News Flash: Sexy Pose or Skiing Position?

With the 2010 Winter Olympics quickly approaching, Sports Illustrated has devoted their most recent issue to the games and features Lindsey Vonn, Team USA star skier, on the cover. The picture shows Vonn smiling in her colorful ski outfit, complete with gloves, poles, ski boots, and skis. She is smiling and a thick headband pulls back her long blonde hair. Vonn is posed in what is known as the “tuck” position to skiers. Yet it is this position, with Vonn’s derriere in the air, which has critics calling foul. While some see the pose as a simple ski position, others see the cover as overtly sexual. Columnists and bloggers disagree on whether or not this pose objectifies Vonn personally and women as a group. Although the pose may be a little risqué, it is important to consider the context and other factors about the photo. Firstly, this pose is a skiing pose, and it makes sense that Vonn would be photographed in this pose, as she is a skier. Secondly, Vonn is fully clothed and outfitted accordingly with skiing accessories. Thirdly, it is important to look at Vonn’s expression. Vonn isn’t doing some puckered lips, seductive eyes ‘come hither’ look. She is smiling in a friendly manner. Above all, this facial expression shows that this cover is not meant to seduce, but rather to draw attention to Vonn’s upcoming involvement in the Winter Olympics. Although the pose is a bit sexual, the intention was not. Thus, the criticism over this cover is unwarranted and unfounded.

The primary criticism about this picture comes from Dr. Nicole LaVoi, a columnist for the website, WomenTalkSports.com. According to their website, WomenTalkSports mission statement is “promoting and empowering female athleticism” (WomenTalkSports 1). The website was founded quite recently in 2009, when the three founders, Jane Schonberger, Ann Gaffigan and Megan Hueter, realized that women needed a place to discuss female sports:

As media professionals and athletes, the trio is keenly aware of the challenges facing women in sports. Visiting the myriad of (mostly male oriented) sports sites on the Web, it was clear that women needed a dedicated platform to celebrate their love of sports and the challenges they face. They (and the guys who love women's sports) also needed a forum to exchange ideas, to debate and engage one another. (WomenTalkSports 1).

This information is important to note because it gives a better understanding of where the woman who criticized the photo is coming from. LaVoi is coming from the standpoint that women have been overshadowed in sports for a long time, and female athletes have a hard time earning the respect of critics. To LaVoi, that fact that a female athlete is pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated bent over is proof that female athletes are repressed. The mission statement of the group has to do with empowering and advocating for women, and LaVoi was presumably acting in accordance to her organization’s mission statement:

With the goal of promoting and empowering female athleticism, WomenTalkSports.com is an online network that connects the best blogs relating to women's sports. The site aims to raise the level of awareness of women in sport by providing comprehensive sport coverage, spotlighting outstanding achievements, and working with sporting associations on advocacy issues and empowering programs (WomenTalkSpots 1).

While it is admirable and important that women such as LaVoi are drawing attention to sexist issues in female sports, this picture doesn’t deserve as much attention as it has been getting. When compared to the pictures of other female athletes, such as Amanda Beard, there really is no comparison. LaVoi’s primary problem with the shot is the pose: “’In sport media research, we would code that as a passive shot. She is not actually on the slope skiing, with her helmet on. She is in a posed tuck position in an attempt to simulate what actually skiing would look like”’ (VictoriaTimes 1). While this may be true, there was never any debate about whether or not this picture portrayed Vonn actually in the act of skiing. It is clear that she is not.

LaVoi’s other problem with the photo shoot is that the same cover could have not occurred with a man: “’Picture this as a way to frame what I’m trying to get at: Picture a male ski racer in a similar pose on the cover of SI, smiling at the camera. Would we see that? How would you react to that picture, verses the picture of Vonn?”’ (VictoriaTimes 1). Yet as one commenter pointed out, a very similar cover did occur in 1992 with Olympic skier A. J. Kitt. He too is shown in the same bent over position. Granted, A. J.’s position is less exaggerated and it appears that he is actually skiing, not pretending. He isn’t looking at the camera. Still, a fairly similar pose with a man negates LaVoi’s point that this shot wouldn’t have occurred with a man, further hurting her validity.

LaVoi received a lot of criticism for declaring this cover sexualized. Criticism ranges from anger, to personally attacking LaVoi and WomenTalkSports, to utter confusion. One such confused reader, “John Parker”, commented, “Sorry, I don't get it. A posed photograph of a full-clad woman wearing shoes that look like deep-sea diving boots and carrying pointed sticks is a sexual turn-on? For who? Are those people dangerous? Do we need to keep them away from our kids? And for God's sake, don't ever let them get their hands on a Sears catalog!!” (VictoriaTimes 1). Although sarcastic and humorous, this comment shows that comparatively, this cover is not as sexual as it could be.

