-blogged by @therealAlexisDanielle
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After being forced off of her team following complaints regarding her portrayal on social media, a 19-year-old college volleyball player is fighting back with a lawsuit.
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Shalom Ifeanyi, a student-athlete at the University of Cincinnati, says that her coaches constantly harassed and singled her out about her pictures on #instagram, stating that they were too sexy, Yahoo reports. Ifeanyi allegedly claims that her counterparts were never subject to such criticism despite, posting pictures in bikinis and other similar articles of clothing.
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According to Ifeanyi, though she was fully clothed in all of her photos, she removed the pictures from her Instagram in response to the criticism. Then in June 2017, one of her coaches allegedly began to question her about her profile picture.
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“‘When the football players see this, what do you think they see?’” the coach allegedly said to her in one instance. “‘They see your breasts. It’s seductive.’”
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Ifeanyi says she removed the image but then received text messages further instructing her to remove even more images. The teen reportedly resisted, citing frustrations with “body shaming”.
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The teen was reportedly told one week later that she would need to leave the team due to “different philosophies.” A move that would prevent Ifeanyi from renewing her athletic scholarship in the next school year.
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After filing a complaint with the university, Ifeanyi claims that a proper investigation did not take place. She was not given an opportunity to appeal the decision.
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Per documents obtained by Courthouse news circuit, a lawsuit referencing racial and sexual discrimination lists the student’s former coach Molly Alvey, executive senior associate athletic director Maggie McKinley, and the University of Cincinnati as defendants in the suit.
