Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Exploitation in the Name of Patriotism

You may know them as “America’s Sweethearts”, but the way they’re treated is… not so sweet. It’s time to look at the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: how they’re idolised, how they’re controlled, and how they’re exploited. 0:00 intro 05:08 a very short history of cheer 07:54 devaluation & wages 20:23 beauty standards 29:30 thinness & diet culture 34:40 sexuality 39:20 harassment 42:25 the NFL, patriotism, & exploitation Thank you to everyone who sent me their thoughts on Instagram! Extra special thank you to my bestie Rebecca as well as @noahsamsen for talking to me about NFL culture :-) Noah’s channels: https://www.youtube.com/@noahsamsen https://www.youtube.com/@noahtime_ Also shoutout @oliSUNvia and @FDSignifire for kindly allowing me to feature excerpts of their videos!! oliSUNvia’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3KzdrnUAB8 FD Signifier’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABEa3P3a6Wk&t=2178s Other sources: America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Greg Whiteley, 2024 Daughters of the Sexual Revolution, Dana Shapiro, 2018 Woman’s Work: The NFL Cheerleading Problem, Yu Gu, 2019 America’s Girls podcast, Sarah Hepola, 2021 The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf, 1990 Judy Berman, “America’s Sweethearts Is a Surprisingly Infuriating Portrait of the Ultimate Pink-Collar Job”, https://time.com/6989744/americas-sweethearts-netflix-review/ Anne Helen Peterson’s Substack article, https://annehelen.substack.com/p/culture-study-meets-americas-sweethearts Adam Kilgore, "For decades, the NFL wrapped itself in the flag. Now, that’s made business uneasy.", https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/for-decades-the-nfl-wrapped-itself-in-the-flag-now-thats-made-business-uneasy/2018/09/06/bc9aab64-b05d-11e8-9a6a-565d92a3585d_story.html links: second channel: https://www.youtube.com/@experiment_elle support me on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/elleliteracy instagram: https://instagram.com/elle.literacy letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/elleliteracy email (sponsorships): [email protected] email (general contact): [email protected] faq what's your accent? i lived in america til i was 7 and ireland since then so my accent is a mix between the two! camera: canon m50 mark ii editing: adobe premiere pro