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Sports Illustrated Tries To Sell America On The 'Burkini' As Female Empowerment
Townhall.com ^ | April 30, 2019 | Kira Davis

Posted on 04/30/2019 4:23:49 AM PDT by Kaslin

Sports Illustrated has released its annual swimsuit issue and declared itself “proud” to present the first Muslim model to wear a hijab and “burkini” within its pages.

The Somali-American model [Halima Aden] was born in Kenya at the Kakuma Refugee Camp, where she lived until the age of seven before moving to the United States. For her SI Swimsuit rookie spread, we couldn’t think of a more perfect place travel than her birth country, where she shot at Watamu Beach with photographer Yu Tsai.

“I keep thinking [back] to six-year-old me who, in this same country, was in a refugee camp,” Halima said during her shoot. “So to grow up to live the American dream [and] to come back to Kenya and shoot for SI in the most beautiful parts of Kenya–I don’t think that’s a story that anybody could make up.”

Aden is right about one thing - there was a time not too long ago when no one could imagine such a story. This is a nation that birthed the modern feminist movement, burned bras, sexually “liberated” the American woman and mainstreamed birth control in pursuit of that very idea and successfully shamed and marginalized Judeo-Christian culture for their standards of sexual/relational modesty. In a mere twenty years we have gone from disparaging religious restrictions on female sexuality to celebrating it from a culture that it is openly hostile to the progressive values the producers of this magazine claim to be celebrating.

Were Aden to be wearing a nun’s habit and cross on the beach and celebrating it as “progressively feminist” there would be no end to the outrage and insult. She would be called a prude and accused of sending the wrong message to women about how they should be allowed to celebrate their bodies.

That we so readily accept this message from a Muslim woman is bizarrely puzzling. 

It wasn’t that long ago that SI was regularly protested for their objectification of women with their swimsuit issue. Since that time the culture has taken a dramatic shift thanks in part to a steady, calculated marketing campaign from the entertainment industry. Sexy = powerful. Promiscuity = empowerment. The less women wore the more they were “celebrating” their bodies. 

I still believe the SI swimsuit issue is an act of objectification. Let’s be honest - speaking strictly in terms of consumerism these issues aren’t produced for women and men aren’t buying them for the in-depth exploration of the mind of a 23-year-old model. Objectification sells. 

I used to think my biggest problem with the progressive culture of sexuality was the flagrant display of the female form and the abandonment of the idea that imagination is the most influential part of sexuality. It was a gross mislabeling of “empowerment” and it has led to all kinds of confusion when it comes to our modern notions of romance and relationships.

I could not have imagined that an even bigger problem would one day present itself under the misleading flag of “religious tolerance,” a tolerance not in any way extended to the traditional Judeo-Christian communities that have long suffered ridicule at the hands of secular culture but instead aimed at one of the most sexually oppressive religious cultures on the planet.

In the same way the model in a string bikini on the cover of SI is an objectification, so is the model in a full-on “burkini.” It is a symbol of an idea that a woman’s body is unsuitable to be publicly seen, that she is an object to be covered rather that a human to be admired. In a country like America it is a huge step backwards. 

SI can put anyone they want in their magazine, wearing anything they deem marketable. Any woman can wear a burkini or a bikini or a paper sack to the beach if that’s what they want to do. More power to them.

But this objectification of a Muslim model in the pages of the one of America’s most celebrated magazines and calling it “empowerment” is a bridge too far. It’s every bit as trashy as stripping a model down to her barely-there thong and telling us that this is the new “girl power.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bikini; burkini; burqa; liberalmedia; media; muslimwomen; muslimworld; religion; si; sportsillustrated; yeahright
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To: Kaslin

Trying to mainstream muzzie mufti.


21 posted on 04/30/2019 4:51:40 AM PDT by grobdriver (BUILD KATE'S WALL!)
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To: Kaslin

Gutter culture.


22 posted on 04/30/2019 4:52:56 AM PDT by Levy78
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To: Kaslin

No worries, this is just like the time when the Media was fair and balanced to the Catholic Nuns with their religious Habitini.

Oh wait.


23 posted on 04/30/2019 4:53:06 AM PDT by HypatiaTaught (Remember Kavanaugh)
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To: Kaslin

Lots of books aimed at kids constantly feature a girl or woman in a hijab as a character these days as well.

This is just pure conditioning.


24 posted on 04/30/2019 4:55:22 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: Kaslin
"Female Empowerment" my @$$!

This is just the further empowerment of islam!

