Beauty queen, sewing whiz, cheer captain ... feminist?
By: Elizabeth Tuttle
Posted: 2/26/09
Based on her loose curls, unaffected by the rainy walk from the Quad, as well as her matching high heels and black satin dress replete with a strategically placed crystal-encrusted crown pin, I find it hard to believe her when she swears she has a cold. As we sit in the Campus Center Café on a drizzly weekday evening, Gretchen Hahn '09 has no reservations about pinning a bejeweled pageant crown atop her head as I conduct my interview, seemingly impervious to the giggles and pointing fingers of more than a few dubious diners around her.
Across campus, and a little later in the evening, Rebecca Kaplan '11 warms up her muscles alongside eight of her teammates for the moment they have been practicing for all week. She adjusts the bright gold bow atop her head and bounds onto the basketball court, regaling unsuspecting audience members with a halftime show from Smith Spirit, a newly chartered cheerleading team on campus.
Hahn and Kaplan represent only two members of a much larger demographic on campus: women who have appropriated aspects of traditional gendered stereotypes and activities, reinterpreted them to fit their own contemporary viewpoints and now embrace them as part of a declaration of their own versions of feminism.
For some students on campus, subverting traditional gender roles through the very activities that once enforced them comes in as simple a form as knitting, sewing or cooking. For others, it involves swimwear and stunt squads.
"People associate cheerleaders with being anti-feminist," Kaplan says, stating that the reason why she cheers is completely antipodal to that logic. "We're here and we're women, we practice our sport, and our sport is the celebration of other women. It's a feminist revolution going on with cheerleading!"
For her, cheerleading has never been a matter of fitting into an image of what a female should look like or enjoy, nor has it been about performing for males. At nine years old, she started cheering at an all-girls camp that emphasized the confidence and athleticism required for the sport. "Cheering," she says, "makes me feel like I'm doing something for women."
"Cheerleading requires women to be extremely confident," says Kaplan. "If you're going to go out in front of a crowd, you know that there are going to be people in that crowd who are going to laugh at you, no matter where you go. Nevertheless, you go out, make ridiculous faces, have so much spirit, and the crowd then has no choice but to have some, too."
She feels that part of the fun in cheerleading for Smith comes in the completely antithetical reinterpretation of old stereotypes. In the spirit of the traditionally romantic link between football players and cheerleaders, Kaplan humorously recounts her experience cheering at the halftime of her girlfriend's rugby game: "We're taking something that was given to us, this common convention that started a long time ago with knitted sweaters ... and we're turning it on its head."
Kaplan also cites a level of trust among other women, as well as sheer athleticism, as oft-ignored but extremely tangible benefits for women cheerleaders. "You have to be a dancer, a gymnast," she says. "The element of trust that happens in a stunt group itself, a lot of women should really feel this between each other. Women are so catty, but you can't really be catty when you're cheering, or else it gets dangerous."
In reshaping these activities, Kaplan notes several conventions that have been cut, most notably the appearance and uniform restrictions. "We're open to women who don't want to wear a skirt. You shouldn't have to wear skirts anywhere; that's a convention we're ready to do without. In my history of cheerleading, you grow your hair out for cheerleading because you need your hair up in that ponytail. That's all part of the sport - but it doesn't have to be. Anybody should be able to be involved in our sport, and feel comfortable and confident."
For Hahn, the empowering, liberating aspects of her pageant career may seem insignificant or trite amid bra-stuffing, swimsuit competitions, personal trainers and spray tans. But she argues that pageant competitions have given her a confidence unparalleled by other life experiences, as well as significant scholarship money for her time at Smith.
"It's always been a scholarship pageant, first and foremost. I've raised over a thousand dollars," she says, "and that buys a lot of books. They never give you a check; you send them your bill from school and they reimburse you."
Hahn, whose mother and grandmother also participated in pageants, will participate in the June 27 Miss Connecticut pageant alongside 25 other competitors after clinching the title of Miss North Haven 2009.
In addition to an evening gown and swimsuit section, Hahn also undergoes a nine-minute, private interview and a shorter onstage interview during the pageant. Questions range from topics like abortion, gay marriage and current domestic economic polities to "fluffier," less academic questions.
"I consider myself a feminist," Hahn says, opining that women should be given the same opportunities as men. As such, she also embraces a certain femininity that does not always appear to correspond with traditional feminism - of the three inanimate objects she would take with her on a deserted island, one would be mascara "because you can never look too good no matter where you are."
Hahn sees a deeper motivation behind the swimsuit portion of the competition. "It's called Lifestyle and Fitness for a reason. It's to show that you have a healthy lifestyle; if you sit around all day and spend every weekend drinking, it's going to show. The fact that you actually take care of your body," she says, "is important" for every self-respecting woman.
"You have to know yourself inside and out to get up there and stand in front of a room full of hundreds of people in your bathing suit," she rationalizes. "I would disagree with the people who say that pageants are superficial or anti-feminist because of the sheer confidence you gain from the experience. Now that I've done a pageant, I feel that I can do anything."
© Copyright 2009 The Sophian
On Thursday, March 12, I attended the grand opening of the SpringHill Suites by Marriott, in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The event also acted as a fundraiser for the National Hemophilia Foundation. We ended up raising over $2,000 for the organization that provides research, lobbying, and support for people with blood-clotting disorders. 