Another common remark in response to LaVoi’s criticism is the popular: get a life! Henry Blodget of the Huffington Post wrote an article about the controversy titled “People Whining About Sports Illustrated’s Lindsey Vonn “Sex” Cover Need to Grow Up” (HuffingtonPost 1). No need to read the rest of the article with a strong worded title like that. This sentiment and reaction to LaVoi’s article is similar to one that Ariel Levy mentions in Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. Levy talks about the dichotomy that occurs when females react to raunch culture. Females either support raunch culture or don’t. When a woman does support raunch culture, it is cool. When a woman doesn’t support raunch culture, they become unpopular and uncool: “Nobody wants to be the frump in the back of the room anymore, the ghost of women past. It’s just not cool” (Levy 92). Regardless of whether this picture is actually an example of raunch culture is arguable, it is not cool or acceptable for LaVoi to criticize it.

Yet LaVoi is not the first woman to criticize female athletes for posing seductively. Levy too criticizes the 2004 female Olympians for their appearances in Playboy. Levy states that the seductive pictures in Playboy make it hard to keep their athletic accomplishments in mind, but maybe that is the point: “Bimbos enjoy a higher standing in our culture than Olympians right now. Perhaps the athletes felt they were trading up” (Levy 20). While Levy clearly has a strong opinion on female athletes posing seductively, it is hard to believe that she would consider this Lindsey Vonn picture seductive. Levy criticizes the athletes primarily for wearing next to nothing and sporting pouty seductive looks. Since Vonn does not do either, it is unlikely that Levy would consider the picture a part of raunch culture.

An interesting twist in the Lindsey Vonn saga is days after her Sport’s Illustrated skiing cover (and days after I started writing this paper), she appeared in the Sport’s Illustrated Swimsuit Edition spread. The shots show her in a tiny bikini posing with skis in front of various winter skiing backgrounds. It is safe to say that the people that complained about her original picture in which Vonn is fully clothed probably felt pretty silly about their criticism after they saw her much more scandalous swimsuit edition. It is unfortunate LaVoi and WomenTalkSports prematurely reacted to the first cover, because they could have had a really powerful article about the second one that would have made more of an impact. Now, if they do comment on the Swimsuit Edition, they will probably be viewed as “the boy who called wolf”. Although Levy probably wouldn’t have had a problem with Vonn’s first cover photo, she probably would have a problem with the swimsuit version, especially because Vonn’s reason for the swimsuit pictures comes off rather ditzy and shallow: “It was a good opportunity for me to show everyone what I actually look like, because I'm always wearing a helmet when I compete”’ (NYDailyNews 1). One would hope that more thought went into the decision than that, but on the other hand, maybe Levy wouldn’t have a problem with the pictures because Vonn never claimed it was feminism that drove her to pose in her bikini.

While it is admirable that LaVoi didn’t take the “path of least resistance” (Johnson 4) and stood up for what she believed in, it is important to choose feminist battles carefully. A feminist complaining about sexist portrayals of women is cliché to the point that people have begun to dismiss their arguments as yet another feminist rant. This is clearly seen in the reaction to LaVoi’s article with people telling her to “get over it” and “get a life”. Although Vonn’s ski pose on the cover of Sports Illustrated may be a little seductive, her smiling face and full attire of ski gear don’t make this photo nearly as sexualized when compared to other female athlete photos. Vonn herself proved the mildness of the initial photo three days later when her swimsuit photos were released. While criticism of her first photo is not entirely valid, there is potential for a lot of valid criticism in the second photo. Unfortunately, this criticism probably won’t be viewed with as much respect as it would have been if not for the overreacting about the first photo. Hence, when criticizing a portrayal of a female as sexist, it is important to make sure that this foundation of your argument is solid before adding subsequent conclusions.

Sources

Ariel Levy: Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture.

Allan Johnson: “Patriarchy as a System”.

Chris Parry, Victoria Times: “'Sexualized' Sports Illustrated cover of U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn draws criticism, controversy”’

http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Sexualized+Sports+Illustrated+cover+skier+Lindsey+Vonn+draws+criticism+controversy/2532220/story.html

Henry Blodget, The Huffington Post: “People Whining About Sports Illustrated’s Lindsey Vonn “Sex” Cover Need to Grow Up”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/henry-blodget/people-whining-about-spor_b_451017.html

Women Talk Sports :

http://www.womentalksports.com/p/about

AJ Kitt photo:

http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1992/0127_large.jpg

Nathaniel Vinton, New York Daily News: “Olympic star Lindsey Vonn trades racing uniform for bikini in Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue”

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2010/02/09/2010-02-09_vonn_si_swimsuit_issue_olympians.html