Bodies on display, a tale as old as time

I am late with the Netflix documentary, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. I watched it twice (yeah I know) and had lots of thoughts which were hard to boil down. But here they are.

Before getting into the newsletter, I wanted to announce this reminder for those of you who will be in the NYC area on Tuesday, August 13th, I am having a book launch! Yes, “Live Nourished” will officially be on the shelves on that date, and I am going to have an official launch celebration hosted by Cafe con Libros and a fun talk with my good friend and fellow author and Substacker, Chrissy King! Please see all the details here for tickets and location. I would love to see all of you IRL (in real life.)

Okay, now on to today’s newsletter!

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Watching the America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders documentary was not my first rodeo (yes, this was intentional, and I had to, I’m sorry) or introduction to the elite squad. I was an avid viewer when the team had a show on CMT back in the day titled Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. Here’s the thing - I love dance, and I admittedly am entertained by the drama (I watch the Real Housewives franchise, after all), so I was regularly tuned into women competing in order to make this elite squad. I will also disclose that this was back in my college years days and way before I was a dietitian, so no, I was not attuned to the problematic scenarios displayed before me. I will also say this was the early 2000s, a time when singer Jessica Simpson and Bridget Jones were considered large. Diet culture was everywhere and highly problematic.

Interesting how the tagline here is “Perfection isn’t perfect.”

Making the Team premiered on CMT in 2006. I remember the Juicy Couture sweatsuits, thin penciled eyebrows, and, yes, the diet culture hellscape the women were subjected to. Each contestant was weighed on a scale and had their body fat measured with hydrostatic weighing, not only in front of each other but also on television for the world to see. I can’t find the quote, which is personally annoying, but I definitely remember watching an episode when the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ Director, Kelli Finglass, said something close to, “We are so impossible because we are asking them to be the best dancers, look like a model and be the girl next door.” I never joined a sorority, but I have watched many over-dramatized movies of the Greek life hazing techniques, and watching the show in the 2000s was giving extreme hazing in order to make an elite squad. With the constant talk of who was on weight probation, it was also no surprise that many former members of the team disclosed using pills, supplements, and fad diets, which had negative effects on their bodies in the long run. 

The early 2000s show when it was on CMT.

So, while watching this new Netflix documentary that came out recently in June 2024, was I surprised at one of the dancers/cheerleaders developing what was never fully said but an implied eating disorder? No, not at all. I am quite sure that she is not the only one, nor will she be the last, considering the “standards” for the team. The women not only have to fit a subjective ideal beauty and body mold that is given and declared by the judges and owners of the team but also have to be able to fit into very small pieces of clothing and remain the same size for their entire tenure as a cheerleader (if they come back on the team they are given the same exact uniform.