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Red Flags and Realities of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders · She's On The Money

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  Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud Order
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  Speaker 1: Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
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  Speaker 1: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
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  Speaker 1: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
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  Speaker 1: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
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  Speaker 1: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through
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  Speaker 1: as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
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  Speaker 1: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
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  Speaker 1: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
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  Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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  Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money Podcast. Millennials
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  Speaker 4: who want financial freedom. Even if you don't have a
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  Speaker 4: Netflix account, you have probably already heard of America's Sweethearts
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  Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. It's the number one series in Australia
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  Speaker 4: right now and has been for a while.
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  Speaker 2: The show follows the lives.
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  Speaker 4: And the progress of new cheerleading recruits for the American
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  Speaker 4: football team, the Dallas Cowboys, and it's got a lot
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  Speaker 4: of people talking. Despite having their fair share of controversy
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  Speaker 4: from sexual assault to age theft. They've had some of
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  Speaker 4: the biggest scandals in the cheerleading industry. And despite being
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  Speaker 4: exposed to the sexist, misogynistic, outdated, and highly problematic world
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  Speaker 4: of the elite cheerleading organization that Dallas Cowboys is, it
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  Speaker 4: honestly does set out to do exactly what it sets
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  Speaker 4: out to do, sharing the emotions, the challenges and successes
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  Speaker 4: of the industry. But for me, it brought up so
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  Speaker 4: many infuriating thoughts and I'm here to have a chat
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  Speaker 4: about why. So let's have a little bit of a
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  Speaker 4: conversation about my main points of concern about the show.
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  Speaker 4: And I don't think anyone is going to be surprised
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  Speaker 4: that they're financial. They are incredibly talented, and these women
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  Speaker 4: are at the very top of their industry. They have trained,
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  Speaker 4: arguably their entire lives to earn minimum wage. Firstly, these
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  Speaker 4: women are not paid what they are deserving of by
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  Speaker 4: any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Kat on the
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  Speaker 4: show If You Know You Know, said in twenty twenty
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  Speaker 4: two that her salary was similar to a Chick fil
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  Speaker 4: a worker who maybe works full time. This is generally
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  Speaker 4: around twenty five grand year in America, which is about
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  Speaker 4: thirty five thousand dollars Australian, which is absolutely disgraceful. The
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  Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable football team in American football,
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  Speaker 4: with a net worth of wait for it, nine billion
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  Speaker 4: dollars this year, and they are the world's wealthiest sports team.
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  Speaker 4: Let that sink in. Their cheerleaders are paid less than
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  Speaker 4: a Chick fil A worker.
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  Speaker 2: The majority of the player that play for.
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  Speaker 4: The football team and people behind the scenes are millionaires
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  Speaker 4: and the highest NFL players in the industry. They make
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  Speaker 4: more than fifty million dollars a year, yet they're not
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  Speaker 4: valuing their women. In fact, their team's mascot salary is
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  Speaker 4: reported to be sixty five thousand dollars, more than double
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  Speaker 4: what the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders are making. These women dedicate
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  Speaker 4: their entire lives to dance education, including spending thousands on
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  Speaker 4: ballet and jazz and gymnastics training, and when asked about
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  Speaker 4: the DCC's low salaries, all the chief brand officer, Charlotte
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  Speaker 4: Jones could offer was some speech about it being in
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  Speaker 4: a sisterhood and how it's been that way since nineteen
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  Speaker 4: seventy two.
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  Speaker 2: Are you guys for real?
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  Speaker 4: It wasn't until nineteen seventy four that women could get
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  Speaker 4: a credit.
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  Speaker 2: Card in their own name.
