Althouse: "This photo cements stereotypes, perpetuates an imbalance in the power dynamic, is reminiscent of centuries of colonialism (and indentured servitude)..."

February 14, 2013

"This photo cements stereotypes, perpetuates an imbalance in the power dynamic, is reminiscent of centuries of colonialism (and indentured servitude)..."

"... and serves as a good example of both creating a centrality of whiteness and using 'exotic' people as fashion props."

The SI swimsuit issue is troubling people again.

95 comments:

mccullough said...: Nice body.; 2/14/13, 5:33 PM
Methadras said...: Photos of hot women with aboriginals. Gosh, we are all doomed to total and utter insensitivity to the plight of 8th worlders being used as background accents.; 2/14/13, 5:33 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: Talk about people with time on their hands!

Nothing to do but comb the internet trying to find something that offends you!

This is one of the negatives of living in a society with a massive surplus of the necessities.

Useless people looking for something to bitch about.

I bet the old Chinaman got a hell of a kick out of sitting there looking at the girl's tits. One of the Filipino "stereotypes" about Chinese is that they like a lot of sex. And, it's true.; 2/14/13, 5:39 PM
Amartel said...: The DNC called. They need those perpetual stereotypes and 'exotic' people as political props.; 2/14/13, 5:40 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: And, I'll do this before Titus gets around to it...

Tits!; 2/14/13, 5:47 PM
Unknown said...: Oh hey, Gawker (owner of Jezebel) is looking to up their SEO by complaining about the new SI Swimsuit issue.; 2/14/13, 5:49 PM
gadfly said...: Peep Shows have always made money - so as long as the SI Swimsuit Issue sells, the magazine will publish it - and men, at least, will ogle the pictures.; 2/14/13, 5:51 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: They need those perpetual stereotypes and 'exotic' people as political props.

These corporate free riders... keep cutting in line.; 2/14/13, 5:52 PM
Michael said...: I love this stuff! Hilarious. Here we are with the riches of Nero and half the population is in a continuous pout or typing sophomoric bullshit. Hegemony everywhere! Intolerance! Bigotry! Resting rich people! Working peoples of color.

Who would have i,agined forty years ago it would have been this hysterically successful. The whole hip world is stuffed with stupid.; 2/14/13, 5:54 PM
Crimso said...: It's also a dessert topping.; 2/14/13, 5:54 PM
Michael said...: I love this stuff! Hilarious. Here we are with the riches of Nero and half the population is in a continuous pout or typing sophomoric bullshit. Hegemony everywhere! Intolerance! Bigotry! Resting rich people! Working peoples of color.

Who would have i,agined forty years ago it would have been this hysterically successful. The whole hip world is stuffed with stupid.; 2/14/13, 5:55 PM
dbp said...: A beautiful and scantily clad woman is even more alluring when she is scantily clad out of context.; 2/14/13, 6:00 PM
Chuck said...: This is what Kate Upton gets for having an uncle who is in the senior Republican leadership in Congress.

Kate Upton needed to wear a bra in the form of a pair of assault rifles as part of a protest against gun violence, after which she declared her support for renewable energy and living wage laws on Charlie Rose.; 2/14/13, 6:01 PM
Revenant said...: At this point, I suspect the majority of people viewing the swimsuit issue are doing so in order to find something offensive in it.

This is the internet age. Married men don't need to rely on thinly disguised pseudoporn anymore.; 2/14/13, 6:06 PM
Methadras said...: Revenant said...

At this point, I suspect the majority of people viewing the swimsuit issue are doing so in order to find something offensive in it.

This is the internet age. Married men don't need to rely on thinly disguised pseudoporn anymore.

Blasphemy, you philistine!!!; 2/14/13, 6:06 PM
William said...: Pretty good scam. You get to post pictures of SI models and you can ogle in a concerned, socially responsible way. Better than Playboy with their stupid articles.; 2/14/13, 6:07 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: At this point, I suspect the majority of people viewing the swimsuit issue are doing so in order to find something offensive in it.

I find it offensive that the magazine doesn't include pics of scantily clad Thai and Filipino girls.

