What Sports are Illustrated?

By: American Decency Staff

The 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit magazine is in a store near you ready to be picked up and viewed by men and boys everywhere. However, don’t be fooled by the name. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition is a misnomer if there ever was one. The magazine has nothing to do with sports and, considering the fact that numbers of the models are topless, has very little to do with swimsuits. What the SI Swimsuit Edition is, though, is blatant pornography. To say it has “nothingâ€Â to do with sports may not be totally accurate. The magazine does feature a number of female athletes – topless. Several female Olympic athletes posed provocatively and sometimes topless, including star downhill skier Lindsay Vonn, as well as Olympic athletes Hannah Teter, Clair Bidez, and Lacy Schnoor. These women who should be role-models, setting an example for young girls to emulate of moral integrity, instead degraded themselves for the pleasure of men. And Sports Illustrated is just as complicit. This sports magazine doesn’t showcase the athletic accomplishments of these women, but rather showcases their cleavage, their breasts, their bodies. Starting with the topless woman on the cover, SI gets to the real purpose of the issue – the pornographic exhibition of women for the pleasure of men. Page after page reveals erotically posed young women sometimes topless, sometimes – at the most – in barely there bikinis. Each lust-producing display reinforces the message to ogling men and boys that women are nothing more than sexual objects to be used. And wives and young girls, whose husbands or fathers bring home this issue, are given the message that to be loved they must degrade themselves and that their worth is dependent upon their body and bust size. Sports Illustrated also features a text number for men and boys to contact to receive bonus videos and photos of the models sent directly to their mobile phones – allowing for easy access to these pornographic displays. SI also gives out a twitter address to “watch and share with your Twitter followers.â€ÂÂ And as an advertiser in the magazine, Apple, Inc. boasts in their full-page ad of a free download for a SI swimsuit App – called the “World’s Sexiest Appâ€Â – of additional photos and videos of the models. This outrageous display is little  different than a Playboy, yet, to some in America, the name Sports Illustrated seems to give it a semblance of ‘acceptability’. Men who would not dream of buying a porn magazine, without a thought have the SI Swimsuit Edition in their home. However, there is nothing acceptable about pornography and that is exactly what the SI Swimsuit issue is – material produced for the purposes of eliciting a sexual response. There is nothing acceptable about the degrading display of women as sex objects. There is nothing acceptable about luring susceptible young boys and men into a pattern of lust and escalating pornography use. And, there is nothing acceptable about looking the other way when local grocery stores, gas stations, or other shopping establishments display this filth in their magazine racks. How sad that far too many – even Christians – have come to accept the SI Swimsuit issue and are desensitized to its destructive impact. That this collection of pornographic images is produced in the guise of a ‘legitimate’ sports magazine should outrage us. The fact that this too-easily accessible magazine has the potential of starting many young boys down the path to a life-destroying addiction to pornography should anger each of us. These reasons and many others should drive us to speak to store managers at stores that carry this magazine. And the fact that mainline companies choose to support this with their advertising dollars should cause us to exercise our calling to be “salt and lightâ€Â.   We urge you to contact the corporations who align their name with pornography. Especially troubling are corporations who not only endorse this magazine with their advertising dollars, but also stoop to the same level by incorporating bikini-clad models and eroticism into their ads. In some cases there is little difference between the erotic advertisements and the SI photo displays. Chrysler is the worst culprit with their three-page pullout ad. The first page asks: “How do you get six swimsuit models in your bed?â€Â – implying group sex. Then the pullout photo shows the bikini models in the bed of a Dodge pickup truck. For a number of years now we have encouraged you to contact the advertisers of this magazine – and we are beginning to see some major American companies shy away from advertising in it! These are corporations that advertise in other venues on television and print media, but have chosen not to align with the 2010 SI swimsuit edition. In recent years the following companies have been yearly advertisers, but this year did not place ads in this magazine – General Motors, Ford, Procter & Gamble, Harley Davidson, Unilever, Budweiser as well as numerous others who had advertised in recent years but didn’t this year such as Arby’s, Taco Bell, Wrigley’s Nissan, AT&T, Sears, Gillette, Hershey Foods, Kraft, Wrangler jeans, Suzuki. However, companies such as Chrysler, Apple, Inc. and others need to hear from you! Take Action! Below is a link to send a message to Chrysler regarding their offensive Dodge ad.https://americandecency.org/take_action_form.php For a listing of all advertisers who sponsored the SI Swimsuit issue, click on the link below. https://americandecency.org/archives/advertisers-for-2010-sports-illustrated-swinsuit-edition/#more-3158 Thanks for standing with us: Donate online: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/main.php?f=donate/display9 American Decency Association P.O. Box 202 Fremont MI 49412 *American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.* ———————— American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 https://americandecency.org/ http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

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