Obviously, the attacks of 9/11/2001 and all subsequent attacks have achieved their purpose as the U.S. - and ALL western civilization - continues to bow and scrape before the death cult. Don't tell me about the fight in the sandbox. That just assisted islam in freeing itself from a lot of useless eaters. The cult has its eyes on the West...and it is slowly winning on that front.

islam delande est

25 posted on 04/30/2019 4:56:22 AM PDT by Roccus (Obama & Holder LLP, Procurers of fine arms to the most discerning drug lords (202) 456-1414)
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To: Kaslin

So next SI will have a Duggar girl - who are cute btw - in a Duggar swimsuit and celebrate them right? Waiting...


26 posted on 04/30/2019 4:58:57 AM PDT by subaru
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To: Kaslin
She's a pretty girl, but I ain't hittin' that:

My favourite is Ronda Rousey in body paint:

I would hit that harder than she would hit me...

27 posted on 04/30/2019 4:59:02 AM PDT by real saxophonist (One side has guns and training. Other side's primary concern is 'gender identity'. Who's gonna win?)
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To: Kaslin
Have Sports Illustrated or its executives been threatened with terrorism by Muslims if the magazine doesn't feature burka'ed women?!?
28 posted on 04/30/2019 4:59:10 AM PDT by Carl Vehse
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To: Kaslin

So there are still people around who part with their hard-earned money to buy that piece of trash? Who knew?


29 posted on 04/30/2019 5:05:28 AM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (Civilization is held together by the hangman's noose.)
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To: Kaslin

So when women wear those ridiculous Handmaid’s Tale costumes to protests, are they actually celebrating the empowerment of those costumes?


30 posted on 04/30/2019 5:05:41 AM PDT by The Pack Knight
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To: Kaslin

When I was a kid (60’s) it was a good magazine that covered nothing but sports with great photography. Some of the b&w photos were awesome.


31 posted on 04/30/2019 5:06:33 AM PDT by wardamneagle
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To: wardamneagle
From the Dead Kennedys song 'Terminal Preppie':

My news of the world comes from Sports Illustrated

32 posted on 04/30/2019 5:10:59 AM PDT by real saxophonist (One side has guns and training. Other side's primary concern is 'gender identity'. Who's gonna win?)
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To: Kaslin

Quite correct—both sides are about the power of the bare female body over men, not the women as athletes.


33 posted on 04/30/2019 5:11:20 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: wardamneagle

Yours is the first post that makes any sense to me on this thread. A lot of Freepers seem to have a problem with this particular Islamic theme in the SI swimsuit issue. Personally, I think the whole idea of a swimsuit issue completely destroyed SI’s credibility as a SPORTS magazine.


34 posted on 04/30/2019 5:16:25 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.")
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To: Kaslin

SI has never topped cheryl tiegs 1978 switsuit issue..I guess they just gave up? whats next Bruce jenner? As archie bunker would say, “ whadda ya expect from a bunch of fags”?


35 posted on 04/30/2019 5:20:31 AM PDT by Ikeon (The road to hell is paved with good intentions usually built by angry libs - there any other kind?)
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To: Kaslin

no trans woman? gosh these lefties arent walking the walk!


36 posted on 04/30/2019 5:20:57 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: VanDeKoik

“This is just pure conditioning.”

I started watching “Mr Robot”, but dumped it when the obligatory Muslim character appeared doing her prayers. What is the point other than to normalize this crap?


37 posted on 04/30/2019 5:21:11 AM PDT by beef (Caution: Potential Sarcasm - Process Accordingly)
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To: Kaslin

For years I was told growing up by feminists that when Christians tell women how to dress, it is “misogyny and oppression.” It’s the evil patriarchy telling women how to go about their lives. Etc... But now apparently when Muslims tell women how to dress, it’s “empowering.” And if you criticize the Islamic religion at all, you are branded an “Islamophobe.”

Feminists make popular TV shows like the Handmaid’s Tale about how women need to fear Christianity and white men. But they would NEVER make a TV showing showing Muslims in a bad light.

These liberals are so hypocritical it’s not even funny. You wonder if they actually even realize it.


38 posted on 04/30/2019 5:23:22 AM PDT by david1292
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To: HighSierra5

“Never bought a Sports Illustrated magazine. Never will.”

I read it as a kid. really enjoyed it.


39 posted on 04/30/2019 5:24:01 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Only a Replacement Wall? Ann Coulter is deeply saddened.)
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To: Ikeon
Well, Christie Brinkley almost beat Cheryl Tiegs...
40 posted on 04/30/2019 5:24:31 AM PDT by real saxophonist (One side has guns and training. Other side's primary concern is 'gender identity'. Who's gonna win?)
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