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  Speaker 4: We learned from the first episode that these women are incredible,
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  Speaker 4: having to undergo both physically and mentally challenging training and
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  Speaker 4: recruitment processes while sustaining full time work as nurses, doctor orthodontists,
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  Speaker 4: and accountants. The second thing I want to talk about
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  Speaker 4: is their lack of diversity. Now, throughout the tryouts, we
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  Speaker 4: see so many aspiring DC cheerleaders who are black and
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  Speaker 4: brown being cut, and then they celebrate that a red
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  Speaker 4: headed white dancer gets through and they call that a
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  Speaker 4: sign of diversity. I mean, Charlie is lovely, but a
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  Speaker 4: red headed white dancer who got through all of the
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  Speaker 4: auditions is not a sign of diversity. Dallas is a
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  Speaker 4: very ethnically diverse state in a country that has some
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  Speaker 4: of the largest ethnic diversity in the entire world. Jackie Scott,
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  Speaker 4: who is a former Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, has said before
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  Speaker 4: that the standard of beauty in professional cheerleading is a
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  Speaker 4: white European one, and in the years since she was
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  Speaker 4: on the squad from twenty twelve to twenty sixteen, she
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  Speaker 4: mentioned that she'd never felt comfortable to wear her natural hair.
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  Speaker 4: She said, it never occurred to me that maybe I
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  Speaker 4: could start over and rock my natural hair as a cheerleader,
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  Speaker 4: because I never say it done. Instead, she wore her
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  Speaker 4: hair relaxed, and when the heat did so much damage
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  Speaker 4: that she experienced extensive breakage, the squad recommended she get extensions.
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  Speaker 2: Cynthia L.
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  Speaker 4: Robertson, PhD, an associate professor and chair of the Department
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  Speaker 4: of Black Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha, has
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  Speaker 4: mentioned that black women get rid of their curls because
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  Speaker 4: of white supremacy. People view straight hair, light skin, and
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  Speaker 4: smaller noses as quote more beautiful. She's been quoted saying
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  Speaker 4: black women since the plantation have had to alter their
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  Speaker 4: hair in order to be accepted, and Robertson then said,
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  Speaker 4: I would imagine that these cheerleaders know, without even being asked,
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  Speaker 4: that they need to straighten their hair. When women are
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  Speaker 4: auditioning for these professional cheerleading teams, former cheerleaders and dance
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  Speaker 4: teachers usually advise them to model their look on what
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  Speaker 4: they have already seen present in the team, and this
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  Speaker 4: is especially true for black cheerleaders. In fact, Scott said,
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  Speaker 4: you feel like there's only a certain number of spots
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  Speaker 4: for the minority cheerleaders on a squad of roughly thirty six.
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  Speaker 4: Scott was one of six black cheerleaders for two years,
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  Speaker 4: and one of three black cheerleaders during her own two years.
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  Speaker 4: She's been quoted saying, no one has ever.
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  Speaker 2: Said this, It's just how we feel.
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  Speaker 4: It's almost like we're competing against each other to get
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  Speaker 4: that spot rather than embracing one another. You often look
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  Speaker 4: at the who's who of the team and what they're like.
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  Speaker 4: Clearly they like them and how they look. So I'm
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  Speaker 4: going to try and just look like that so I
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  Speaker 4: can show them that I can be part of their team,
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  Speaker 4: which to me is not embracing diversity. And given the
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  Speaker 4: DCC leader has been quoted in saying it's been the
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  Speaker 4: same since nineteen seventy two, it's just part of the tradition,
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  Speaker 4: I think it's time that tradition changes. All right, let's
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  Speaker 4: move on from that, because I want to talk about
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  Speaker 4: the conversations that they're having about women's bodies now. I
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  Speaker 4: feel like I've had this conversation a number of times
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  Speaker 4: on the podcast because it is really important to me
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  Speaker 4: and our community, but also it's really topical this week
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  Speaker 4: because research has just come out to say that.
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  Speaker 2: Taylor Swift has had a very.
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  Speaker 4: Positive impact on her fans' body image and diet culture.