Or, do they? I haven't looked through the whole thing.; 2/14/13, 6:09 PM
Rusty said...: If there was anything in that photo more than tits I din't see it.; 2/14/13, 6:13 PM
Tim said...: Imagine what might happen if these people were to ever think through their support for contemporary, post-modern "liberalism" and their Democrat candidates to a tenth of the degree they (over-) think over this stupid stuff?

The whole world might change.; 2/14/13, 6:14 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This photo cements stereotypes...

As a youth, I often faced the same problem when the pages would stuck together.; 2/14/13, 6:16 PM
Revenant said...: You get to post pictures of SI models and you can ogle in a concerned, socially responsible way. Better than Playboy with their stupid articles.

The funny thing about the "buying Playboy for the articles" joke is that, at some point in the late 90s, it stopped being a joke and started being the only reason TO buy the magazine.; 2/14/13, 6:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Maybe Vogue could do a fluffy feminist inspired follow up with Mrs Assad in Aleppo...; 2/14/13, 6:16 PM
Beta Rube said...: The Mencken quote defining Puritanism as "a fear that someone somewhere is having a good time" has been kidnapped by the angry feminist crowd.; 2/14/13, 6:18 PM
DADvocate said...: In Jezebel, Dodai Stewart wrote: “A white person relaxing, a person of color working. Tale as old as time.”

Liberals claim that conservatives say just the opposite, i.e. whity works and supports the shiftless coloreds. Perpetually finding racism everywhere no matter what.

To paraphrase:
Receptionist: How do you write liberals so well?
Melvin Udall: I think of a conservative, and I take away reason and accountability.; 2/14/13, 6:19 PM
DADvocate said...: I didn't see any body else in that picture.; 2/14/13, 6:21 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Not only is there no reason to buy the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue anymore, there's no reason to buy any of the other issues, either. The idea of a weekly sports magazine in this day and age is utterly absurd.; 2/14/13, 6:21 PM
Michael K said...: I liked the comment on "Good luck finding a Chinese model with tits." That's what silicone is for. How many US models have natural tits ? I try to teach medical students the breast exam. In Los Angeles, good luck finding a model with natural tits. We use models and actors for teaching medical students but that is a rare entity.; 2/14/13, 6:27 PM
Farmer said...: COME AND SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM!; 2/14/13, 6:30 PM
Farmer said...: U.S. OUT OF EVERYWHERE!; 2/14/13, 6:31 PM
edutcher said...: Indentured servitude?

Colonialism?

Does this idiot realize the indentured servants in the Colonies were white Europeans?

For every Hatman, there must be a Hatbroad, I guess.

Shouting Thomas said...

At this point, I suspect the majority of people viewing the swimsuit issue are doing so in order to find something offensive in it.

I find it offensive that the magazine doesn't include pics of scantily clad Thai and Filipino girls.

Or, do they? I haven't looked through the whole thing.

That stopped with V-J Day when NatGeo (as they like to call themselves these days) stopped running pictures of MacArthur liberating the Philippines.; 2/14/13, 6:36 PM
n.n said...: It's how they earn a living. Their business model will not change until both the economic and political market reject their product.; 2/14/13, 6:46 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/14/13, 6:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Actually the white people are working too - just getting really well paid for it.

This isn't the best example, because models are the great equalizers, but you'd be wrong if you think that young Asians aren't beginning to get really offended by advertising that exploits them. They see it as disrespectful to the people adding the ethnic color. (See the 'Burger King Virgins' ad from a few years ago.) BK tried to make it this big PR coup, but ended up pissing people off. It ain't the bad old days anymore.; 2/14/13, 6:50 PM
Paco Wové said...: I read the linked article until I got to the word "Jezebel" and realized it was just going to be a waste of my time, only partially redeemed by making a snarky, assholish comment about it.; 2/14/13, 6:51 PM
furious_a said...: Thanks for the laugh, Farmer, the upper-case was a nice touch.

