NFL: Sacking exposes discriminatory treatment of NFL cheerleaders

Bailey Davis is fighting her dismissal from the New Orleans Saints cheerleaders. Photo / Getty Images

The Handmaid's Tale, the Margaret Atwood novel turned into a TV series last year, depicts a dystopian future in which a fundamentalist regime subjects women to a form of sexual servitude. As bleak a portrait as it paints of the human condition, the recent revelations regarding the treatment of NFL cheerleaders prove it is all too believable.

Last weekend, The New York Times published some of the codes of conduct that NFL teams enforce on their cheerleaders. Tattoos and body piercings must be removed or covered up. Regular weigh-ins are also a feature. The Cincinnati Bengals expected cheerleaders to be within 1.5kg of their "ideal weight".

Even more chilling are the rules regarding their off-field activities and private life. No fraternisation is allowed with players. If a player follows them on social media, they must block him.

Even more gallingly, if a player walks into a restaurant where a cheerleader is eating, then she must leave instantly whether or not she has finished her meal. There are no such rules prohibiting players from making contact with cheerleaders. There are also details governing personal hygiene, including shaving and tampons, clothing (no tracksuits) and even etiquette advice. The Oakland Raiders advise their cheerleaders that "bread is to be broken with your hands" and "pass food to your right".

Bailey Davis.

Yet the most appalling of double standards is to be found in the strict prohibition of images in which they appear nude, semi-nude or in lingerie. The function of cheerleaders is to titillate a largely male audience by gyrating half-naked, often in freezing conditions. That's fine. Appear like that on your own time, however, and you run the risk of corrupting America's youth.

It was a violation of this rule that led Bailey Davis to being fired as a cheerleader by the New Orleans Saints after she posted an image on social media of herself in a swimsuit. Davis, 22, is now suing the Saints for gender discrimination, arguing that the Saints players do not have to abide by the same (lack of) clothing rules.

Incidentally, one duty the Saints cheerleaders used to perform was selling glossy calendars of themselves in bikinis.

Perhaps sympathy to her cause will be limited. After all, Davis and dozens of others willingly sign these contracts. Last year, ESPN estimated that most cheerleaders were paid between US$75 to US$150 ($103 to $206) a game. Once practice and additional commitments were weighed in, they barely earned minimum wage.

Hopefully, Davis' lawsuit may prompt change and a wider reflection on the place of cheerleading within sport. Last week, the LA Rams named two men in their official cheerleading squad for the first time.

At college level, cheerleading is mixed and can be considered a proper sport, much like group gymnastics, with its coordinated acrobatics, lifts and tumbling. In December 2016, the International Olympic Committee granted competitive cheerleading provisional recognition.

Yet somehow all this skill is lost in the transition to the NFL - and other sports - which reduces the status of women to mere eye candy in a blizzard of bikinis and pom-poms. That is an anachronism that has no place in 21st century sport.