It's a commonly known fact that the NFL cheerleaders and the NFL football players are held at different standards, but since the recent lawsuit against the New Orleans Saints by a former cheerleader, Bailey Davis, there has been a bit of a stir.

Through a recent poll on my Facebook account, I've come to learn that most people believe that NFL cheerleaders and NFL players should both be held to the same standards in terms of rules and regulations.

Currently, players and cheerleaders are not being held to the same standards in terms of the rules and expectations that are given by their established teams. Cheerleaders are expected to do much more than players and at much less. Cheerleaders are held to higher standards for lower pay and there is a lot wrong with the way these women are being treated. This is not a secret.

Interaction Standards

Cheerleaders are held to higher standards when it comes to interaction between themselves and players. This is something that Bailey Davis spoke out about in her lawsuit. Cheerleaders are required to block players on social media if they are followed. They are also required to leave a party or social event if a player arrives or is already there. Bailey Davis was accused by her team of not leaving a social event, which ultimately lead to one of the factors of her firing back in January. Teams most often say that the reasoning behind this rule is to keep the cheerleaders from attracting stalkers.

Yep, you read that right. Cheerleaders are required to take themselves out of a situation where players could possibly interact with them. Teams spokesmen say that they want to protect cheerleaders from "stalkers," but what does that say about the players on these teams? Perhaps that's something that we should keep in mind while we're paying them millions of dollars every year.

Pay

Something that many people don't realize about cheerleaders is that they are only paid for games they attend. In a released contract for the Baltimore Ravens' cheer squad, it is stated:

All cheerleaders will receive $100.00 per game- captains will receive $125.00. If you miss cheering a game due to sickness, injury or suspension you will not receive pay for that game.

This doesn't even include photoshoots and events that cheerleaders are not paid for. Some cheerleaders are required to sell their own calendars. Before the Jills (The Buffalo Bills Squad) were disbanded, each cheerleader was required to purchase 10 calendars in bulk for $100 and sell each calendar for $15, a measly $50 profit when they were finished. If these cheerleaders were making the same amount as the previously mentioned Raven's cheerleaders, that would be an entire game's pay.

There is no specification as to how long a game of football can last. The average game can last about 3 hours and twelve minutes, but regardless of that time and whether or not there is overtime. Given that information, we can see that the average cheerleader would make $31.25 an hour but keep in mind that games only occur once a week and if it's a bye week, then there is no game at all and that means no pay.

Secondary Employment

Each football team plays 17 games during the regular season. This means that based off of previous payment schedule, an average cheerleader would only make about $1,600 a year which is nowhere near a livable amount. Because of this, most cheerleaders need to acquire a second job to make at least a decent income in order to continue living.

In order to get a second job (maybe even better paying), the team has to approve the secondary job. It's a fair price to pay considering that cheerleaders are one of the faces of the team involved. But taking into consideration that their cheerleaders are hardly making anything from the team that they cheer for, those teams are taking the rest of these girl's employment into their own control.

Uniforms vs Modeling Rules

The uniform of cheerleaders is obviously fit for the male gaze. While it's not preferable, it's not the point of this argument to get into how sexist these outfits are. I'm not saying they're acceptable, but it's what they wear. Moving on.

These are the uniforms of the New Orlean Saints' cheerleading squad.

The following is an excerpt from the Raven's contract.

Cheerleaders shall not commit any act that will or may create notoriety, bring the Ravens or cheerleaders into public disrepute, or reflect adversely on Ravens and/or Ravens' sponsors. This includes, but is not limited to cheerleader's participation in exotic dancing or any commercial ventures, such as the publishing of cheerleader memoirs, participating in or posing nude or semi-nude (string bikini) or performing in tasteless films, photos or bikini/swimwear contest in or for any media or publication whatsoever. As noted above, all cheerleaders are required to notify Ravens director of cheerleading and management of any ventures existing and/or personal web pages or online mediums in season (May - Jan).

Cheerleaders are allowed to prance around in what are basically boots and bikinis, but if they dare to model a swimsuit or tasteful lingerie, they are given a strike for breaking the rules. Cheerleaders are nothing but the eye candy of men, but if they profit off of their ability to be eye candy to anyone in another way, they are wrong. Maybe team owners should think a bit more about that before they hold these girls to such high standards.