OK, so Westerners staging fashion shoots with locals (who, btw, are considered "exotic", not to mention backward, by the majority ethnic Han Chinese) as extras can be a little condescending, but, c'mon, save the ginned-up po-mo outrage speak for when the entourage stiffs the hotel staff on tit...er, tips.; 2/14/13, 6:55 PM
m stone said...: This thread is much less contentious than the same-sex marriage free-for-all. Nice to find a common denominator.; 2/14/13, 7:19 PM
chickelit said...: This topic is intercultural; the SSM topic is intracultural.; 2/14/13, 7:21 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: This thread is much less contentious than the same-sex marriage free-for-all. Nice to find a common denominator.

I've decided to forgo the gay marriage fights.

Everything that can be said has been said.

All that's left is the acrimony and name calling!; 2/14/13, 7:25 PM
Rick Caird said...: I am sure the same people complaining will also tell us if we oppose abortion, not to get one.; 2/14/13, 7:27 PM
m stone said...: I'm not sure ST. If anyone calls me a bigot just one more time, I may switch sides.; 2/14/13, 7:27 PM
Mary Beth said...: The other people in the photos knew what was going on. If they didn't object, why do these people who had nothing to do with it?; 2/14/13, 7:27 PM
Big Mike said...: Hmmm. I guess I'll have to go check out the issue. Especially the body painted models.; 2/14/13, 7:28 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "All that's left is the acrimony and name calling!"

-- Well, it -is- the Internet.; 2/14/13, 7:32 PM
McTriumph said...: Feminist need to get a sense of humor and grow some balls.; 2/14/13, 7:32 PM
Big Mike said...: Wife checked out the linked article. She says it's okay, so it's okay.

Period, the end.; 2/14/13, 7:38 PM
Known Unknown said...: The idea of a weekly sports magazine in this day and age is utterly absurd.

Some spectacular photos and an occasional good article.

Of course it was a gift subscription from my father.; 2/14/13, 7:47 PM
rhhardin said...: The chief stereotype is that it's a standard of female attractiveness to men.; 2/14/13, 7:51 PM
Patrick said...: A bikini tag? Who knew?; 2/14/13, 7:54 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: No "tits" tag!; 2/14/13, 7:56 PM
coketown said...: Hahaha. The cover even uses the same font as that used for the title screen of that pinnacle of blaxploitation films: Foxy Brown.

But anyway, the left's constant scavenging for instances of racism reminds me of Easter. Little children with brightly, ahem, colored baskets, looking behind every shrub, beneath every rock, to fill their baskets with delicious morsels.; 2/14/13, 8:16 PM
Real American said...: the work of the professional offended is never done.; 2/14/13, 8:17 PM
coketown said...: Out of curiosity, has anyone ever written a couplet of sentences in which the words "perpetuate," "power," and "stereotype" are not all present? "Perpetuate" always sticks out like a Chinaman in a photoshoot. Pick a different verb you fucking dolts.; 2/14/13, 8:19 PM
Ipso Fatso said...: You know you guys just gave me an idea, I am going to go to the local Lesbian book store, "Woman & Children First!" and ask if they have the SI Swinsuit issue.; 2/14/13, 8:28 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: ...perpetuates an imbalance in the power dynamic...

Uneven boobs are boobs too.; 2/14/13, 8:35 PM
Rusty said...: Lem said...
...perpetuates an imbalance in the power dynamic...

Uneven boobs are boobs too.

Every breast a loved and wanted breast.; 2/14/13, 8:48 PM
rcommal said...: All other things aside, I'm looking forward to becoming an ethnic prop. Faster, please. (And may I pass that down?); 2/14/13, 8:49 PM
Paul said...: What total BS.

So the photo showed local fisherman, so what?

Persnally I think the old guy in the back got the best of the deal.; 2/14/13, 8:54 PM
Titus said...: It's just tits.

relax peeps.; 2/14/13, 9:00 PM
rcommal said...: Also: Wow. One could really easily interpret the images in an entirely different way--actually, a whole number of different ways. (Perspective[s], people!) Take the one of the local Chinese guy steering a raft on which the blond model is reclining, for an example. Seriously: Think about it, regardless of various ires and even of various preferences, much less various predispositions toward ways of thinking.

