Show caption The treatment of cheerleaders has come under scrutiny in recent years. Last year, it emerged some Washington NFL cheerleaders had been required to pose topless. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP US sports High school under scrutiny after cheerleaders given ‘Big Boobie’ and ‘Big Booty’ awards Awards given out at ceremony attended by parents and coaches

Coach in charge is still working at Wisconsin high school

Guardian sport Wed 20 Feb 2019 13.33 GMT Share on Facebook

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A cheerleading coach at a Wisconsin high school defended prizes given to her students that included the “Big Boobie Award” and the “Big Booty Award”. The awards were given out at a banquet attended by more than 100 people, including parents at the school, according to the New York Times.

At least four adults at the ceremony complained to Tremper High School about the awards, including parents and the school’s former track coach, Patti Hupp. “I feel that I need to tell you this for the protection of these girls,” Hupp wrote in an email to the school’s principal, adding it was easy to see “that this is extremely degrading to women.” When the Big Boobie award was handed out, the coach giving the prize said the girl in question risked concussion when she ran due to her “enormous boobs”.

Although the students who won prizes did not complain about the awards, which were given out in March 2018, other students at the ceremony said they were unhappy. “When the girl went up to accept the Big Boobie award, what do you think everyone in the room was looking at? I would’ve died,” one of the cheerleaders told the Times. Some parents at the banquet also expressed their displeasure to the Times. “I looked around and thought, ‘Did that just happen?’ If my daughter would have won one of those awards, I would’ve absolutely been rushing the stage. It was just so wrong, in so many ways,” one mother said.

The school’s cheerleading coach, Patti Uttech, was questioned about the ceremony and wrote in an email to the school principal that the girls’ parents “thought it was the funniest thing”. She added: “We understand that we are in a politically correct world these days, but we do like to have fun and keep thing on the lighter side.”

The school later asked Uttech to resign and send a letter of apology to the girls involved. Although Uttech wrote the letters, she is still coaching at the school, according to the Times. The American Civil Liberties Union has now sent a formal warning to the Kenosha Unified School District, saying it may sue after the district “failed to take any meaningful corrective action”.

The treatment of cheerleaders has received attention in recent years. In 2o18, it emerged Washington’s NFL team required its cheerleaders to go topless during photo shoots and act as personal escorts for team sponsors. The incidents occurred during the NFL team’s trip to Costa Rica in 2013. While some cheerleaders were required to wear just body paint others were told to go topless for a calendar shoot. Although the women would not appear unclothed in the pictures, team sponsors and other guests – all of whom the women say were male – were granted full access to the shoot.