Editing But I'm a Cheerleader (section)

===Conception===
Babbit, whose mother runs a [[halfway house]] called New Directions for young people with drug and alcohol problems, had wanted to make a comedy about rehabilitation and the [[Twelve-step program|12-step program]].<ref name=":3" /> After reading an article about a man who had returned from a reparative therapy camp hating himself, she decided to combine the two ideas.<ref name=":2" /> With girlfriend Sperling, she came up with the idea for a feature film about a cheerleader who attends reparative therapy.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=So Many Battles to Fight Interview with Jamie Babbit |url=https://nitrateonline.com/2000/fcheerleader.html |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=nitrateonline.com |archive-date=September 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929210807/http://www.nitrateonline.com/2000/fcheerleader.html |url-status=live }}</ref> They wanted the main character to be a cheerleader because it is ...&nbsp;"the pinnacle of the American dream, and the American dream of femininity."<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Grady |first=Pam |date=2005-03-06 |title=Rah Rah Rah: Director Jamie Babbit and Company Root for But I'm a Cheerleader |url=http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/interviews/cheerleader |access-date=2022-04-02 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306182317/http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/interviews/cheerleader |archive-date=6 March 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She wanted the film to represent the lesbian experience from the [[Butch and femme|femme]] perspective, contrasting with several films of the time that represented the butch perspective (''[[Go Fish (film)|Go Fish]]'' and ''[[The Watermelon Woman]]'').<ref name=":2" /> She also wanted to satirize both the [[Christian right|religious right]] and the [[gay community]].<ref name=":4" /> Not feeling qualified to write the script herself, Babbit brought in screenwriter and recent graduate of [[USC School of Cinematic Arts]] [[Brian Wayne Peterson]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Peterson had experience with reparative therapy while working at a prison clinic for [[sex offender]]s.<ref name=":3" /> He has said that he wanted to make a film that would not only entertain people, but also anger them and encourage them to talk about the issues it raised.<ref name=":3" />