Rabbits, Blinkity

Update: Here's the best thing you'll read all day on this subject

There's a trans theory concept called the "Cotton Ceiling." (Basically, it tries to explain why some, especially lesbian, women don't really see trans women as real women), Rad-fems don't like it, as one might expect. I'm not going to try and discuss the contents of that article, or the comments on it; I might do so later, but it's tricky and I'm only marginally qualified to talk about this.

I will link to someone who thinks it's all a big miscommunication. Others might suggest that the real issue is unsolvable: rad-fems will refuse to see trans women as women (or even, arguably, as people) regardless, while simultaneously refusing to really see trans men as men (which they're okay with, since women are generally beyond reproach). I don't really know the answer.

But I would like to make an observation. It's been made before, but it bears repeating: our culture is obsessed with penises, and this needs to stop.
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The Sport Illustrated swimsuit issue has caught a lot of criticism from feminist circles over the years, and with good reason. It might be the single most exploitive mainstream magazine feature in existence. In fact, I'd argue that it's worse that your run-of-the-mill porn magazine; at least porn is honest about what it is. The swimsuit issue takes a magazine which talks almost exclusively about men, for men, and once a year fills it with highly sexual pictures of women. It's sort of like an all-male country club saying, "okay, we'll allow female members, but only if they wear slinky dresses and serve us cocktails in heels."

By contrast, ESPN The Magazine's The Body Issue was supposed to be something completely different. For one things, it features an equal number of men and women. For another, it only features athletes. No "fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales" here (as per the Wikipedia SI swimsuit issue article). But it's not surprising that people are still concerned. After all, it's clearly made to capitalize on the appeal of naked people, and very attractive ones at that. Worse, it's one thing for models to pose for a magazine (who have already "sold out," as it were, to the patriarchy), but it's an entirely different thing for sportswomen—who in many cases are considered icons of female empowerment.

So, then, what is the result? Rather than just discuss the concept abstractly, I'm going to try and actually look at the photos and let them speak for themselves. We'll see what comes of it.
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