An infographic offering women appearance advice for college cheerleader and dance tryouts sparked a backlash at the University of Washington and was removed from the cheerleading team’s Facebook page.
The image of a white woman wearing black shorts and a black sports bra includes tips such as encouraging a “bronze, beachy glow” and “girl about town lipstick” while discouraging “dark, smokey eyes” and ponytails.
“I can’t believe this is real,” UW student Jazmine Perez, director of programming for student government, told
The Seattle Times. “One of the first things that comes mind is objectification and idealization of Western beauty, which are values I would like to believe the University doesn’t want to perpetuate,” she said. “As a student of color who looks nothing like the student in the poster, this feels very exclusive.”
The post appeared Monday night and was removed Tuesday morning, the Times said, noting that it was similar to others posted by Washington State University and Louisiana State University.
The infographic was created in response to questions about cheerleading and dance tryouts and removed after athletic officials “determined that some of the details and descriptions provided were inconsistent with the values of the UW spirit program and department of athletics,” the Times reported.
The university’s student government objected to the image, saying in a statement: "An advertisement such as this completely objectifies women and creates barriers that only perpetuates the inaccessibility of opportunities that should be open for every student on this campus,"
NBC News reported.
NBC News said the images published by Washington State University and Louisiana State University were “remarkably similar, boasting women with relatively straight, shoulder-length blonde hair.”
A representative of Varsity, a cheer and dance umbrella organization, told the network that such announcements are rare and called it unfortunate.
"We might say wear a clean outfit and make sure your hair is done," the representative said, adding: "Our focus is on athleticism. We like to keep the focus on athleticism and cheerleading skills.”
Twitter users had mixed reactions.
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