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.”
Islam is a war plan. SI capitulates
“Have Sports Illustrated or its executives been threatened with terrorism by Muslims if the magazine doesn’t feature burka’ed women?!?
Should it even matter? Face it, muslim men won’t read it because of the other women in the swimsuit issue. So the burkini pic is meaningless.
“She’s a pretty girl, but I ain’t hittin’ that”
If she was dressed like Rhonda Rousey she might be pretty, but that suit with all the baggage it carries makes her fugly, IMHO.
The funny thing is that suit is still not modest enough to save her from an Islamist ass-whooping. From their perspective she might as well be in body paint.
Right. I see this as self-contradicting:
1) I'm wearing a swimsuit -- Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!
2) I'm wearing a burkha -- You should not look at me! You should not look at me! You should not look at me!
They want it both ways?
So riddle me this...the model was born in Kenya and moved to the US at the age of 7, so how is she a “Somali-American”? Oh...and how many hyphenated Americans are there these days? (Plus she’s still showing off her body under skin tight clothes. Might as well be semi-nude in a regular bikini.)
“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.”
When I see ads like that (recently in Target, for example), I want to ask the management, “Does this mean you are supporting the idea that women are property? That they should not be allowed in public without being accompanied by a male escort?” etc.
I’m sure those magazines will just fly off the shelves.
For years, Christian women have been mocked for wearing “modest” clothing, but Muslim modesty is now praised. Anything to harm the west.
It’s a jump the shark moment for SI.
Sports Illustrated is pitiful and repugnant.
“SI swimsuit issue magazines aren’t bought to see fully clothed women at the beach. Epic fail by SI.”
Their bosses must come from the same club as Dick’s. If I want to see women with clothes on I’ll go to the grocery store.
Exactly. This is like putting a 50+ year old size 16 woman in the swimsuit issue just for the novelty of it. It will be a news story for a couple of days, but it doesn't do anything for the target readers.
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"...Face it, muslim men won’t read it because of the other women in the swimsuit issue. So the burkini pic is meaningless..."
Officially you are correct; they would not view SI because of the "sinful" pictures of women.
But I am retired and living in a resort area of Southeast Asia and when they are away from prying eyes those "good muzzies" are disgusting to every woman on the street. Admittedly there are a few ladies about town that are more than agreeable but the muzzies have no idea how to behave with any woman within reach or ear shot. So they treat all women like sheep. A few get a good beat down by the native males for their lack of manners.
And that's me cheering them on when the locals hand out a bit of street justice, hehehehe.
I never knew “empowerment” meant doing exactly what someone else tells you to do, under penalty of death.
I was born in Germany, I became an American citizen on June 12, 1977. I do not call my self a German American. I am an American and make it very clear when someone says ‘Oh you are German’
does the new sports illustrated swimsuit calendar have 2 muslims in full burqua, 2 transexuals m-2-f and f-2-m, and 6 BBW of varying skin color but identical politics?
And if not, why not?
Slavery is freedom
I heard Gillette bought up all the ad space to tell men how bad they are.
This will be a collector’s edition for the ages.
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