Culture Study Meets 'America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders'

Girlhood is big business. The ones who are best at it literally treat it as an occupation, modeling or taking suitably candid-looking pictures of themselves, recommending clothes and jewelry and books, going viral on TikTok. They’re performing a way of being that looks joyful, effortless, and adorable. It’s a performance that by definition has a sh... See more

In most years, the aesthetic beats of a football season are consistent and predictable. The mood board has its Terrible Towels waving in Pittsburgh, bare-chested fans braving frigid temperatures in Green Bay or Buffalo, pregame flyovers, and spilled beer. Frustration is a coach who’s spiking a tablet; triumph is a roaring crowd or a touchdown spike... See more

One might assume “girl” identity as a way to show naysayers just how clever girls actually are, or to show men how unserious those things to which they ascribe such importance may be. Claiming that something that is supposed to be “for boys” — say, baseball, the Grateful Dead, Karl Ove Knausgaard — is really “for girls,” is like a pinprick into a b

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