When I was a teenager, one of my closest friends was raped. A man forced her into non-consensual sex and although she didn’t walk away beaten to a pulp like many women, she has carried the trauma with her for 35 years, just as it has haunted me all this time.
This is why it is especially appalling to read about the cheerleader who was kicked off the squad because she refused to “cheer” for her rapist,
H.S. fulfilled her role as a cheerleader, participating in all the cheers for the team as a group. She simply refused to shout the first name of the man who assaulted her when he stood up alone to make free throws. It seems like she was being more than accommodating, when an student athlete facing trial on rape charges most likely should have been suspended from the team, even if his presence wasn’t a source of immediate distress to his victim in her position as cheerleader. In a display of extreme disrespect for a rape survivor and disregard for her well-being, school officials insisted that H.S. had to scream “Rakheem” with the rest of the cheerleaders, or she’d be kicked off the squad.
I don’t think so. However, the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals upheld the school’s decision. They said her role as a cheerleader meant supporting the athletic team and her silence constituted substantial interference with the work of the school. Wow.
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