In February, just when most people are already breaking their New Year's resolutions to lose weight, Sports Illustrated comes out with their yearly swimsuit edition almost as if to remind us that bikini watching is a sport in itself, and hey ladies, add this to your list of unrealistic standards of beauty upon which to judge yourself by. I can't think of anything better to stir up body insecurities this time of year than this swimsuit issue. However....
Like New York Fashion Week, my challenge is to talk about the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition in alignment with my New Year's resolution to be uplifting. So, I ask myself and you, what is uplifting about the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition from a woman's perspective. Now, again, see my challenge?
I really thought hard about this, and it was harder to do than Fashion Week because this swimsuit issue is not about fashion for women because it's featured in a men's sports magazine not a women's mag, and over the years the models here are actually wearing less clothing if that's even possible. In my opinion, this SI issue is worse than the Victoria's Secret catalogs because in SI the bikini watching comes off as a sport versus a fashion thing. But, let's dig deeper...
Landing the cover of the SI Swimsuit issue for a model is highly coveted and is like guaranteeing supermodel-stardom, and the look throughout the years has been pretty much the same: tall, thin, big boobs, white, with long lightened beach winded hair. Since 2000, only 4 of the 8 cover girls are wearing a full bikini. The other 4 are just bikini bottom clad either hand-holding their boobage or are covered with some large necklace type thingamajig like this year's cover with Marisa Miller. It wouldn't surprise me if next year's cover will feature no bikini at all just body painting.
Then there is Danica Patrick. I gotta tell ya that my heart sunk when I saw her getting bikini clad for this issue. There's even shots of her peeling out of her car racing gear wearing of course an itsy bitsy bikini. You would never see Dario Franchitti prancing around in Speedos. Danica btw is ranked #7 in the IndyCar Standings. Here is this young woman trying to blaze pathways for women in pro auto racing, a very male dominated sport, but then feels the need to bring it back to "look at me I'm a sexy bikini chick." It's a contradiction in message, to me. Others could differ and I'm open to hearing your thoughts as to why.
It would almost be like seeing Marissa Mayer a high profile VP at Google in the SI swimsuit issue. Marissa has the tough job of being taken seriously and respected as a high powered executive in the male dominated tech industry and then what if she goes off and objectifies herself by posing in a bikini for SI. It would just seem so contradictory if she did that. But again, I'm open to hearing discussion as to how a high-powered woman in a male dominated industry can also be bikini sex vixen in a men's sports magazine and not have the sexualizing part affect her high-powered profession position.
But not all is negative. There were a couple things that I found positive in the SI issue like:
This isn't necessarily positive, but I thought it hilarious that Taco
Bell is one of the big sponsors of
Swimsuit 2008 asking us to think outside the buns. Let's add to the
fantasy that a woman can eat a big old Chalupa and still look slinky
slim in these bikinis. Or, if a man, all this bikini gawking it gonna
make you hungry so better fuel up on a tasty cheesy beany Gordita.
- There is a good amount of ethnic diversity in all the models
they chose unlike Fashion Weeks where almost all the models are White.
In SI, there are a fair number of Latina and Asian models amongst the
Black and White models. You almost never see Asian women in high
profile bikini or underwear spreads, and here there was more than one.
- The spread with Heidi Klum and Will Ferrell was funny cute. It was a bit campy but, at least SI tried to inject some humor this time around.
So that's my two cents. I guess I didn't find much uplifting about the SI Swimsuit 08 issue but I tried. I really tried. Now, I'm curious, what do you all think of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition?
