Should cheerleaders be removed?
Should cheerleaders be removed? Korea Times file
By Dong Sun-hwa
After a cheerleader for a professional baseball team revealed she had been sexually harassed several times, calls have been growing for the removal of all cheerleaders.
The controversy began on Monday when Hwang Da-goun, 18, a cheerleader for the Samsung Lions baseball team, uploaded on her Instagram a screenshot from Ilbe Storage, a far-right website, which sexually harassed her.
“I like this job, but is this the price that I have to pay,” wrote Hwang. “I cannot even look at comments on the internet because they are too filthy ― sexual harassment has gone too far.”
Hwang added that she felt sorry for her parents who might see such offensive posts.
Cheerleader Hwang Da-goun. Capture from Hwang's Instagram
After her post, other cheerleaders began speaking out. Shim Hye-sung, Hwang's colleague, wrote on her social media: “Maybe we have no human rights at all ― the right to say that we have been damaged, and that we are victims.”
Her remarks are seemingly aimed at those online users who claim the cheerleaders are to blame for the harassment because they perform while wearing revealing outfits.
Another cheerleader, Park Hyun-young, commented, “We did not become cheerleaders because we wanted to physically reveal ourselves ― please be aware that there are dozens of people who do cheerleading because they are fond of dancing and love to be on the stage.”
All three cheerleaders have deleted their posts.
However, a national petition calling for their removal began on Tuesday, with more than 900 people supporting it as of Thursday.
A petitioner wrote: “Cheerleading can spark a dispute over commercialization of sex. It is not an indispensable component of sports games, and there are even some minors who are involved in the job.”
But numerous cheerleaders and netizens insist the problem originated with perpetrators, and that the victims should not be blamed.