From their inception in the 1960s, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were no different from any other professional teams’ cheer squad — paper megaphones, simple chants and matching non-revealing uniforms. They didn’t have a halftime show and they didn’t receive much attention because attendants strictly wanted football. That is, until a stripper by the name of Bubbles Cash showed up to a 1967 Cowboys game and drew more attention to her attire and presence than the plays on the field. By the early 70s, the new cheerleaders dawned cleavage, shorts, go-go boots and chorus-line dances that became the priority on the field. Cowboys general manager Tex Schramm got what he wanted — male participants were made to feel like they had a chance at a cheerleader as they cheered on their home team. “A little sex with their violence,” as one commentator once said.
Second-wave feminism and sexual liberation in the 1970s are the high-kick and camera wink of Dana Adam Shapiro’s new documentary: Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Roe v. Wade, the normalization of contraception and mainstream pornography were the backdrop of America at the time — a country that the filmmakers of Daughters state were changed forever by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
There are a number of big, lofty statements made throughout Daughters that even the selected former cheerleaders at a post-screening Q&A during the deadCenter 2018 film festival weren’t prepared to answer. The documentary points out that the occurrence of Roe v. Wade a year after the new Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were revealed to the world was not a coincidence, but rather the fire that lit the match of the sexual revolution of the 1970s.
Daughters is primarily the story of Suzanne Mitchell, the mother-figure of the cheerleaders who was as scary as she was nurturing. Administrative assistant to Schramm and director of the cheerleaders from 1976 to 1989, Mitchell once described the transformation of the cheerleaders as a combination of the clean nature of sports with the appeal of sex. Two desires for the price of one.
Even though Schramm wanted to see sexy women on the field during his games, Mitchell states that he also wanted them to be classy. Whether Schramm’s intentions were true, the change in outfits drew in millions of men to tune in every Sunday. The cheerleader uniforms became a problem for the second-wave of feminism, as the male viewers tuning in would drool over exposed midriff instead of the game or empowerment of the ladies performing on the field.
The documentary paints the cheerleaders as daughters to the ever-loving and disciplined Mitchell, who worked them hard but wanted their appearance to stay sleaze-free (going as far as throwing a camera in the water and walking off the set of their appearance of “The Love Boat” when production crews wanted to get up-skirt shots of the cheerleaders). Mitchell died in 2017 with no children, but left an entire squad of cheerleading children that she cared for behind.
When the topic of the copyright infringing porno Debbie Does Dallas is brought up, Mitchell is infuriated that the public eye would be connecting pornography with the Cowboys Cheerleaders. But who’s to say that Schramm wasn’t seeking that type of appeal through his revamp of the cheer squad, regardless of how Mitchell felt and cared for her squad of kids.
Multiple topics are brought up to side-step the controversy that arose from the cheerleaders’ presence. As much as the uniforms demonstrated how much the cheerleaders were in control of their sexuality, it also details the many limitations Mitchell forced them to abide by and how the cheerleaders pushed back on the feminism hate that was bestowed upon them. The film shows both sides of this idea by spending a good twenty minutes showing how the cheerleaders doing USO tours saved the country and changed the face of America forever. Daughters doesn’t give a clear answer.
Daughters of the Sexual Revolution is a fun and quirky doc that’s over before you can say the title three times. The former cheerleaders have nothing but praise for Mitchell and the organization that they all lived and breathed for several years. As one-sided as it might be, it’s fun to live in the past memories of those who felt special after being picked out of thousands to become a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.
Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders screens again at deadCenter 2018 on Sat, Jun 9th, 2:30 PM @ Devon Theater at Harkins Bricktown Cinema.
