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Striving for Equality in Exploitation. Or Something.
Sports Illustrated is in the business of selling magazines about sports to sports fans. The fact that many sports fans are men probably explains why SI’s most popular issue of the year is their swimsuit issue. It has nothing to do with sports, but sells well to SI’s clientele, because these male sports fans also enjoy looking at attractive women who are nearly naked. This is not really in line with SI’s business model (sports), but they publish it anyway because it makes money. Which made me wonder why SI is featuring pictures of this new swimsuit model, wearing what is promoted as Muslim-friendly swimwear (described as a “hijab and burkini”):
This lovely young lady is Halima Aden – described as a Somali-American who was born in Kenya and moved to the United States at the age of 7. She is obviously beautiful. But there are a lot of beautiful women out there. Why was she selected to pose in the SI Swimsuit Issue? Believe me, her picture will look a lot different from the others in that magazine. So why did SI include her in their top-selling magazine of the year?
I don’t think this picture will help them sell magazines. But it cost money to produce. So why?
Virtue signaling? To whom? I’m fairly certain that male sports fans who enjoy pictures of nearly naked women will not be impressed with the virtue signaled here. They really, really, really don’t care about Muslim swimwear. To be fair, they don’t care about any other type of swimwear, either — they just like the pictures of nearly naked girls. And no one buys the SI Swimsuit Issue to expand their understanding of foreign cultures.
Virtue signaling to themselves? I don’t see how this helps their self-esteem – they make money by selling pictures of nearly naked women for Pete’s sake.
Is this just SI trying to make Muslim women feel better, or more included in modern society? How many Muslim women seek equal exploitation as SI bikini models? Some, I suppose, but how many Muslim women read Sports Illustrated? Enough to generate subscriptions among the Muslim demographic? Man, I don’t know…
I guess SI did get a headline on FoxNews. They got exposure for their magazine to those who don’t normally read it. People like me. Maybe that will generate some subscriptions? There’s no such thing as bad press, right? You just want publicity.
Maybe that makes sense. I guess.
But I don’t get it.
People don’t appreciate having their meaningless escapes — like watching sports or looking at beautiful women — to be infused with preaching about social justice. They could be reading the New York Times. But no. They picked up the SI swimsuit issue to get away from that stuff.
I don’t read Sports Illustrated, so I don’t really care what they do with their publication.
But I suspect that they would be better off if they tried to be really good at being Sports Illustrated, instead of really bad at being The New York Times.
Published in General
There’s no such thing as bad publicity. And think of this as a deposit in the PC bank. SI has been subjected to complaints of “objectifying,” so this is a bit of payment on that bill. Next year: transgender?
I look forward to Sports Illustrated featuring traditionalist Christians and/or Jews in modest swimwear.
http://www.enjoy-your-style.com/modest-swimwear.html
http://www.swimmodest.com/
https://www.wholesomewear.com/page-4.html
“You’re never fully dressed without a smile” She’s gorgeous. Don’t overthink it.
Burka-swimwear. Hijabs in Congress. Muslim feminists. None of this stuff makes any sense but all of these harmless “little things” are certainly adding up.
Move along folks, nothing to see here…
That’s the point of my post. I agree – she’s gorgeous.
But somehow I suspect that she was selected for other reasons. And I’m wondering what those reasons might be.
You could be right. The only reason she was selected was her beauty. But I suspect there may be some other contributing factors.
Nice, cause no one buys the swimsuit edition expecting to see scantily clad women . . . Oh wait! That’s the only reason people buy that issue. But why let the Muslims have all of the fun . . .
She is and we’re not.
Why wait?
In Japan, coke and pepsi cans still signal that they are kosher and halal in little bitty symbols. There are almost no Jews or Muslims in Japan but the cost of printing little bitty symbols is super cheap so it makes business sense. Sports illustrated may pick up a few more Muslim readers by including a few pictures of this lady. I don’t think it’s an obnoxious woke thing.
