this week, a gentleman by the name of sacha heppel went head-to-head with more than 200 females, vying for a spot as a coveted denver bronco cheerleader. despite a lack of formal dance experience (though he reportedly performed as a sign-twirler for a local business), sacha shook what his momma's gave him, daring to achieve his dream to become the first male bronco cheerleader. so, why does young sacha want to be a bronco cheerleader? "first, i strongly respect the broncos and am a huge fan. and second, i love to dance. i love expression. i lose myself in the music. i'm not as experienced as some of the girls -- i only started hip-hop lessons a couple months ago -- but I just love it." and audition he did!
according to the broncos' director of cheerleaders, the auditions are an open call that anyone can come out for, with all final decisions based solely on the applicants dance ability. what about the females auditioning? were they upset that sacha was there? to the contrary! the females applicants were supportive and encouraged him (atta girls!). sadly, sacha didn't make it this year, but he is hopeful for next year!
interestingly, this story of a male entering what has typically been viewed as a traditionally all-girls club, comes only a few weeks after the 2012 masters where gender was a topic of discussion.
augusta national, the exclusive golf club which hosts the masters each year, has traditionally given membership to the ceos of the tournament's three corporate sponsors. the problem? since opening its doors in 1933, this private club has never granted membership to a woman and now, ibm (one of the corporate sponsors) is now lead by female ceo, ginni rometty - who by the way, does play golf. (it's worth noting that this is not the first time the club has drawn attention because of its exclusivity; they refused to admit black members until 1990 and had a former policy requiring all caddies to be black.) needless to say, declining to offer a membership to the new ceo says loud and clear "no girls allowed."
my point, and i do have one is...isn't this some world we live in when men are allowed to audition to be nfl cheeleaders, but a female ceo still can't sit at the boys table at a golf club when her company is a corporate sponsor of the masters? it was said that in 2008 hillary clinton left 18 million cracks in the country's largest glass ceiling. maybe by the time a woman is elected the leader of free world, she will also be allowed to be a member of augusta national…just sayin’. what’s your point?
Discrimination has always been a big part of the moral fabric of this country. The want for exclusivity quietly lives as an undertone of the American capitalist dream .
ReplyDeleteSo it's no surprise that the board at Augusta National hasn't budged yet on allowing women into their club. They don't have to because they're funded by wealthy, like-minded masters of the universe who want to play their game among themselves. Besides, if women are allowed in, they can't talk openly about banging their mistresses while scratching their balls out in the open (not their golf balls...the other ones). Instead, they will have to learn to make polite small talk with their buddy's wife who might be sitting across the patio table. That's no bueno for them.
The Denver Broncos are in a completely different boat. They require a huge amount of public support to survive as a business. Therefore, discrimination on any level would be the bane of their existence. So when Sacha ("How you doin'?" *InMyWendyWilliamsVoice*) lobbies to join the cheer squad, the team has to support him. Do any of the Broncos die hard fans want to see Sacha tooting his ass around the sideline? No. But for the sake of political correctness (and great PR), the team had to let him try.
I don't quite think any NFL team is ready for the media distraction, not to mention the public lambasting from its core meat-and-potato-head fans, to deal with a man actually being on the cheer squad. Imagine the sports bar shenanigans that Broncos fans would have to deal with if their team took on a male cheerleader...
Broncos fan: "Peyton Manning just shredded the (pick an NFL team) defense yesterday! My Broncos are on fire! We're going to the Super Bowl, baby!"
Buddy of Broncos fan: "Oh yeah...your team is on fire alright! They're flaming all over the place! You guys might as well start playing in pink uniforms and tu-tu's!"
*Huge laughter from all non-Broncos fans around.
*Bronco fan shirks away. Starts to think that being an Oakland Raiders fan might not be such a bad idea. Heads to NFL.com to purchase Raiders jersey. Tosses Broncos jersey in trash.
Sad to say it - and I know that it is somewhat ignorant - but this scenario would be repeated a million times over during the football season. No team wants to deal with that.
So PR stunts aside, the NFL isn't much more progressive than Augusta National when it comes to discrimination. They just need to appear to be. At the end of the day, it will have to be public outcry that has to force these organizations to allow others in. If women really want Augusta, they will have to organize their supporters to put pressure on the tournament's corporate sponsors and demand change (because the Masters is not officially a PGA Tour event, the PGA can't make that demand). And if Sacha really, really wants to cheer, well, he and his supporters will need to do the same. That's just the way it is.
My point...and I do have one, is that the civil rights movement is still an ongoing struggle.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deletethanks for the great post Ickey Shufflin! i particularly liked your wendy impersonation! :)
DeleteIBM can simply pull out of being a sponsor of a tournament that encourages discrimination. If they make a stink about it and others do the same, they might be pressure the club into changing their backward ways. I wouldn't want to join a club like that anyway though... with people who feel like that... anyway, golf is silly...
ReplyDeletei agree billy - i would have liked to have seen ibm take a stance on this...but i guess it was politics there as usual as well. i have to imagine that augusta national did something to "make it good" with ibm outside of the public light (some even speculate that they made the ceo a member but won't discuss that). for my money, that behind the scenes negotiation is the really interesting story here!
DeleteHey! This is very interesting subject to talk about! I did not know about Sacha Heppel so that it was quite fascinating when I saw the video. Oh yes, I think he should keep auditioning but I wonder if he will ever get a position. Is cheerleading all about dancing? If so, I thought there are usually more male who are good at arts including dancing than female in this world!
ReplyDeleteTraditional in rules probably means a men's world, I suppose. We have many traditional sports that do not allow women to be in a field. The gap between a 'women-should-be' image and a 'men-should-be' has been getting closer but not so much. Will women become as equal as men in future? What does 'equal' mean?
I would love to see with my own eyes when a whole world gives equal right to both men and women.