Review: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Can you cock a Winchester without breaking your acrylics? Last month, Rebecca Traister took us on a ride through the world of Republican women in the era of Trump. Women like Reps. Katie Brit and Nancy Mace, and myriad Trump associates, she argued, are contorting themselves to be both brash to the point of violence and traditionally feminine with long blowouts and sexy shoes. In fact, GOP women in 2024, knowingly or not, are drawing on a brand of white southern femininity that’s been pretty common for the last 200 years and continues to reign today. It’s the trope that Dolly Parton tweaks so masterfully: big hair, big boobs, long nails – and a toughness that’s made her beloved amongst hard-working people with any kind of politics.
There’s no more satisfying dive into this sort of womanhood than the new miniseries America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Throughout the show, which follows the (very) young women from tryouts to retiring their white micro-shorts for the season, the cheerleaders are held to the highest degree of aesthetic scrutiny: Ruthless Cowboys Cheerleader director Kelli Finglass is always around to tell them if they’re too fat or too tired. Many observe an explicitly Christian practice of serving everyone but themselves, frequently visiting senior centers and charity events where every man who gets his picture taken with a cheerleader is handed a football to hold so he doesn’t touch her. No one really takes care of the women though; they have to be tough. The cheerleaders are barely paid, so they have jobs: one works all day with a severely disabled child while another (who is ultimately cut) is an orthodontist. Of course, the kicker is that all this toughness serves everyone but themselves; the cheerleaders have never managed to get a fair wage. When Dolly herself shows up to star in a halftime show, decked out in a DCC uniform, everyone is thrilled – here is their tough, feminine, carefully apolitical icon. But everyone here is working way past 9-5. ––Sarah Leonard