Sports Illustrated decided to bring attention to the #MeToo movement— a time when society is finally coming to grips with sexual abuseagainst women — with nude photos of female models.
Models Paulina Porizkova, Sailor Brinkley Cook, and Robyn Lawley participated in the “In Her Own Words” photoshoot, which features naked women with empowering words painted on their bare skin.
Many, though, see the project as tone-deaf, given the campaign is decrying the objectification of women by objectifying women:
And TED Talks editor Ella Dawson suggested posing nude can be empowering, but not when it’s in the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated, a magazine propped up by men’s sexuality.
“The swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated, which caters to horny dudes, is not an empowering depiction of women,” she wrote. “This is not a magazine I trust to fight sexual harassment and assault.”
In a column for Townhall, Katherine Blakeman, the communications director for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said it would require “mental acrobatics” to believe the magazine’s explicit campaign “will be a huge step forward in the effort to promote the dignity and equality” for women.
