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| Exhibit A |
I know other audiences paid attention to it, even enjoyed it. Women with an eye on beach fashion, perhaps. Photographers looking at style and technique. Amateur models dreaming of gracing its pages one day.
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I wonder what ever happened to Jennifer Sundquist?
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Plus, I think there’s just something universal about a beautiful woman. Seems like everyone — straight, gay, male, female — just kinda gets enthralled by bikini ladies to some extent, in a way that just doesn’t happen with the male physique.
“The female body is a work of art. The male body is utilitarian. It’s for gettin’ around, like a jeep.”
—Elaine Benes
Jeannine Amber wrote an article to accompany Tyra’s magnificent 2019 return to SI. It relates a story from an early downturn in Tyra’s career, when she was getting too curvy for high fashion, and her mom told her to write down the names of companies who like “ass.”
Soon, Tyra was on the cover of SI, described in the piece as “one of the most prominent arbiters of male heterosexual desirability in America.”
So yeah, it was for straight dudes. That’s canon.
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Exhibit Ass
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But lately SI has tried to expand, or even redefine, its audience. There’s the kinda-maybe-misguided “In Her Own Words” spread from a couple years ago, and the recent focus on varying the ages and body types that appear. The message seems to be less “Here’s what men find attractive” and more “Here’s an uplifting look at what attractive can be!”
But beyond that, there’s something that’s been sneaking into Swim Daily lately. Fashion tips aimed squarely at women.
No titillation at all, just a “Hey ladies, check out these tips for a swell lady lifestyle.”
It’s like they really think women will look to SI Swim like they’d look to Allure or Glamour. I honestly have no idea how likely that is, but maybe they’re snagging the aforementioned young fashion buffs and model hopefuls who happen to be there.
Compare that to the downright porny titles they gave their YouTube videos a couple years ago. “Barbara Palvin Feels Herself” and “Gigi Hadid Takes You To Her Wet, Tahitian Paradise” and “Kate Bock Takes You To Her ‘Magical Place’” and “Kate Upton Invites You To Explore Her Aruba Paradise” and “Brooklyn Decker Shows Off Her Dirty, Naughty Secret In Virgin Islands.”
They sound like they were pieced together by SEO sexbots. Clearly not aimed at women in need of skin lotion. (Maybe at MEN in need of skin lotion…)
It seems like the swimsuit issue is trying hard to find its angle. They veered raunchy, decided that wasn’t quite right, then they veered soft/inviting/celebratory and are seeing how that goes.
Never thought pretty ladies in bikinis would end up being a tough sell, but here we are. It’s an age of custom-tailored titillation at your fingertips, the death of print, and the rise of inclusivity, so maybe the age of Babette has ended.
3 comments:
I have actually been thinking about this for a while now, especially after reading this quote from Hillary Drezner in the meet the swim team articles they were doing a few weeks ago:
"The mission for SI Swimsuit is to become the number one destination where women can come to be inspired and build a business for themselves outside of modeling."
I know print is dead, but shouldn't the point be to sell as many issues as they can? Or get as many views or whatever metric of success they use these day? I guess inspiring is more important. And maybe that's backed up by the money numbers if men aren't buying the issue or subscribing anymore. That we have no idea about.
I know there are issues with objectification and all that, but I always thought in the glory days that SI was able to appeal to men without disrespecting women. Poses were cheeky and suggestive, but not lewd and lascivious. Although those youtube titles you brought up are just downright embarrassing.
I am seriously as PC as can be, but I just don't get that everyone has to be celebrated as a potential SI model. I never complain about any particular model being in the mag, as there have always been models I didn't get even in the Jule era, but the constant drumbeat of everybody being equally worthy kinda takes away from the specialness of being an SI model. And if Jamea doesn't win the model search my head will explode.
That's my rant.
I get you. As long as they keep a core of my "type" I'm fine. (It's why it sucks that we seem to be losing Barbara, Hailey, and Lais all in one year.)
But there's a little voice in me that keeps saying "Shouldn't the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue be specifically for impossibly gorgeous women?!"
The Swimsuit Issue is trying to justify itself in a "woke" society. In our day, pictures of women in swimsuits, no matter how tasteful, are still pictures of women in swimsuits, and therefore exploitive of women. Unless the pictures are aimed at women as a celebration of women by women. Then SI gets to have its cake and eat it too.
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