So, a video is making the rounds. Vikings male cheerleaders. A shared team bathroom. Cue the outrage.
Let’s be real for a second. The immediate, knee-jerk reaction to this “scandal” tells us far more about our own hang-ups than it does about the Minnesota Vikings organization or their co-ed cheer squad.
The core of the “outcry” seems to be the idea of men and women sharing a space typically segregated by gender. But context is everything. This isn’t a public restroom in a mall; it’s a team facility. These are professional performers, colleagues and athletes, using a functional space to prepare for their job. They are a unit, a team working toward the same goal: hyping up a stadium of 60,000+ people.
The fact that this is even news highlights a weird paradox in our culture. We champion equality and integration in the workplace, yet the second men and women share a practical, non-intimate space like a locker room or bathroom for efficiency, we clutch our pearls. Professional sports teams, theater companies, and emergency crews have navigated shared facilities for years out of necessity and mutual respect. The focus is on the work, not the plumbing.
The viral outrage feels manufactured. It’s a tempest in a teapot—or, more accurately, a storm in a sink. It distracts from actual issues of respect and professionalism, which are defined by behavior, not by who is applying eyeliner in the same mirror.
Maybe instead of faux outrage over a video snippet, we should be talking about the Vikings having a co-ed cheer squad in the first place—which is pretty cool and progressive. Or maybe we should just acknowledge that adults in a professional setting can figure out how to share a bathroom like the grown-ups they are.
The real takeaway? They’re a team. They’re working. Let them get ready in peace.
