[There Are 29 Hair, Makeup, and Body Requirements for University of Washington’s Cheerleading Tryouts](There Are 29 Hair, Makeup, and Body Requirements for University of Washington’s Cheerleading Tryouts)
I don’t even care that they used a white blonde woman and tried to make sure that women conformed to white ideals, but I’m so sick of the objectification of women. Infographics like this send a clear message to women that their appearance is what is most important.
And people wonder why young girls and women have low self-esteem and body issues.
Even though cheer leading is considered a sport and requires skill, strength, and stamina, there is as much emphasis on the clothing style, femininity and sexual appearance parts, as there is on the athletics from this info graphic. (look at the do’s and don’ts ) To coach about eyelashes, lipstick, hairstyle and bronze skin tones, bare midriff ??? This says this is not about the athletics, but about their appearance and it better be to the acceptable standards of whoever created this “how to” poster.
Someone is shocked to discover that attractiveness is a criteria for cheerleading?
I mean, I know it has come a long way and is more athletic these days, but obviously it hasn’t come THAT far.
I’d hoped that by now, ability was at least as important as the eye-candy factor.
Ability is judged after people show up in the requested attire and presentation. There is nothing inherently wrong with those criteria.
Udub just trying to compete with Nike U
I don’t particularly care that the requirements are appearance-focused. I do care that they seem to be written with only white women in mind.
“… According to The Times, the department removed it after it was ‘determined that some of the details and descriptions provided were inconsistent with the values of the UW spirit program and department of athletics.’” …
http://1010wcsi.com/university-of-washington-removes-cheerleader-infographic-after-outcry/
As a hetero male (white, but that is irrelevant for this I think), I am not ashamed to say the Neanderthal DNA still running around in my body makes it enjoyable to look at pretty women, and certainly I still remember from decades ago how arousing it was to see the cheerleaders from USC (who were on ABC television almost every fall weekend) and later the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, and so on from there.
So having established my bona fides, I think the UW list is tone deaf and excessively focused on appearance in very many ways. I get that weight, for example, is going to be a real issue given the typical pyramids and such. Sure, one could work around it for a person or two, but I think there are legitimate arguments not to make exceptions. So that and general physical fitness and gymnastic type abilities make sense. But beyond that kind of thing, sorry. In this day and age I am willing to deprive my grandsons of the exact same “benefits” I enjoyed for the greater good of progress in breaking down biases and stereotypes. I have seen plenty of smaller schools whose cheer women are not all Miss USA semifinalist caliber, and they sure seem to do a great job as far as I can tell.
Didn’t we already go through this with “stewardesses” aka flight attendants? Didn’t we learn anything from that?
Complete and total nonissue in my book. Granted, I am not female but seriously does anyone think for one second that men do NOT have the same sorts of objectification imposed on them? If you aren’t six foot two with washboard abs you may have body issues also. It just means you’ve got to work, like anyone else, to find the right mate and make kids that you can be obsessively proud of. In summary, I really wish people wouldn’t get into knots over stuff like this. Like someone said, shocking, cheerleaders are expected to be fit and attractive. Shocking. Just shocking. By the way, my sons played high school football. Most of the cheerleaders fit the U-Dub profile. A few did not and no one really cared although I bet, behind their backs, they were made fun of for not fitting the profile and you know what that is life. That is how it works. That might not be how it should work but that is how it does work.
My daughter is a competitive cheerleader for a top tier college team. I can tell you that any over the top objectification is school specific and should not be assumed across the board. We just got back from the NCA Cheerleading nationals in Daytona a few weeks ago. Many teams had women of all sorts of body types. And on her squad, it’s all about physical ability and athletics. BTW, a knock on the article writer – a “cartwheel” is hardly a collegiate level skill…
I think competitive cheering is a far cry from the cheer outlined in the poster. And I agree a cartwheel is very low bar (though I can’t do one 
)
Most of the cheerleaders fit the U-Dub profile. A few did not and no one really cared although I bet, behind their backs, they were made fun of for not fitting the profile and you know what that is life. That is how it works. That might not be how it should work but that is how it does work.
It will never work differently until more people decide it’s not okay to make fun of people. It’s just like when people excuse behaviors for reasons like “boys will be boys.” No, boys (or anyone else whose behavior is excused in a similar manner) do not have to act in a way that “might not be how it should work” … it is possible to correct behaviors instead of just excusing them.
This article shows the poster in question.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/husky-guide-on-cheerleading-tryouts-goes-global/
I don’t expect to convince you, but if you really think that the manner, level, and most importantly consequences of women objectifying men are remotely similar to the reverse, then you live in a very different world than I do.
Also, I have to strongly second @kelsmom when you say:
First, just because that is how it works in private in large portions of society is absolutely no reason to make it sound like that makes it OK for institutions, especially our public ones, to further it and seem to support it. I am sure there are still large chunks of society that would rather see women not working at all except for being teachers and nurses, or have blacks and Hispanics anywhere but the mail room, as janitors, etc. Would you be OK with having college groups that further those notions just because “that is how it is”? And to add to that, don’t just put it in the context of where we are today. Put yourself on a campus right after Brown v. Board of Education or after the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s, when a majority of the country still favored separate and who cares if it is equal. Kind of appalling to think now how easily many tolerated exactly that at the time, isn’t it?
I’m just glad that this isn’t a southern school. If it were, all sorts of unpleasant regional/social/educational/political assumptions would be made about the “ignorant rubes” in that part of the country and how this sort of thing just doesn’t happen elsewhere. Given that this is about the University of Washington, I expect the comments will only be insulting to this particular activity and the tone deafness of that particular poster.
Such a relief 8-|
I think the poster just displayed the rules that have been unwritten for cheerleaders forever. Others might make the team, but mostly because not enough that fit that mold showed up. I am very glad my kids had no interest in cheerleading.
isn’t the whole point of cheerleading at athletic events objectification?
when the cheerleaders in a football stadium “lead a cheer” how many people do you think can hear them?
10?
15?
I don’t understand how you can claim it is anything else. Surely everyone that goes to the tryout knows this?
competitive cheerleading which is more gymnastic-ish is different.
My kids’ high school made an intentional decision not to have cheerleaders when the school was founded in the 1980s. The school founder said he wanted their young women out on the playing fields or practicing other ECs, not cheering from the sidelines.