Swim England, which aims to promote swimming for a healthier lifestyle, apologized and removed a page from its website Tuesday after a member of the public highlighted an online article entitled: "Choosing swimwear for women: Guide to body shapes."
It was uncovered by Simone Webb, a PhD student in gender studies at University College London.
Webb explained on Twitter that she was researching how best to get back into a sport that she enjoyed as a child, and expected the governing body's website to contain information about good-value, trusted brands.
But she was shocked by what she discovered. "This is nothing to do with athletic performance or comfort: instead, the emphasis is on women's appearance," she wrote.
It included the following unexpected suggestions. "If your body is short in proportion to your legs, you will want a swimsuit that gives the impression of litheness," as well as "a pear shape has often been the plague of women, but it no longer needs to be so."
'Flabby stomachs'
It went on to advise women to choose an outfit that "will draw attention to your more appealing characteristics" and "add curves and subtle cleavage to a small bust."
"Plus size" women were advised to wear colors with "an overall minimizing effect," while bikinis were branded a total no-no for "those with flabby stomachs" as they "totally expose a jiggly belly."
Swim England replied to Webb's thread of tweets, saying: "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is an old web page that does not represent the views of Swim England and the content has now been removed. We apologize for any offense caused and hope this doesn't put you off swimming."
It later offered updated clothing advice and tweeted: "We pride ourselves on being inclusive and respectful to all. Earlier today it was brought to our attention that one of our old webpages was neither. This does not reflect our values and we took it down immediately. Thanks to everyone who brought this to our attention. #Sorry."
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