Oh, Rebecca. I hope you enjoy your job.
She’s the lone byline over there at Swim Daily. At first, there were a few guys who posted from time to time, then it became strictly women who posted.
Names like Alyssa Conroy, Brittany Romano, and Nicole Conlan popped up and disappeared, and now it’s just poor Rebecca, sifting through bikini pictures and presenting an avalanche of hot chicks to the straight males who visit.
Unlike the other contributors, she seems to be exclusively Swim Daily. (The other writers have tended to be SI writers or editors in other capacities, but Rebecca’s credits seem to be all bikini content.)
She has a fun, funny, sex-positive voice through all of it. I hope that’s genuine. I suppose it’s possible that she thinks the pictures are sick and exploitative, and that the guys who drool over them are pathetic, and maybe this is a job she has to swallow while holding her nose, and she’ll walk away the second she finds something else to do with her talents.
But I hope she’s sincere—a girl who enjoys the sexiness and silliness of the swimsuit issue even if it’s not aimed directly at her.
It’s worth noting that every editor and assistant editor of the swimsuit issue has been female as well—Jule, Diane, MJ. I think there’s something welcoming and inviting about that.
Speaking for myself, the “permission” from women to enjoy these images is very powerful and joyful. I think if the editors and writers were male, I’d feel a little dirtier and creepier about it. But when there are women grinning and nudging me in the ribs and waggling their eyebrows at all these pretty bikini ladies, it feels more fun and innocent somehow.
In any case: Rebecca, thank you. I hope you get the love you deserve.
I'd have to disagree with the comment that these images are only for men and not directed at women. I've heard this from Hollywood media, but facts don't seem to support it. The swimsuit issue is the only SI issue that women buy and read. I've seen many women get just as excited about the swimsuit issue as men. The Hollywood line is simply false. If you look at the magazines women buy, they contain many similar images to these. I'll go with the facts and ignore Hollywood nonsense.
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