I Played In The Nfl. Outrage Over Male Cheerleaders Is Really About Attempts To Control Masculinity

Of each nan existential threats facing master shot – concussions that erode nan minds of players, scandals that rot institutions from within, dwindling younker liking successful a athletics built connected collision and power – who could’ve predicted that what would genuinely rattle immoderate fans was nan show of 2 men dancing connected nan sideline?

Earlier this month, nan Minnesota Vikings unveiled their recently minted 35-member cheerleading squad pinch a bold promotional video captioned, “The adjacent procreation of cheer has arrived!” It wasn’t conscionable nan choreography that caught attention, but nan truth that 2 antheral performers, Blaize Shiek and Louie Conn, were portion of nan group.

Almost immediately, reactions erupted online, from heartfelt support to calls for a boycott, and moreover a homophobic slur wielded by a erstwhile NFL subordinate whose sanction deserves nary mention successful this aliases immoderate different reputable publication. Amid nan storm, nan Vikings stood firm. And rightly so. After all, Minnesota is nary alien to innovators who situation convention. This is nan location of Prince, a man who wore precocious heels, embraced gender ambiguity, and redefined masculinity.

In an charismatic statement, nan Vikings reminded everyone that antheral cheerleaders –whose number include erstwhile US presidents – are thing new, not only astatine nan amateur and collegiate levels but besides successful nan NFL itself. As of nan 2025 season, astatine slightest 11 NFL teams see antheral cheerleaders connected their charismatic squads, nan first being nan Los Angeles Rams backmost successful 2018, erstwhile Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies made history connected nan sidelines and later performed astatine nan Super Bowl successful 2019. The Minnesota Vikings besides reminded group that Shiek and Conn earned their spots done nan aforesaid competitory process arsenic their peers, overmuch for illustration we shot players compete and gain our spots connected nan roster.

I was drafted by nan Dallas Cowboys successful 2015, and I’ve been successful those locker rooms wherever nan unit to execute arsenic an athlete, teammate and man tin consciousness overwhelming. The 1 point that wasn’t connected my mind aliases immoderate different player’s mind was nan cheerleaders.

Not because they weren’t talented. Not because they didn’t belong. But because during nan game, while they performed connected nan sidelines aliases astatine half-time, we were successful huddles, making adjustments connected nan sidelines, giving our each connected nan field, aliases processing and schemes successful nan locker rooms for nan adjacent half. Everyone retired location has a occupation to do, and nan cheerleaders are nary exception. They’re not location for nan players. They’re location for nan fans. Which intends they should bespeak all nan fans.

LA Rams cheerleaders Napoleon Jinnies, right, and Quinton Peron execute during Super Bowl LIII astatine Mercedes-Benz Stadium successful February 2019. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images

The group expressing outrage complete antheral cheerleaders connected nan Vikings aren’t talking astir activity ethic, talent aliases dedication. Their complaints are moreover much baseless than nan Monday Morning Quarterbacks – a word created to reside those who knock players pinch nan use of hindsight.

This isn’t astir capacity astatine all. It’s astir presence. It’s astir nan specified beingness and visibility of men connected NFL cheer squads who don’t conform to nan rigid, outdated ideas of masculinity that truthful galore usage sport, and shot successful particular, to defend.

What this backlash really reveals is not fearfulness of change, but fearfulness of visibility. The outrage complete antheral cheerleaders isn’t astir sports. It’s astir control: complete masculinity, complete image, and complete who gets to beryllium seen and celebrated successful nationalist spaces aliases connected nan world shape of nan NFL. It’s nan aforesaid impulse that drives anti-LBGTQ+ legislation, nan aforesaid fearfulness that fuels book bans, bathroom bills, and attacks connected resistance performers. This infinitesimal isn’t isolated; it’s portion of a broader taste backlash to liberation.

And conscionable arsenic Christian nationalism has agelong been weaponized to marginalize queer people, truthful excessively has sport. Sport is utilized to tie lines astir what’s “American” and “man enough”. But those lines were ne'er drawn for protection; they were drawn for power.

The truth is, shot isn’t arsenic rugged arsenic nine would for illustration america to believe. The powerfulness of athletics is successful its intimacy; its affectional extremity. In nan measurement players and fans alike grieve, cry, pray, dance, and clasp nether nan lights and flags, and banners. The locker room is 1 of nan fewer places successful American civilization wherever men are allowed to beryllium vulnerable, broken, weep, and to hug successful celebration, speak pinch peers crossed each cultures and generations, and build themselves up again. When you peel backmost nan helmets and hits, you’ll spot what’s ever been there: joy, vulnerability, brotherhood, and nan undeniable truth that masculinity isn’t fixed, it’s fluid. And that’s not changing.

Shiek, Conn, and each antheral cheerleader crossed nan convention aren’t conscionable cheering for a team. They’re cheering for possibility, for nan adjacent procreation of boys who want to move their bodies pinch pride, for nan kids who don’t spot themselves successful enarthrosis pads but still beryllium successful nan stadium. Sport isn’t ineffable because it resists change. It’s ineffable because it brings group together, and nan much inclusive that togetherness becomes, nan much powerful nan crippled will be.