Why do (female) cheerleaders sound breathlessly excited about mundane things, use excessive exclamation points, and utter vapid terms of agreement (e.g., "totally!!!")? Is it an evolutionary adaptive mechanism?
2006-07-27 18:01:55 · 8 answers · asked by David S 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
Cheery L needs to read the newsgroups frequented by collegiate cheerleaders. A few of them sound like she does. More of them sound like the stereotype.
2006-07-27 18:32:30 · update #1
I think multiple factors are involved in common cheerleader speak (which of course doesn't involve all cheerleaders, but there are fairly obviously some general trends in the subculture).
Partially it is a matter of adopting the habits of a particular subculture. If you want a relation to evolution, I can give one :-) the human behavioral repertoire is largely underspecified, compared to that of non-human animals. Humans evolved to fill the void, so to speak, with a combination of rational individual thought, and with culture. Both of these allow for much faster adaption to a changing world than does evolution of instincts. With the built in tendency to adopt culture in general, comes the tendency to adopt the features of a specific subculture, should one immerse oneself in it.
Partially, it is related to the social role of cheerleading. The many traits in cheerleader speak mimic discourse intonation dynamics that usually surface when a women is giving subtle signals to a man that she is potentially romantically available. The pitch, the deference, the breathless excitment, etc., the often feigned ignorance signals intellectual dependence.
As for why cheerleaders have over time adopted elements of this area of speech and integrated it as standard in their subculture (used regularly, and when interacting with men they are not interested in, and with women), I think it has to do with the fact that women are naturally geared to be interested in appealing to men anyway, and a woman who chooses to devote years of her life doing that professionally, well, it is natural for her to adopt the trappings of that as daily habit as well.
I'm not saything there is anything wrong with this necessarily, I'm just saying I think it happens. And the connection between sexual signals and speech patterns that indicate deference and passivness and breathless excitment can be tied to evolution, I'll try this too: a woman stands a much better chance of rearing successful offspring if the father is around. The father is more likely to stay around if he believes the baby is his, and he's more likely to believe that if they woman seems really deeply into him. The excitment and deference and hints toward dependency help convince him of this, on some level - maybe not a level invovling careful thinking, more a "gut" level.
It would be interesting to compare this to speech patterns in the male gay community; some of the issues involved seem very similar (sexuality (with men as the desired) as critical in subculture identity, similar intonation patterns, etc).
2006-07-28 17:09:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This statement is not necessarily true. This is a generalization, or stereotype that is quite undeserving. It's like saying that all white people are rednecks or are racist. Another example would be that all muslims are terrorists. I am a cheerleader, and though my vocabulary is not quite up to par with a lot of people, I don't say "like totally" like the common portrayal of cheerleaders (ex. the t-mobile commercial) At my school, the cheerleaders had to have some sort of academic achievement because you couldn't have a bad reputation and you had to have at least a C. average. So please don't generalize. They aren't true. (your choice of words IS quite impressive.)
2006-07-28 01:09:34 · answer #2 · answered by I ♥ men in uniform 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They have seen too many movies where cheerleaders are portrayed this way and they feel that they too have to act like those cheerleaders.
PS I am impressed with your choice of words - very intellectual!!
2006-07-28 01:07:09 · answer #3 · answered by erindrozda 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look, COUNTRY BOY, stop hatin' on people(blacks,cheerleaders, etc.) Get out of the woods and get a life. Cheerleaders are happy with themselves, so let them be!!!
2006-07-28 09:49:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not all of them do. I know a cheerleader who's as cynical and sarcastic as they come.
Generalizations = stupid.
2006-07-28 02:11:30 · answer #5 · answered by Qchan05 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To give intelligent people something to complain about.
2006-07-28 01:07:34 · answer #6 · answered by ashley d 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
someone in this geraldo rivera, overly-dramatized, mass production world has to be optimistic about, well, everything.
2006-07-28 01:07:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're brain-damaged.
2006-07-28 01:05:35 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