Yes folks, it seems cheerleading is to blame for teen pregnancies, dropouts, and STD’s. Talk about perpetuating a stereotype.
So let me see if I can get this straight: the slight sexuality of cheerleading routines is causing the spread of STD’s, amongst other things. And so, Texas wants to outlaw these routines. Don’t get me wrong, cheerleaders have caused me distraction in my time, but I’m still STD free, I never dropped out of school, and I’ve never been pregnant – though that’s probably more because I’m male. Is this another case of trying to find something to blame for other downfalls of our society? Perhaps an improvement in education, possibly some better parenting (stricter! spank those kids, damn it!) and toss in a bit of understanding.
It’s generally accepted that womens sexual peak is around the age of 19, with men’s being about the same (give or take). Now, most religions believe that sex before marraige is wrong – and that’s all fine and dandy. But we have people not getting married until their late 20’s or even later, whereas marraiges used to occur more in the late teens early 20’s. So at our sexual peaks, in high school, we are not looking towards marraige – which, if we were, would be a reason to be less promiscious and choose a mate – and instead we are just looking to satisfy the sexual urges. So perhaps this problem is a result of a change in society. Truly, though, all of this is because of some cheerleading routines that might be enticing, wouldn’t you know?
While they’re at it, they better quickly outlaw any forms of dancing that may be sexually enticing. And those short skirts, we better get rid of those too. Not to mention those spaghetti string tops that girls wear during the summer. I can keep going….but I digress.
My point is simply this: no clothes, no dancing, no cheerleading routines are too blame for the spread of STD’s, the increase in teen pregnancies, or teenagers dropping out of school. Society needs to understand that we are, in fact, still human and so are subject to our very basic physiological needs and desires. We can try to control them, but not everyone is strong enough to do so. Perhaps we need to better study Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to understand how human priorities are set. Either way, creating a law that makes illegal certain cheerleading routines due to some level of sexuality is not the answer. More control is never an answer.
