Serious: Thoughts on NBA cheerleaders

Personally I like the idea of having a designated group of people who can entertain the crowd with dance routines during timeouts, who can lead group chants, and so forth (I've always thought it would be amazing for the atmosphere of NBA games if we could really get the crowds going with the kind of group chants they do at European soccer games).

But the fact that NBA cheerleading squads only consist of sexy young women in sexy outfits doing sexy dance routines sort of undercuts that concept a bit, and makes it feel more like they're just there to be eye candy for the men in the audience. Nobody really thinks twice about it, but the more you do the more it seems weirdly anachronistic for 2018. I myself only watch NBA cheerleaders for lustful reasons.

I realize most people don't seem particularly bothered by it (including the cheerleaders themselves, who genuinely seem to enjoy the job), and this isn't intended as an "outrage" post or anything. Just kind of an odd thing I was wondering if anybody else has noticed.