Interesting, this is.; 2/14/13, 9:04 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: They make it sound like the girls... pardon my imprudent language... the women are photo-bombing the shoot.

These geniuses are confusing National Geographic with Sports Illustrated... They truly are Obamacare's only silver lining.; 2/14/13, 9:06 PM
rcommal said...: And for the record, in advance, I'm entirely relaxed about this.; 2/14/13, 9:06 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: The complaints make strong points for I too am slightly disturbed by the Yanomami-centric models for Jungle Bowmen-Dartsmen Illustrated creating a centrality of exoticness with mundane workaday regular people as mere fashion backdrops. It's exploitative and wrong.; 2/14/13, 9:08 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I see one link is to an aggrieved Phd named Gwen Sharp who is an asst prof of sociology at Nevada State Univ [which could why she sees so much injustice in the world- she must think she is a victim stuck at a 3rd rate school]. But the most interestimg aboutnher is she got he BA at your school Althouse and then went and wrote an article called "The Centrality of Whiteness". HTF can you stand living for years around all those freaking leftists and crybabies in Madison?; 2/14/13, 9:08 PM
Michael K said...: Kate Upton seems to have real ones.; 2/14/13, 9:13 PM
wildswan said...: There was a Women's Sports Illustrated which failed. It had fully dressed women, mostly frowning and flexing their muscles like gang-bangers and no men - I just looked on Google. But half way down the Google image page a man is being exploited. No matter how long you study it, it is wrong. It suggests that men don't get college degrees too and that they just lie on the beach smiling and waiting for you to come by. It was sickening. He looked a little foreign too. Thank God I'm in Wisconsin where that kind of thing doesn't go on.; 2/14/13, 9:14 PM
DADvocate said...: I've just finished an intensive 4 hour evaluation of the SI swimsuit issue. Everything looks fine. I'll keep investigating. Maybe, I missed something. Emily needs closer inspection.; 2/14/13, 9:15 PM
Henry said...: So it's really really bad that white women are shown in bathing suits and really really really bad that the white women aren't black women.

Frankly I find myself increasingly bored by the photoshopping. These plasticine women are attractive, but not memorable. They pose no threat to stills of Marilyn Monroe. It's Disney porn (literally).

This is from 2012, but still brilliant.; 2/14/13, 9:16 PM
kermitt said...: Wish they used pics of lady athletes instead of models in swimsuits; 2/14/13, 9:28 PM
Henry said...: I have to add that a lot of these shots are laugh-out-loud funny. The short toreador staring at the gigantic Julie Henderson's breasts cracked me up.

And where's the bull? What's with the speciesism?; 2/14/13, 9:34 PM
Mark said...: Michael K, thank you.; 2/14/13, 9:39 PM
Wince said...: Kate Upton has perfected the side-boob.; 2/14/13, 9:55 PM
Ctmom4 said...: @ ST - Chrissy Teigen is Thai - Norwegian.; 2/14/13, 9:56 PM
Wince said...: Side-boob extraordinaire...

This is Kate Upton wearing body paint, and only body paint.; 2/14/13, 10:07 PM
traditionalguy said...: So there are infamous WHITE PEOPLE into a new fetish of natives cavorting around them like a pod of dolphins?

Shame, shame, shame!

Now, I feel better.; 2/14/13, 10:09 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/14/13, 10:10 PM
Big Mike said...: What I want to know is how Sports Illustrated managed to air brush out all of Kate Upton's goosebumps during that Antarctic shoot. She has got to have been one seriously frost-bitten woman.; 2/14/13, 10:17 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Prop? Who says the Chinese guy isn't the boyfriend? She's so into him, she can't even stay properly dressed!; 2/14/13, 10:49 PM
KCFleming said...: Poor old SI.

It tries so hard to be a lefty rag, but it just can't divest itself of the one issue it can count on to actually sell.

All their liberal articles are forgotten! Their bona fides don't forgive boner fides. Silly sports writers!; 2/14/13, 10:50 PM
garage mahal said...: This is Kate Upton wearing body paint, and only body paint.

