Five women have shed light on the dark reality of life as a professional cheerleader, after announcing that they are suing the Houston Texans for alleged harassment and substandard payment.

The women, who are all former cheerleaders for the Houston Texans football team, are being represented by lawyer Gloria Allred. At a recent press conference, they spoke out about the degrading and damaging practices of their former coaches, which included fat-shaming and derogatory comments about their ethnicity.

According to BBC News, the women described particularly disturbing interactions with their coaches, including an incident which involved a cheerleader’s skin being duct-taped down to show the rest of her squad how the coach would have preferred her body to look. Another cheerleader, of Hispanic heritage, said she was told to straighten her hair, and threatened with replacement if she didn’t.

Cheerleaders are often seen as an iconic part of American culture. The very high beauty standards associated with the sport can make it seem like an exclusive and aspirational club, an image depicted frequently in films and TV series.

However, being a professional cheerleader requires much more than the ability to live up to a certain aesthetic standard. Not only are cheerleaders responsible for maintaining the spirits of a sports team and their fans, they are also skilled, powerful athletes in their own right.

Allred highlighted the gulf between the cheerleading ideal and the reality of the women’s lives, saying: “These women all had the same dream: they all aspired to be an integral part of the Houston Texans. And they looked forward to promoting the team.

“But their dreams were shattered by the reality of their lives as Houston Texans cheerleaders.”

Why are cheerleaders still being harassed and fat-shamed by the NFL?