Since when did posing naked relate to sports?

Sports Illustrated magazine is arguably one of the most well known American sports magazine that is frequently delivered to many male households. Although men enjoy reading about the latest updates on sports, this magazine subscription also grants them access to their favorite issue of the year, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue which features hundreds of pictures of sexy models. For anyone unfamiliar with this issue, female models are pictured wearing very little to no clothing posed in exotic locations.  However, this year Sports Illustrated took it too far as the models photographed were shown pulling down their bikini bottoms and thrusting their pelvis in a way that draws attention to their vaginas, therefore inviting men to picture these women as their own personal sex objects and objectifying them.

It is well known and a laughing matter that many fathers try their hardest to hide their subscription of Sports Illustrated from their younger kids. However, with one simple google search, adolescent boys are able to gain access to all of the past Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues that have ever been published. This at first may not seem like an issue, as we are all familiar with the sexual urge for younger men to look up pictures of hot girls and fixate their fascination with boobs, but as Peter and Valkenburg mention in their article “Processes Underlying the Effects of Adolescents’ Use of Sexually Explicit Internet Material: The role of Perceived Realism” this could be a serious problem. This problem stems from the idea that more frequent use of sexually explicit internet material increases both the perceived social realism and it also affects the utility of sexually explicit internet material. With many boys first gaining their exposure to women and their bodies through this magazine, it is scary to think that these adolescents may not recognize the unrealistic characteristics of such material and may in fact think that every women should look like these models. It also raises the issue of treating these women as sex objects and having men believe that women are infact sex objects to men as Peter and Valkenburg mention in their article “Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Sexual Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study.”

I’m not arguing in this post that Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue needs to be put to an end, but I am arguing that I think it is important for fathers to stop hiding these issues under their beds and instead allow their sons and younger adolescents to read these issues with them so they can explain the unrealistic portrayal of women. As it was found in the article “Of Sexual Content on the Sexual Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors of Adolescents in the US” by Guo and Nathanson, parents who were found to be open in talking about sex related topics with their adolescents, resulted in adolescents having positive learning outcomes. I also believe that Sports Illustrated editors need to understand that they are relevant stakeholders that are feeding younger men with images that cross the line in some sense, as they did in the most recent issue with portraying models almost completely naked and drawing attention to their vaginas.

References

Guo, W.& Nathanson, A. I. (2011). The effects of parental mediation of sexual content on the sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of adolescents in the US. Journal of  Children and Media, 5(4), 358-378. doi: 10.1080/17482798.2011.587141

Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P.M.(2010). Processes underlying the effects of adolescents'  use of sexually explicit Internet material: The role of perceived realism. Communication Research, 37(3), 375-399. doi: 10.1177/0093650210362464

Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P.M. (2009). Adolescents' exposure to sexually explicit Internet material and sexual satisfaction: A longitudinal study. Human Communication Research,  35(2), 171-194. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01343.x