Tips for Cheerleader Tryouts

[PastTense]

I am sure some of you have daughters interested in trying out for cheerleader sometime.

Here are some tips from the University of Washington:

Mike Sington

Strangely some people find these objectionable!

[panache45]

First of all . . . someone should tell them that not all cheerleaders are girls.

[Max_Torque]

My tip: be aggressive. B-E aggressive.

[DigitalC]

@panache45

First of all . . . someone should tell them that not all cheerleaders are girls.

Apart from completely ignoring male cheeleaders I don’t see what was in any way objectionable about those tips.

[Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge]

@DigitalC

Apart from completely ignoring male cheeleaders I don’t see what was in any way objectionable about those tips.

These “tips” are subtly (?) geared towards white girls who look like the girl in the picture.

[bump]

Other than the clearly white girl tanning related things, it’s not race-specific. There are lots of black, hispanic or asian girls who could fit that image. It could easily be the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ tryout requirements, and they have all sorts of ethnic girls on their squad.

The rest of it is trying to fit a very specific image- they don’t want cheerleaders who don’t fit their image; there are probably unwritten rules that you won’t be picked if you’re any of the below:

[ul]
[li]Unattractive[/li][li]Fat/pudgy[/li][li]Some kind of really tall Amazon[/li][li]Otherwise strange looking[/li][/ul]

It’s essentially a position that’s based on looks, no matter how much people crow about it being an athletic event. So as a result, I suspect looks trump athleticism every time.

I’m kind of impressed actually, that they were ballsy enough to come out and put it on the table like this.

[Hypno-Toad]

I feel like I just read some guys very specific fetish requirements.

[TriPolar]

@Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge

These “tips” are subtly (?) geared towards white girls who look like the girl in the picture.

Not subtle at all that they want girls that look like that. I’ll bet they care more about tight abs and submission to cheerocracy than they do about skin color. So aside from some ethnic insensitivity I encourage their other ideals, that cheerleaders should be fit females in skimpy attire who follow instructions well.

[dracoi]

Do we know that the UW didn’t issue different guides for men or blacks? Are we just assuming that 140 characters and a picture is enough information to be meaningful?

[Smapti]

Here’s some color from the local paper.

“I can’t believe this is real,” said UW student Jazmine Perez, director of programming for student government, via email.

“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.”

Said Signe Burchim, a UW senior: “I think it’s really upsetting and kind of disheartening the way it’s basically asking these women who want to try out to perform their femininity — but not too much.” Such a message would never go out to men trying out for a sport, she said…

Some who commented on the UW post were concerned that the woman in the photo was white, suggesting that the ideal candidate was a blonde, white woman.

On their Facebook page, UW student government leaders wrote that “this goes against everything that many students have been working so hard for. 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.”

So yes, apparently some people are offended by the fact that they used a picture of a white woman or the idea that cheerleaders are expected to be attractive.

[Thudlow_Boink]

The Seattle Times reports: Look like this, not that: UW pulls cheerleader-tryout advice after angry backlash

ETA: Ninja’d by Smapti!