One year in high
school, Clare posed for a softball picture, her bat behind her back and cradled
in the crux of her arms. The effect was
to make a certain body feature stick out, for what in the old days would have
been referred to as a “cheesecake” shot.
Women athletes
are forever facing whispers about their sexuality, which they respond to with
cheesecake, viz., the inevitable swimsuit photo shoot and/or calendar. If only looking at bare skin made men more
amenable to the notion of social equality.
I doubt that it does, but ESPN evidently thinks otherwise. How else to explain its magazine’s “body
issue”?
It features both
male and female athletes in the buff, with the naughty bits (sorry, I couldn’t
help myself) artfully concealed. This
year’s edition will include Javy Baez of the Cubs. No doubt, Baez will say all the right things
about body image and how we should all accept ourselves. But that won’t change the fact he’s turned himself
into a kind of cheesecake that should have spoiled a long time ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment