When I was around eleven years old, there was a period of time when my mom would get her nails done every week, and she would take my sister and me with her. Sometimes we'd just hang out in the salon, but other times we would get our nails done too, and I remember one of these instances vividly. The nail technician chose a shade of pink that I did not particularly like, and she selected some sparkles for me as well, which I also did not want. She was very confident in her color choice. Since I was conflict-averse and was not sure how to assert myself to this adult who thought she was doing something nice for me, I went along with it and then hated my nails. I was so embarrassed by them. When I remembered, I even curled my fingers in order to hide them.
The sparkly pink nail color wasn't my style and wasn't an accurate reflection of my taste and personality, but I also knew that it was the default for a girl, and I did not want to be a standard girl. I was embarrassed that my nails were indicating to everyone around me that my femininity was the regular kind. The sparkly pink nails did not belong on my hands; they belonged on the hands of a girl who wore bows and frills and did cheerleading. I was fearful and almost repulsed by that kind of femininity.
I cannot identify a source, but I picked up from somewhere that bows, frills, cheerleading, and the color pink were all to be avoided, and nobody swooped in to tell me otherwise. This continued into high school, when I witnessed my peers making fun of traditionally feminine fashion and activities, including cheerleading. Basically everyone I knew made fun of cheerleading, and I struggle to explain why, aside from the obvious misogyny. There is nothing objectively wrong with clapping, chanting, and executing choreography.
Generally, people believe that cheerleading is ornamental and frivolous. (People have trouble remembering that all sports are frivolous.) Cheerleading occurs on the literal margins of the game, and given its role and reputation as "the sport that girls do," this is sadly appropriate. It makes a lot of sense for a marginalized group of people to do their sport in the margins of the main attraction. But what if cheerleading were the main attraction? What if femininity were at the center? What if sparkly pink nails were universally celebrated? This concept is at the core of the Netflix documentary series Cheer, which follows the elite cheer team at Navarro College in Texas.
