a) Yes, the core of their problem is that they eat shit. If they stopped working as a cheerleader, they would stop having the problems associated with being a cheerleader.
b) Jesus, I already listed a pile of options. Hell, TFA has a cheerleader listing other options that should could take to be paid better doing something that isn’t degrading. I’ll list some again off of the top of my head what someone with the physical strength and coordination of a cheerleader can do, to say nothing of the drive that got them there above all the other competition that tried and failed: Gym teacher, dance instructor, personal trainer, and literally any other job that requires physical coordination, and that is assuming (wrongly) that they have absolutely no other skills, and that they don’t want to do something boring that pays the bills.
c) Yes, society is sexist and they are willing participants. That is the root cause of their problem. They can leave. The don’t want to. Something is holding them there, and it isn’t a rational examination of their options.
d) It would have been nice if society was setup such that they realized at an early age that this is a degrading path, but I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that for most of these women, the social pressure of where they grew up provided no such support. The girls that became women stepped out of childhood damaged. Where a self aware woman confident of her own worth would have taken one look at what a cheerleader gets, shit pay and degrading treatment and said “nope”, these women said “yes” and then fought other women for the right to hold those positions instead of wandering off to do something that isn’t degrading and pays better.
Paying them fairly (and like I said, they SHOULD be paid fairly) won’t fix whatever is motivating them to work very hard to not get paid. It will certainly fix their financial situation, but if that is all that needed fixing they could simply stop being cheerleaders and do something else. When a migrant worker doesn’t get paid, it isn’t because they are selecting a degrading and financially ruinous options over a pile of better options. It isn’t like they are selecting migrant farm work over being well payed doctors. They are rationally selecting the least bad option, and the least bad option is horrible. These are rational folks who if you improve their financial options will select the better option and their problem would be fixed. These cheerleaders already have that options and are not taking it. Financial pain is just the most obvious symptom of their much deeper and systemic problem. Again, I am all for fixing the symptoms, I am just pointing out that the problem would remain. The problem is the society that built these people. The damage to be undone is to make them understand that accepting this treatment when there other options isn’t worth it.
