When Bailey Davis, a former New Orleans Saints cheerleader, was fired, she was told it was because she posted an inappropriate picture on Instagram.
This opened a door into the contradictions NFL cheerleaders must face. The cheerleaders must follow strict guidelines on their personal social media platforms. All social media activity is severely restricted — they cannot disclose their affiliations with teams or associate with players in any capacity online. But the teams themselves frequently and aggressively market the women as sex objects, as shown through a post by the Indianapolis Colts on their official Instagram account for their cheerleading squad that read “HOTTIE ALERT” under a picture of a string-bikini-clad cheerleader.
The New York Times obtained a rule book for the Cincinnati Bengals’ cheerleading squad, the Ben-Gals. The rule book advised cheerleaders to “remain tasteful and representative of the organization.” They did not specify what “tasteful” is. Below is an example of what the Bengals posted on their cheerleading team’s official Instagram account:
Meanwhile, the Colts are allowed to have public profiles in which they can identify themselves as NFL cheerleaders, but they can only post photos of themselves in uniform at official team events. The Colts have an official Instagram for the cheerleading squad, which frequently showcases the “cheerleader of the week” in which the women are wearing bikinis in a photo shoot. It also features personal information about the women, like hometowns, education and birthdays. The Times writes that nearly all NFL teams have tight control over the cheerleaders’ online activity. The women are usually only identified by first names, occasionally last initials and some squads require their cheerleaders send friend requests to their directors for approval. Football players very rarely, if ever, have to follow rules like these.
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