The Status of Today’s Athletic Pin-Up Girls

by Felix Lehmann

In 2012, it is not surprising to see world class athletes photographed in the provocative poses and skimpy clothes of pinup girls. These are world champion athletes and some of them are even Olympic medalists. They have achieved the pinnacle of their sport and won worldwide adulation for their achievements on the tennis court, sports field or swimming pool. It therefore begs the question why they would do something that is normally reserved for film actresses or models.

One has only to see the great reception received for these photographs to understand why top notch athletes also want to be pinup girls. The women who do these shots are very attractive, in addition to being talented, and their fan base sky rockets after these photos come out. This helps to drive sales of products that these women endorse.

It is quite interesting to note that these days athletes can often make more money from product endorsements than from their actual winnings. In such situations, a woman does not need to be the best at her sport in order to be the most popular person involved in it.

There is another aspect to this as well. These women put in a lot of effort to strengthen their bodies and improve their game. It must certainly be very refreshing for them to be viewed by the world as a beautiful woman and not just a record breaking athlete.

These provocative photographs do serve a useful purpose as well and the sport does benefit from them. They increase awareness and interest in the particular sport and increasing numbers of people take it up thanks to the free publicity pin-up photos can generate.

Young girls may feel less worried about losing their feminine aura after seeing these pictures of beautiful and healthy women athletes.

These saucy pictures are not without controversy, of course. There are plenty of people who do not appreciate this new turn of events. They say that these photographs of athlete pinup girls trivialize the game, as they cater to the lowest common denominator. Feminists decry these images saying that they are pandering to base male instincts by sexualizing these strong women who have achieved glory by physically dominating their opponents. They point out that you don’t often see photographs of men in these poses. Actually they are many male pin-ups, but they just don’t seem to create as much controversy…

The issue gets really heated up when certain athletes shed all of their clothes for some well known publications.

The stock response that these women athletes give is that they are doing it to celebrate the variety of the human figure and to demonstrate that you don’t have to be ugly in order to win world championships or Olympic medals. They argue that they deserve the right to be viewed as sexy athletes, in the same way that male athletes are idolized by their female fan following.

However, the view that prevails is that they do it for the money so that they can extract as much as possible value from the time they are famous, because, let’s face it – fame and its related fortune is often fleeting and lasts only as long as one can remain in the public eye.

About the Author: I am basically a graduate at the University of Hamburg and you can get awesome articles and valid information from the ones which I submit specially for you to take a look at. Check out Pin up Images, Pin-up Graphics or Pin-up Pictures.

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