Sex, drugs and... cheerleading?!

I must admit my bias: I have always thought that the all-American figure of the cheerleader is one of the most questionable icons of modern culture. For crying out loud, the US of A is the country where the sexual revolution happened, where there are Women's Studies departments at major universities! But then we turn around and actually institutionalize what amounts to a not-so-subtle exploitation of women (yes, there are men cheerleaders, but they ain't those whose butts get pinched after having being thrown up in the air) as part of athletic events featuring not just professional teams, but "academic" ones as well.

Recently, however, the cheerleading phenomenon has become even more obviously about the outright use of sex to sell a product -- this time medical drugs rather than college images. As an article by Stephanie Saul in the New York Times reports, cheerleaders (largely women) are hired in increasing numbers by pharmaceutical companies to help sell prescription drugs to doctors and, therefore, to the general public.

Of course, unlike what happens in several European countries, the saleswomen in question are not required to have a degree in science, or even to have the foggiest idea of whatever they are selling. All they need to do is to smile in a captivating fashion, flaunt their sexuality, and bring home a bonus for their day's work.

A cheerleeding "advisor" at the University of Kentucky, Lynn Williamson, says that pharmaceutical companies "watch to see who's graduating, they don't ask what the major is.'' No kidding. According to Gregory Webb, who runs a company named Spirited Sales Leaders (!!), ''the cheerleaders now are the top people in universities; these are really capable and high-profile people.'' Oh, I thought those were the faculty, or perhaps the Provost or President. Shows you how little I understand of academic matters.

According to Lamberto Andreotti, of Bristol-Myers Squibb, the practice of hiring cheerleaders to sell drugs to (largely male) doctors has "nothing to do with looks," a sentiment echoed by an anonymous cheerleader who works for a pharmaceutical company, claiming that "there is so much more to it.'' Yes, and I own a piece of real estate in Rome called "the Coliseum," anybody interested in buying it?

What is amazing, of course, is that all of this goes on in a country (and largely in the south, at universities like Kentucky and Alabama), which is currently affected by a "moral value" mania, where the alleged moral values have nothing to do with, say, war, exploitation, poverty and famine, and everything to do with sex -- including consensual relationships among adults. Along similar lines, it was paradigmatic during the 2004 elections to see the good citizens of Nevada simultaneously vote to ban gay marriage and to legalize prostitution, apparently entirely unencumbered by any thought process that might lead to consider the incongruity of said twin vote.

Of course, all of this gives me a couple of ideas about how, say, to improve funding for education, or science (other than holding bake sales). Perhaps we should send those of my colleagues who were featured in the (thankfully now defunct) "Stud Muffins of Science" calendar to plead for money in Congress. I doubt it's immoral to sexually exploit a bunch of ego-inflated male PhD's, is it?