Deseret News | Females get plenty of 'exposure'

Reader comments
Females get plenty of 'exposure'

The naked truth | 5:10 a.m. Aug. 6, 2008

Doug hit this one out of the park. I have found that I can no longer visit the Sport Illustrated web site because EVERY home page of it has pictures of and ads for the swimsuit issue, with full color images of barely clad models (not athletes, just models), and lead-ins for featurettes like "the NBA's hottest wives," with photos of women in cleavage-friendly dresses. Try the "extra mustard" page at SI.com and one finds cheerleader of the week photos and more scantily clad women, including recent photospreads of Danica Patrick frolicking in the surf in a revealing bikini. One doesn't have to be a prude to develop a distaste for repeatedly finding such fare in what should be a SPORTS magazine/web site. Doug is right, the women are choosing to do these shots to bolster their fame and fortune, not because they would be irrelevant without posing semi or fully nude. They still make money in their respective sports and have real product endorsement contracts with Nike and other companies. If women think posing nude empowers them, so be it, but don't cry about exploitation while cashing your checks, ladies. Keep your clothes on and play your sport.

Ads in magazines | 6:32 a.m. Aug. 6, 2008

Think men are exploiting women? Check out the ads in the magazines. The ons in women's mags are much more revealing than those in men's mags.

Not sure | 7:47 a.m. Aug. 6, 2008

Gosh, I'm really not sure what to think. I guess I'll have to peruse all of Doug's research materials in order to make up my own mind!

Comments continue below

More than just the athletes | 7:56 a.m. Aug. 6, 2008

I mostly agree with the article, but what should be pointed out is that those selling their bodies for money are contributing to the overall perception that women are just pleasure objects, not children of God. As long as there are buyers there will be sellers. Both the buyers and the sellers are to blame for the problem. So, those buying the magazines or clicking on the websites or buying the calendars are fueling the money machine, and of course there are women willing to sell their bodies for millions of dollars. The tragedy is how it leads to terrible addictions, abuse, broken families, and broken hearts.

We all need to take a stand by 1) not viewing that type of material or buying the magazines and calendars, 2) supporting efforts that promote the virtues of womanhood and families, 3) supporting efforts to reduce or eliminate access to pornographic or semi-pornographic material, and 4) respecting women who dress modestly and respect their bodies.

More examples | 9:41 a.m. Aug. 6, 2008

Then there are the beach volleyball outfits. Even college volleyball players (female) now wear what amounts to formal panties. Runner's World recently had an article on the skirts female runners now run in. The females quoted made it sound like it was intimidating to wear the skirts with nothing underneath but the formal panties, but, hey, the elite runners do the same thing - without the skirt. At the same time, the men are wearing "shorts" that go to their knees and beyond. Hellooooo!

casual reader | 10:44 a.m. Aug. 6, 2008

Let the record show that Doug really knows his nudie photos.

OhNo Not skin! | 11:59 a.m. Aug. 6, 2008

Well, the article was spot on. I know because I checked out each and every name on Google Images. I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked. Great Research, the guys here in Jr. High will love it.

Charles Stewart | 1:57 p.m. Aug. 6, 2008

Two facts are obvious. The first is that some women really believe that female athletes should be blindly afforded the same attention and interest as male athletes even if there skills, strength and ability are not competitive with men. Huge money is spent on sports to see the best athletes exert their maximum energies both mental and physical to produce exciting competition worthy of remuneration. The best woman softball player in the world will never make $20,000,000.00 per year, as does Alex Rodriguez,(fast-pitch, hardball baseball player), until she can hit, run and throw as well as A-Rod. And no amount of wishing, hoping and nagging will change this reality. Conversely, A-Rod will never be as physically attractive to men, the dominant spenders of sport money, as Anna Kornikova. Consumers of sport will watch Roger Federer (unhandsome tennis player) because of the sheer beauty and grace of his athletic ability. They will watch Anna Kornikova and other female athletes because of their sheer beauty. The second fact is that Doug Robinson spent way too much time researching this story. There are going to be a lot of hits on a lot of Internet sites today.

Sports fan | 2:33 p.m. Aug. 6, 2008

I don't get what Doug is saying here. I realize that female athletes are taking their clothes off and posing naked in playboy ect. The question is who buys all those magazines and checks those sites?
Maybe this comment posted by "Utah Valley Resident" after a recent article in the Dnews about womens basketball will explain how some men think.

He said, "What is it you say? Women's basketball? They don't call it men's basketball. Women don't play basketball at the same level as males. Get with it. Nobody cares about women sports with the possible exception of Olympic, i.e. track gymnastics, swimming. If you want to popularize the basketball sport attempted to be played by females, then get some players men want to look at, and put them into tights like gymnastics. Then you might be able to sell it. Otherwise go away!"

So maybe the women athletes know something Doug doesn't know. Yes...they do have to take their clothes off (or put on tights) to get attention for their sports.

Until men watch women's sports for the sport, this will not change. Right or wrong that's the way it is.

Anonymous | 3:11 p.m. Aug. 6, 2008

To Sports fan:

Alternatively, women could start to watch women's sports to the extent men watch men's sports. But that's not happening either.

re: Anonymous | 7:50 p.m. Aug. 6, 2008

I am a female and for 50 years I have watched plenty of mens sports and it might surprise you but I even understand the rules of the games. I realize some women just don't get it, just like I know all men aren't like the one who made the comment in Sports Fans comment.

Anonymous | 9:15 a.m. Aug. 7, 2008

Wrong or right Robinson spent a lot of time researching this article and viewing the photos. I guess that he's just the normal testosterone driven man that will continue buying the questionable magazines for their aesthetic value. You go Robinson! You're the MAN.

Alan Cunningham MD | 9:09 a.m. Aug. 9, 2008

The human body, especailly in highly trained athletes, is a beautiful work of art. And there is no wronng in displaying it as a masterpiece. The wrong comes when narrow minded, self righteous, uptight people like Doug Robinson cheapen it to the leveel of immorality.

Marcus Welby | 11:23 a.m. Aug. 12, 2008

Dr. Cunningham, Doug's column wasn't about moral vs. immoral choice of posing, it was about the complaint that women are being 'exploited' when this is done. If the athletes are willingly posing, then they are not being exploited, so the claim has no merit.

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