Sports Illustrated model responds to backlash: 'I can be in a swimsuit and feel sexy'
Despite the criticism the Sports Illustrated swim issue has recently received, the magazine’s cover star believes it’s the “perfect” time for the annual publication to come out. “I can be in a swimsuit and feel sexy and feel empowered,” Danielle Harrington said during an interview in AOL’s Build Series on Thursday. “I feel like all the girls in the world — anybody — should be able to express themselves the way that they want to and still be respected for it.”
As for Brenna Huckaby, the first amputee to be featured in the pages of the magazine, she has similar beliefs when it comes to posing in a bikini. The Paralympian recognizes that because she was in the photo shoot that doesn’t make her achievements any bigger or smaller. “Nothing has changed with me except for how I feel about myself,” the athlete, who lost her leg as a result of osteosarcoma, a type of cancer at 14, said. “And if you can’t understand that then you’re missing the whole point of Sports Illustrated swimsuit.”
@danielle_herrington_ is the 2018 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT COVER MODEL! (: @wattsupphoto)
A post shared by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@si_swimsuit) on Feb 13, 2018 at 4:33am PST
Backlash to the issue has emerged mainly because many wonder if it’s appropriate to be putting out a product that’s profiting off of the male gaze at a time when #MeToo and Time’s Up are dominating the cultural conversation.
This year's Sports Illustrated swim edition is apparently being promoted as "female empowerment" and support of the #metoo movement. What a disgusting, twisted version of "empowerment" our culture is selling women. Makes me sick.
— Emily Wilson (@emwilss) February 15, 2018
Kate Upton is a Sports Illustrated model who said #MeToo. Aly Raisman is a gold medalist SI model who said #MeToo. So why wouldn't MJ day and her all woman crew want to make a statement with this year's SI Swim Issue? https://t.co/2Avhxy0kd4
— Jeneé Osterheldt (@JeneeinKC) February 11, 2018
Editor MJ Day, according to a story published by the Associated Press Friday, “says that even though the issue was conceived and shot before the #MeToo movement heated up last fall, it’s about more than just women in swimsuits. Day says the magazine is ‘creating and giving platforms to these women’ and presenting them as multidimensional people.”
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