These women have thoroughly internalized the male gaze, their to-be-looked-at-ness, and arrived at a place of incredible power — as objects. Their struggle, as evidenced by the ample time we spend with those who’ve “retired,” is figuring a sense of self outside of that objecthood.

While there are notable differences in the complexity, nuance, allusion, artistic innovation and experimentation found in mass, mid, and high culture, the argument that one is intrinsically more valuable than the others is, of course, fundamentally elitist. It’s no accident that this sort of cultural work—by Macdonald and others—is often the pet

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I’m fascinated by the way that the cheerleaders themselves have narrativized this sort of self-objectification: in all the talk about locking eyes with a spectator and giving them that special moment , in the focus on the happiness you provide just by existing , in the focus on sanding down just enough individuality (even height differentiation) to... See more