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Amanda Beard Swims Nude in Sea ofHypocrisy

May 10, 2007

Welcome USA Today readers!  Amanda Beard will be appearing nude in a Playboy near you. 

Who is Amanda Beard?  She is an 7-time medal winning swimmer and Olympic athlete. Obviously, Ms. Beard feels the exposure (insert your own joke here) will help her career and bank account. But the nay-sayers are out;  posing sexily is seen as bad for women&;s sports.  Does Amanda have  an obligation to promote women&;s sports, or is it OK just to promote her (naked) self? 

Sports Illustrated writer Aditi Kinkhabwala takes up the issue here.  Money quote &;Sexy pictures don&;t make people more likely to read about women&;s sports, they don&;t make anyone more likely to attend a women&;s sporting event, and they sure don&;t drive any season-ticket sales.&; But Kinkhabwala&;s point is compromised by her platform; when I read her story online the ad next to it was for one of Sport Illustrated&;s many Swimsuit edition products.   Also unaddressed was why Beard needs to put her obligations to some amorphous larger group (women, women&;s swimming, women&;s sports) ahead of her own personal interest.

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