Ok- a little break from the baby-ness to write a diatribe about one of my least favorite days of the year...Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Day. At the risk of sounding like a prude, I can't believe I haven't heard more women complain about this little "gift" our men receive in the mail once a year. Am I the only one that hates it!? Chris has had a subscription to SI for years, and gets 52 appropriate magazines a year with it. Why they have to throw in this ridiculousness is mind boggling for a couple reasons:
1) What do scantily-clad women have to do with sports?! (Other than the fact that men who love sports also love scantily-clad women...)
2) For a swimsuit edition, there are an awful lot of women NOT wearing swimsuits...
When this magazine showed up at our house last year, I had a lot to say about it. Chris hadn't really thought about how upsetting it would be, and compliantly discarded it. This year I averted the discussion all together and just tossed it- which Chris didn't care about at all. He's lucky I'm not still pregnant- things would have gotten ugly.
I won't go off about the female image in today's media- but I will say that I lump SI Swimsuit together with Playboy and Victoria's Secret catalogs. It's disheartening- especially for new mothers- who sacrifice our bodies to bring babies into the world. I don't need half-naked women showing up on my doorstep to rub it in my face.
Men...if you "love swimsuits" so much, I'm sure your wives would take you along to shop for a new one! Summer is coming, after all...
P.S. Couldn't find a tasteful swimsuit edition pic for the blog, so I threw in some Brett Favre love for all you Minnesotans :)
9 comments:
When I had SI, I asked my wife to throw it away as soon as we got it. Before that, my roommate and I would throw it away when it came in, depending on who got it first.
But if I remember correctly, last time I had a subscription they offered you an alternative option to the swimsuit ed. if you wanted it. Like an extra issue or something. You should check into that. Then you aren't throwing away money too. :)
Well-stated for wives everywhere, and appropriately questioned. What a sneaky marketing ploy- an annual dose of pornography under the guise of "sports." Would the "sport" be Female Body Ogling? Once a year is once too often - SI gets zero subscription $$ from me!
Amen, sister! I'm so glad Mark only gets Golf Digest. I'm pretty sure we won't be seeing Phil Mickelson in a thong on the cover of that one ;)
Thank you! I was embarrassed when I saw it at the grocery store yesterday. SI is NEVER at the checkout stand (only the gossip mags, etc.), but this issue is right there where you are putting your groceries. Now that I think about it, I'm think I'm going to complain. The woman is topless!!!
Bobby- I checked the website and there IS an option to decline the swimsuit edition-- so I took care of it! Thanks for the tip- it will save me grief next year!
I was babysitting for my pastor and his wife years ago, when I noticed a fairly mangled magazine on the kitchen counter. When they got home, I asked why it was cut up. The answer? "It's the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition... So I cut out all of the girls! After all, Glen only gets it for the articles anyway... right Glen??" I'll never ever forget that! Makes me happy that Matt isn't into sports at all... ;-)
We've never had that magazine in our home, even though we are sports fans. If we did ever subscribe I would opt out of the swimsuit edition. Glad that is an option.
I'm totally with you!! Thankfully we get ours second hand (someone passes them off to Alex just a few days after he gets them), so Alex was just able to decline this week's!
As you know, agree with you all the way on this! As a wife and a mother of a son, I think it is crap!
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