Cheerleaders Essay

New York State assemblywoman, Nily Rozic, and California assemblywoman, Lorena Gonzalez, in their article, “Cheerleaders- Until They See Their NFL Paychecks”, question the conduct of hardworking cheerleaders in the National Football League. Rozic and Gonzalez’s purpose is to provide a basis for discussion about the unfair wages of cheerleaders and to call the NFL to reflect and alter their policies. They create an empathetic tone to highlight to their female, sports fan audience that while the NFL brings in plenty of profit, very little of it goes to the cheerleaders they employ. In their article, Rozic and Gonzalez use an appeal to “equality in the workplace” to implore their readers to challenge the NFL’s current rulings. Rozic and Gonzalez

They appeal to the audience’s pathos and ethos when bringing up the testimony of former Raiderette Caitlin Yates. The authors summarize Caitlin’s words by saying, “cheerleaders were benched without pay if they gained weight, and forced into situations where they were sexually harassed”. These harsh accusations deliver insight into the NFL’s handling of their dedicated cheerleaders. Similarly, they move on to acknowledge a lawsuit made by the collective Buffalo Bills’ cheerleaders alleging that they had to “walk around in bikinis at a casino event called ‘The Man Show’ to promote the team, and at a local golf tournament men bid on which cheerleaders would ride in their golf carts” and describing strict rules “for everything from hair color to etiquette (how much bread to eat at a formal dinner, for example), personal hygiene, including the use of tampons, and restrictions on what other jobs the cheerleaders could accept”. Authors Rozic and Gonzalez use these examples of sexism in the NFL to contribute context to their original argument. They play into readers compassionate emotions when giving real life happenings of mistreatment of cheerleaders to offer the readers someone to sympathize