I’m also rather confused about this due to my lack of knowledge of the Muslim faith. Isn’t the purpose of the hijab/burka to “desexualize” (is that the right word?) women and put a bar to “coveting” them? True? If so, this does not accomplish that and seems more in the nature of a total workaround. In short, it’s phony. I would think your everyday practicing Muslim would be aggravated about this.
Yeah there is about four inches of exposed skin between her wrist and sleeve so she’s kinda asking for it
Sports Illustrated is an anachronism, as are most printed periodicals. They’ve gone political to try to remain relevant. It doesn’t work.
Do you remember catsuits? I sure do.
Aaaahhhhgggg! My eyes!
We don’t approve of such transphobic hate speech here.
Ze is beautiful. YOU will say ze is beautiful. Or we can arrange a re-education program for you…
Just curious – does she appear in any suit besides a burkini?
Yes, virtue signaling — and particularly misguided virtue signaling, as the young lady’s picture will, I suspect, be a wasted page for most of the magazine’s “readers” and an offense to a few scores of millions of Muslims to whom it will be held up as an example of western mockery and corruption.
“Dear Sports Illustrated, please cancel my subscription immediately!” – Sayyid Qutb
Good question. I don’t know. I only saw the Foxnews story.
I don’t think the magazine has even been released yet. Although again, I’m not sure.
Aw, leave her alone. She is a real cutie…lying there in the warm ocean, its ripples rubbing up against her blue skin tight burkini thing, with those lips and those extra special dimples on her cheeks..um….um…..(wipes away drool). I lost my chain of thought.
The virtue signaling in this case is towards other publishers — dead tree or online — within the industry. It’s simply a resume-enhancer for the people who came up with the idea, in case they need to find another job in the near future due to working at a magazine that’s already on the endangered species list (the burkini stunt hit the day before Disney announced it was pulling the plug on ESPN’s rival print magazine. That may give SI a little more breathing room, but not much in an era when most long-form magazine journalism has migrated online).
Get Woke. Go Broke.
SI is on the path.
Vance, you’re killing us over here!
Used to be that denim skirts were the standard uniform for American Stalinists. Maybe things have changed.
I suspect SI is virtual signalling to it’s fellow magazine publishers. They don’t really care about the customer. They care about their colleagues.
In order to be relevant, you must participate in The Narrative. Everything must contribute to teaching the populace what our betters know is best for us. One of the current themes is curing us from “Islamophobia.”
Besides, just imagine how pleased whoever decided to publish that photo is going to be with all the raves he/she receives at the next party.
Naah. Any Muslim who thinks those kind of swimsuits are necessary is going to run away screaming from the rest of the pictures in the swimsuit edition.
Actually that burkini is rather skin tight and I don’t think that thigh that we see the form constitutes modesty per most Muslim conservatives. Technically women are not supposed to show the shape of their body parts. That’s why the burkas are baggy potato sacks.
SI is just doing it for the novelty. In the long run this won’t sell.
Muslim men don’t run from naked women. They just refuse to let their women participate. Muslim men are allowed all the sex they want.
One possibility: selling swimsuits.
Another: a powerful agency made them take her.
But in going along with the general theme here, it’s not important. I’m 65. There was a time I would look through that issue in a dentists waiting room. But then came Victoria Secret catalogs and billboards and bikini-clad women everywhere and it just became passé. Now when I see an ad with a scantily dressed female with a great body, I see an overt attempt to manipulate young men. Poor lads don’t even know they are being played….
I have some questions. Why do Muslim women even want to go to the beach? Not for a tan, obviously. Not to play in the sand. Swim in your clothes? I never liked that feeling. Do they even play volleyball? Shouldn’t they be home cooking with the other wives?
But I bet the new swimsuits made for modesty will be a hit. Invest in those companies!
Having lived in Saudia Arabia for a couple of years this is the only swimwear acceptable to a Wahabi.
FYI in an infamous event is Saudi Arabia, a girls school caught fire and the Mutawa, the religious police locked the girls in and interfered with the rescuers because the girls did not have appropriate islamic dress.