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  Speaker 4: So ten out of ten for the Swifty culture, but
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  Speaker 4: one out of ten for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. There's
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  Speaker 4: honestly so much harm being done throughout this entire series
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  Speaker 4: when it comes to the normalization of not just nasty
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  Speaker 4: or unrealistic, but dangerous expectations they have on women's bodies.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know if you guys have watched it, but
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  Speaker 4: the way Victoria is treated, the way Victoria treats her body,
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  Speaker 4: not me the cheerleader, is honestly disgusting. I feel so
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  Speaker 4: bad and I want to scoop her up and give
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  Speaker 4: her a hug, because she is crucified for having the
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  Speaker 4: body she has, when in actual fact, to me, she
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  Speaker 4: looks like a supermodel. Throughout the entire show, we see
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  Speaker 4: skinny women being called curvy. The commonality of women experiencing
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  Speaker 4: bodies asmorphia. They normalize not eating and it's expected that
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  Speaker 4: they fit in the same uniform they get at the
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  Speaker 4: start of the year for the entirety of the year.
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  Speaker 4: They will not be reissued another uniform should their body
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  Speaker 4: change for any reason. In an audition, round one male
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  Speaker 4: judge was quoted as saying she has more weight on
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  Speaker 4: her face compared to the year before. At this point,
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  Speaker 4: we really have to ask ourselves how much damage is
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  Speaker 4: being done by elevating these standards for women by putting
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  Speaker 4: them on the telly. Let's go to a really quick break,
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  Speaker 4: because if you thought that my rant was over, my friend,
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  Speaker 4: you were wrong. Don't go anywhere. All right, guys, we
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  Speaker 4: are back, and I don't know if you're as impressed
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  Speaker 4: as I am with their high kick that goes straight
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  Speaker 4: down into the splits. But there is evidence all the
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  Speaker 4: way through the show that this is an unsafe working
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  Speaker 4: environment for women in every single way. In fact, one
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  Speaker 4: of the veterans is talking about having a hip replacement
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  Speaker 4: but just wants to see out one more season before
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  Speaker 4: having to go through such a traumatic surgery. In addition
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  Speaker 4: to all of this, there are experiences of assault and
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  Speaker 4: stalking by these women due to their job, alongside daily
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  Speaker 4: objectification they experienced due to it. One of the things
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  Speaker 4: that absolutely sent me was that they have no touch
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  Speaker 4: policy for the cheerleaders when getting photos with fans. Right,
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  Speaker 4: So that makes sense, like, obviously they are not there
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  Speaker 4: to be touched by men. They are not there to
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  Speaker 4: be touched by anybody. But throughout the entire series, when
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  Speaker 4: we see the cheerleaders taking photos with fans, the DCC
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  Speaker 4: team hand the men of football and there's a reason
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  Speaker 4: for it, right, and it's absolutely messed up. It's to
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  Speaker 4: prevent the fans or the men taking photos with them
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  Speaker 4: from touching the women inappropriately. And we know that this
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  Speaker 4: has come from experience, right. The football didn't just happen
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  Speaker 4: because they questioned men. The football came because men were
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  Speaker 4: taking advantage of the situation. In fact, in one episode,
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  Speaker 4: a man says, well, getting a photo at a meet
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  Speaker 4: and greet event with the girls, can I put an
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  Speaker 4: arm around you? And a security guard promptly replies, hands
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  Speaker 4: on the football. A security guard later adds that it's
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  Speaker 4: a no touch policy and that they always bring footballs
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  Speaker 4: with them because if a man doesn't get this, if
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  Speaker 4: a man doesn't feel comfortable standing with his hands to
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  Speaker 4: the front or the side, they give him the option
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  Speaker 4: of holding the football, as though he wouldn't know what
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  Speaker 4: to do with his hands apart from touch these women.
