The University of Oregon is investigating claims that their cheerleading team is promoting “rape culture” with the suggestive dance routine they perform at halftime.
It just looks like a well-choreographed routine to me. I guess it depends on where your mind is at.
Oregon Cheerleaders have been accused of promoting “rape culture” with a dance routine set to Jessie J’s “Bang Bang” – minute mark 2:50 – and the University of Oregon wants to shut them down. Citing that the overtly sexual dance moves are “disturbing” to some fans, the college has launched an investigation. Too PC or accurate? Watch the video and decide.
Cheerleaders at an American university have come under fire for their sexy dance routines that could ‘encourage rape culture’.
A trustee at the University of Oregon has raised concerns about sexually suggestive dance routines performed by the Oregon cheerleaders.
Local television news station KGW in Portland reports that Ginevra Ralph, an alum and prominent Eugene arts administrator, raised the issue at a meeting of the board of trustees.
And she lays into the girls’ for thrusting their boobs and bums at the audiences.
She said the school should study how the choreographed routines of the cheer squad play a role in the implications of a perceived “rape culture” on campus.
Ms Ralph added: “I have watched people be incredibly uncomfortable with the U of O cheerleaders, and they actually leave the basketball (arena) during intermission because of the overt sexual dancing, or whatever you want to call it.”
Ms Ralph wrote in a statement: “Where, if anywhere, does the overt sexuality with the bump-and-grind, pelvic-thrusting dancing that the female cheerleader and dance squads feature in their routines fit in this context?
“I have watched basketball crowds appreciate the athleticism of the male and female cheerleaders doing their cheer routines, but then watched the same crowd often be uncomfortable and embarrassed by the sexualized dance routines.”
She adds: “The UO stands for and promotes excellence in academics, research, sports, and cultural offerings.
“In the name of eliminating a ‘rape culture’, I am simply asking if these routines are the most appropriate and of highest cultural quality we can muster and would eliminating the raciness in the context of UO athletic events with family audiences in attendance help mitigate the problem.”