Swiminfo.com has released a post saying that Amanda Beard will be on the cover of the July issue for Playboy.
How do you think this will effect her image among the swimming communties? Will any of us purchase this issue because of her?
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Former Member
This sums up what I was trying so poorly to express!! Here is a quote from the first article in Timed Finals...
"What upsets some people like Dr. Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, as she told the New York Daily News, is that “It used to be that female athletes were portrayed as wholesome, All-American girls. Now you get female athletes in GQ, Playboy and the Swimsuit issue. The result of it is coverage that is very damaging—that trivializes and marginalizes women athletes because it does not give them the respect they deserve as competent athletes.”
I disagree with that blanket statement. If Amanda heads to Beijing and wins gold or sets a new WR I seriously doubt the performance will be marginalized because of the magazines she has appeared in. I suspect there will be a few who discount and/or belittle her achievements in the pool based upon her legal choices out of the pool, but that says more about them than it does about Amanda I think. In the end, a female athlete need not be wholesome to be formiddable. I challenge anybody who does not respect Amanda as a swimmer to race her in the pool. Only then will we see who the truly competent athlete is.
I know I have stated this before but lets try to keep in mind that there is nothing illegal here or even remotely groundbreaking. There is no adultery, no violence, no drug use, etc.. I say give the woman a break.
This sums up what I was trying so poorly to express!! Here is a quote from the first article in Timed Finals...
"What upsets some people like Dr. Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, as she told the New York Daily News, is that “It used to be that female athletes were portrayed as wholesome, All-American girls. Now you get female athletes in GQ, Playboy and the Swimsuit issue. The result of it is coverage that is very damaging—that trivializes and marginalizes women athletes because it does not give them the respect they deserve as competent athletes.”
I disagree with that blanket statement. If Amanda heads to Beijing and wins gold or sets a new WR I seriously doubt the performance will be marginalized because of the magazines she has appeared in. I suspect there will be a few who discount and/or belittle her achievements in the pool based upon her legal choices out of the pool, but that says more about them than it does about Amanda I think. In the end, a female athlete need not be wholesome to be formiddable. I challenge anybody who does not respect Amanda as a swimmer to race her in the pool. Only then will we see who the truly competent athlete is.
I know I have stated this before but lets try to keep in mind that there is nothing illegal here or even remotely groundbreaking. There is no adultery, no violence, no drug use, etc.. I say give the woman a break.