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  Speaker 4: It gives me the biggest dick in the entire world,
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  Speaker 4: and it takes some of the shine away from being
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  Speaker 4: a cheerleader in this space. Are we remembering here that
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  Speaker 4: they also get paid minimum wage. I don't know if
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  Speaker 4: we need to go back to that. But not only
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  Speaker 4: are they being put through these trials and tribulations, they're
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  Speaker 4: literally being abused. They're in an unsafe work environment, and
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  Speaker 4: they're expected to just be happy with minimum wage because
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  Speaker 4: it's essentially all for the glory. On top of this,
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  Speaker 4: these women are athletes and their work is physically dangerous
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  Speaker 4: and damaging. If you watch the series, you know that
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  Speaker 4: most cheerleaders after their seasons, after they retire, end up
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  Speaker 4: having to get some type of reconstructive surgery. The team
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  Speaker 4: doesn't provide them with any health insurance. The injuries that
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  Speaker 4: the cheerleaders are left with are intense. We're talking things
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  Speaker 4: like reconstructed hips, not just like a little torn acl
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  Speaker 4: One of the retired veterans featured, so Caroline, for those
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  Speaker 4: of you who follow the show, who is the older
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  Speaker 4: sister of Anna Kate who gets through the audition process.
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  Speaker 2: Don't worry.
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  Speaker 4: She not only had to undergo one giant surgery, she
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  Speaker 4: had to undergo two after she retired. During her last
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  Speaker 4: year on the team, she found out she needed a
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  Speaker 4: whole hip reconstruction surgery, but she chose to put it
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  Speaker 4: off so that she could continued cheer for the team.
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  Speaker 4: She later had to go into surgery for her left foot,
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  Speaker 4: which left her wearing a moonboot to recover. None of
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  Speaker 4: it was covered by the team, none of it was
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  Speaker 4: covered by insurance, and she couldn't work the entire time.
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  Speaker 4: Then there are the dreaded split jumps that every single
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  Speaker 4: DCC member has to perform during the thunderstruct routine, which
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  Speaker 4: causes permanent hip damage.
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  Speaker 2: For most of them.
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  Speaker 4: Look, the last thing I wanted to talk about is
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  Speaker 4: the expectation that these women have to do their jobs
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  Speaker 4: and be saints at the same time. These women are
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  Speaker 4: expected to reach absolutely impossible body standards, be the absolute
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  Speaker 4: best dancers in the entire world, have perfect hair, perfect makeup,
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  Speaker 4: and they are also expected to be nice to everybody
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  Speaker 4: at all times. They're meeting fans constantly, they're holding dance
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  Speaker 4: sessions at nursing homes, they're visiting children in hospitals, and
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  Speaker 4: then they're held to the unreachable moral standards and scolded
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  Speaker 4: when they fall short. Excuse me, but this is her
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  Speaker 4: literal job. She is working. She is learning more than
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  Speaker 4: fifty routines for minimum wage. She doesn't owe thanks to anybody,
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  Speaker 4: especially the director of the DCC or. I feel like
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  Speaker 4: I've ranted far too much. But the fact that the
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  Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys cheerleader team has not changed since nineteen seventy
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  Speaker 4: two and all of this is just part of the
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  Speaker 4: tradition and it's a privilege to be part of the
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  Speaker 4: team has driven me insane, which is why we're having
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  Speaker 4: this cute little Saturday rand.
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  Speaker 2: But I will wrap it.
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  Speaker 4: Up there because enough is enough. Don't get me wrong,
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  Speaker 4: I enjoyed watching that show. I love a bit of drama.
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  Speaker 4: You all know that my favorite show in the entire
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  Speaker 4: world is The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. So
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  Speaker 4: if that says anything about the type of content I
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  Speaker 4: like to consume, please don't judge me. But at the
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  Speaker 4: end of the day, I think we need to be
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  Speaker 4: watching these shows with a really critical eye and a
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  Speaker 4: really critical lens to make sure that we are not
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  Speaker 4: normalizing these behaviors. They are absolutely disgusting, and I think
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  Speaker 4: that while the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders show has been fantastic
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  Speaker 4: to watch and clearly has been really engaging. It's cracked
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  Speaker 4: open a conversation on just how problematic they are and
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  Speaker 4: on how a lot of the expectations that are sexist, misogynistic,
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  Speaker 4: outdated and highly problematic are put on not just the
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  Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, but women.
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  Speaker 2: As a whole. So guys, have a good Saturday.
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  Speaker 4: I hope I haven't brought down the mood, but instead
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  Speaker 4: found a heap of friends who are on the same
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  Speaker 4: page as me.
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