Last week skier Lindsey Vonn was in the news because some jerk in the media suggested that Vonn would have an advantage in the downhill events because she was carrying extra weight, so I was pleased when I saw this week’s cover of Sports Illustrated because I thought Vonn looked terrific.
See? Adorable. The assholes who said she was fat should feel stupid and mean. She looks great right?
This whole thing should be so exciting, women athletes rarely grace the front cover of Sports Illustrated. Hell, women rarely appear on the front cover of SI unless it is the swimsuit issue. I was very pleased when I saw this, a woman athlete, an olympic sport this close to the Super Bowl! Not that I am knocking the Super Bowl in any way. I love the Super Bowl almost as much as I love bacon but it was nice to see something different for a change.
Sadly, things just couldn’t stay nice. People can’t just shut up and be happy for a nice all-American skier, can they? Nope.
“Oh,” cry the women, “she is being objectified!”
No. She really isn’t.
That is what skiers wear. Yes, the pose is exaggerated but it is photography. The photograph is cool. If you see that magazine cover and think about sex maybe the problem lies within because when I see that picture I think about skiing.
As my friend Laurie put it when we were discussing Lindsay Vonn yesterday, “she can’t win, obviously – she’s either cheating to win because she’s fat or she’s hot bending over.”
Women athletes are objectified all of the time - don’t even get me started on Danica Patrick or Anna Kournakova - this is not one of those times.
Let’s all take a deep breath and be excited for the Olympics and skiing and Lindsey Vonn.
Just to set the record straight.
This is an example Sports Illustrated objectifying a female athlete.
This is not.
See the difference?
I’m not sure. Can I see number 1 again?
Wow. I saw the headline on Yahoo about the magazine cover and I figured “oh Lord, they must have put a woman Olympian naked on a mountain.” And then I forgot to click on the link to see what the story was really about.
This? IS RIDICULOUS! She can’t win and that is just so wrong. I hope she wipes the mountain with everyone in the Olympics! UGH!
See, they’ll do that with men as well and nobody gives a flying-down-the-steep-mountain shrug about that.
There may be some subtleties about the Vonn picture that are worth examining, but overall it’s pretty tame.
Danica Patrick needs to quit huffing so many exhaust fumes. I can’t quite figure out the trajectory of her publicity. She’s excelling in a sport that the phrase “male-dominated” doesn’t even begin to describe. It’s like she/her handlers knew that there was no way NASCAR audiences would accept her unless they could spend 90% of the time ogling her and only 10% of the time considering her as an equal athlete. Like, “Yeah, she may beat you in a race, but don’t worry, you still get to be the one to desire her.” I don’t like it.
It makes me angry. If she was a bad driver I would get it, but she is competitive. Danica Patrick pisses me off.