The Cheer Reader

Name: The Cheer Reader
Brand: University of Texas Press
Price: 61.6 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

Inside an American Institution

By: Natalie G. Adams

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eText | 6 October 2026

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Available: 6th October 2026

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Wide-ranging essays on cheerleading, from the pep rally to the NFL sidelines to All-Star competitions, and why it matters.

Cheer is deeply associated with a wholesome, simple Americana. Yet this often cliched image belies its complex history and current status as a global industry made up of diverse participants and forms. Indeed, cheerleading—its culture, controversies, and evolution—has always offered a revealing lens on race, class, gender, and sexuality in American society..

Cheerleading was born in 1869 as a diversion for Ivy League men. The Cheer Reader collects fourteen wide-ranging essays on what happened next and why it matters: how cheer became feminized, sexualized, professionalized, even radicalized. Contributors examine the role of cheer in the Civil Rights Movement, a landmark student free-speech case, and the emergence of competitive-only and queer cheer teams. Other essays consider cheer's quest for sport legitimacy, social media "cheerlebrities" and eating disorders, and the working conditions of NFL and NBA cheerleaders. Amid these tensions between empowerment and objectification, cheer is only getting more popular, with some seven million participants worldwide. The Cheer Reader is a nuanced account of the activity they share and what it means today.