworks and a slice of apple pie. Yet this often cliched image of cheer belies its complex history and current status as a global industry made up of diverse participants and forms. Indeed, cheerleading-its culture, controversies, and evolution-has always offered a revealing lens on race, class, gender, and sexuality in American society.
Cheerleading was born in 1869 as a diversion for Ivy League men. The Cheer Reader collects fourteen wide-ranging essays on what happened next and why it matters: how cheer became feminized, sexualized, professionalized, even radicalized. Contributors examine the role of cheer in the Civil Rights Movement, a landmark student free speech case, and the emergence of queer cheer teams in the 2000s. Other essays consider cheer's record rate of injuries, social media "cheerlebrities" and eating disorders, and the working conditions of NFL and NBA cheerleaders. Amid these tensions between empowerment and objectification, cheer is only getting more popular, with some seven million participants worldwide. The Cheer Reader is a nuanced account of the activity they share and what it means today.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4773-3457-7 (9781477334577)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Natalie G. Adams is a professor of Social and Cultural Studies in Education at the University of Alabama. She is the coauthor of Cheerleader! An American Icon and Just Trying to Have School: The Struggle for Desegregation in Mississippi, and a coeditor of Geographies of Girlhood: Identities In-Between.
Content
List of Illustrations
Introduction. Cheer Obsession (Natalie G. Adams)
Cheer Note #1. The Big Cheer Umbrella
Part I. Made in the USA: The Gendered and Raced Politics of Cheer
Chapter 1. From Campus Leaders to Rowdy Boys: Masculinity in College Cheerleading (Dwaine Plaza, Kathleen Stanley, and Michelle Inderbitzin)
Chapter 2. Sidelined No More: Cheerleading, Embodied Activism, and the Politics of Racial Belonging (Amira Rose Davis and Paulina A. Serrano)
Cheer Note #2. The College Mascot
Chapter 3. Pump It Up: Cheerleading Fights for Sports Legitimacy (Amy Moritz and Natalie G. Adams)
Cheer Note #3. Cheer Lingo
Chapter 4. Between Legitimacy and Femininity: Cheerleading and the Politics of Gender in Sport (Emily West and Laura Grindstaff)
Part II. The Other Cheerleaders: Sex, Work, and Protest
Chapter 5. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making America's Sweethearts (Lauren R. Nowosatka)
Cheer Note #4. Cheer Stunts: Speaking the Language
Chapter 6. "Look Like a Supermodel but Perform Like an Athlete": Professional Cheerleading in a Post-#MeToo World (Lauren C. Hindman)
Chapter 7. We're Here, We're Queer, Get Used to It: LGBTQ Adult Performance Teams in the United States (Laura Grindstaff)
Cheer Note #5. Cheerleaders as Social Activists
Chapter 8. Engendering the Body Politic: The Case of Radical Cheerleaders (Laura Grindstaff)
Part III. Not Just Any Girl: Mediated Representations of Cheerleaders
Chapter 9. Queering the All-American Girl: Cheerleading, Same-Sex Desire, and the (Not So) Good Girl (Barbara J. Brickman)
Cheer Note #6. Cheerleaders in Popular Culture
Chapter 10. Cheerleading and the Body: Disordered Eating, Public Surveillance, and Self-Regulation (Caitlyn M. Jarvis and Ashleigh N. Shields)
Cheer Note #7. The Booty Bill
Chapter 11. For the Love of Cheer: An Insider's View (Isabelle Bennington)
Part IV. Cheer Trouble
Chapter 12. Gimme an F: Cheerleading Goes to the Supreme Court (Zoie Comer and Stanley J. Murphy)
Cheer Note #8. Famous Cheerleaders
Chapter 13. Monopolizing Spirit: Varsity and the Building of a Cheerocracy (Natalie G. Adams)
Conclusion. Cheer Matters: Now and in the Future(Natalie G. Adams)
Cheer Notes Answer Key
Contributors
Index
Introduction. Cheer Obsession (Natalie G. Adams)
Cheer Note #1. The Big Cheer Umbrella
Part I. Made in the USA: The Gendered and Raced Politics of Cheer
Chapter 1. From Campus Leaders to Rowdy Boys: Masculinity in College Cheerleading (Dwaine Plaza, Kathleen Stanley, and Michelle Inderbitzin)
Chapter 2. Sidelined No More: Cheerleading, Embodied Activism, and the Politics of Racial Belonging (Amira Rose Davis and Paulina A. Serrano)
Cheer Note #2. The College Mascot
Chapter 3. Pump It Up: Cheerleading Fights for Sports Legitimacy (Amy Moritz and Natalie G. Adams)
Cheer Note #3. Cheer Lingo
Chapter 4. Between Legitimacy and Femininity: Cheerleading and the Politics of Gender in Sport (Emily West and Laura Grindstaff)
Part II. The Other Cheerleaders: Sex, Work, and Protest
Chapter 5. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making America's Sweethearts (Lauren R. Nowosatka)
Cheer Note #4. Cheer Stunts: Speaking the Language
Chapter 6. "Look Like a Supermodel but Perform Like an Athlete": Professional Cheerleading in a Post-#MeToo World (Lauren C. Hindman)
Chapter 7. We're Here, We're Queer, Get Used to It: LGBTQ Adult Performance Teams in the United States (Laura Grindstaff)
Cheer Note #5. Cheerleaders as Social Activists
Chapter 8. Engendering the Body Politic: The Case of Radical Cheerleaders (Laura Grindstaff)
Part III. Not Just Any Girl: Mediated Representations of Cheerleaders
Chapter 9. Queering the All-American Girl: Cheerleading, Same-Sex Desire, and the (Not So) Good Girl (Barbara J. Brickman)
Cheer Note #6. Cheerleaders in Popular Culture
Chapter 10. Cheerleading and the Body: Disordered Eating, Public Surveillance, and Self-Regulation (Caitlyn M. Jarvis and Ashleigh N. Shields)
Cheer Note #7. The Booty Bill
Chapter 11. For the Love of Cheer: An Insider's View (Isabelle Bennington)
Part IV. Cheer Trouble
Chapter 12. Gimme an F: Cheerleading Goes to the Supreme Court (Zoie Comer and Stanley J. Murphy)
Cheer Note #8. Famous Cheerleaders
Chapter 13. Monopolizing Spirit: Varsity and the Building of a Cheerocracy (Natalie G. Adams)
Conclusion. Cheer Matters: Now and in the Future(Natalie G. Adams)
Cheer Notes Answer Key
Contributors
Index