Just Wow. Thank you for that. I always liked you for some reason too.; 2/14/13, 10:50 PM
CWJ said...: First world problems.

BTW, if I ever give up CWJ, "Ethnic Prop" will be my next pseudonym. Genius!; 2/14/13, 11:06 PM
Dante said...: See, everyone has it wrong. It's not love, higher ideals, but Beautiful women that bind the races together. And ALL women are beautiful, it's a part of their nature.

Maybe it added some good Neanderthal genes into the white race (still undecided), but if it did, it was some damn hot sex that did it.; 2/14/13, 11:30 PM
chickelit said...: BTW, if I ever give up CWJ, "Ethnic Prop" will be my next pseudonym. Genius!

"Pungent" will be my next pseudonym.; 2/14/13, 11:59 PM
chuck said...: An article like that makes me want to buy the magazine, not for the models, but to approve of the stereotypes, the imbalance in the power dynamic, and centuries of colonialism and indentured servitude. Those seem like refreshing alternatives to the sorry world the author inhabits.; 2/15/13, 12:09 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: A article likely of interest only to people who read Sports Illustrated (or, if illiterate, seek it out it for the pictures).

Likewise the New York Times.; 2/15/13, 12:57 AM
MayBee said...: Ditto what Mary Beth said
"The other people in the photos knew what was going on. If they didn't object, why do these people who had nothing to do with it?

2/14/13, 7:27 PM
"

The author of the outrage imagines the extras are too stupid to give consent for the use of their time and images. So who is perpetuating stereotypes, if not her?; 2/15/13, 3:06 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: When I was in 9th or 10th grade, my family went to the US Virgin Islands for a vacation. While there, some of us went on as scuba outing run by the resort. Sharing the boat with our group was a Brazilian model and her photographer on their way to do an underwater photo-shoot. Being experienced divers, they were in the water first, and headed off in a different direction from us, so we didn't see them underwater.

I don't know if it I was just nervous from it being my first dive, but I ended up going through my air supply faster then everyone else, so one of the instructors took me back up to the boat ahead of the rest of our group. I was rather chilly from diving without a wetsuit, and they had mentioned that there was room for sunbathing at the front of the boat, so I headed there. (It was not a very large boat, so there was only room enough for two people to lay down up there.) They didn't mention that it would be topless sunbathing, but there was the model, lying on her back.

While I was painfully shy, at that point it would have seemed rude to turn around and head back to the back of the boat, so I spread out my towel and laid down next to her.

So, having been there and done that, I'd say the exotic people props got a pretty damn good deal.; 2/15/13, 3:48 AM
AllenS said...: Bliss, were you like, you know, pretending that you were sleeping with one eye partially opened checking out the scenery? I know I would have.; 2/15/13, 6:09 AM
Michael said...: Bliss. Did you imbalance the power dynamic! I would certainly hope you did.; 2/15/13, 6:12 AM
SGT Ted said...: Why do they stereotype white women doing a photo shoot as colonialist oppressors?; 2/15/13, 7:22 AM
George M. Spencer said...: To change the subject, if that meteorite was traveling with that asteroid, might it be possible there are other meteorites tagging along?

Just a thought.

Let's hope they stay away.; 2/15/13, 7:30 AM
Fritz said...: Sometimes, a pretty girl is just a pretty girl.; 2/15/13, 7:50 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Allen S-

Yes, but it was rather awkward, as I had to do my scenery gazing while lying on my stomach.

Michael-

Yes. I had to wait until we got back to the hotel to rebalance.; 2/15/13, 8:21 AM
Sam L. said...: The annual "Cancel My Subscription" issue. Note: Pics of real naked people are on the innertunnels.; 2/15/13, 9:53 AM
tiger said...: These female writers sound fat.; 2/15/13, 12:57 PM
Known Unknown said...: The model featured in the shot is Jessica Gomes — born in Australia. Her father is PORTUGUESE and her mother is from SINGAPORE.

Does Jezebel have editors?; 2/15/13, 9:07 PM