In her brochures "What SPORTS are ILLUSTRATED?," and "Fans Call Foul on Sexism Illustrated," Smith refutes SI's claim that their swimsuit issue is an innocent profile of the latest styles in swimwear. Photos depict models' bodies so contorted it is impossible to even see the outfits they are wearing. Part of the formula is to include suits with maxium exposure, impossible to swim in or even appear in on most beaches.

Left and Center: Contrast SIsi's depictions of male athletes with their portrayal of women. Below: (Associated Press photo.)  The magazine that publishes a swimsuit edition every year rejected this ad.

           Smith compared these crawling, twisting, dancing women with the male athletes SI features in other issues. The differences were glaring. The men are shown in strong, aggressive actions, competing hard against themselves and their equally skilled peers in tests of skill and strength. Looking at the men one thinks about their intelligence, determination, and power; looking at the passive women with come hither looks and preorgasmic expressions one thinks about their bodies, and their sexual appeal.
           Thus, it made sense that SI should reject an advertisement for Adidas sports shoes featuring the Canadian Soccer League team nude except for the trophies covering their genitals. It appears SI believes only women should be stripped bare for inspection and approval.
           In response to this obvious double standard, Smith developed a brochure featuring the now famous Adidas advertisement, and quotes from various commentators deriding this decision Why Does Sports Illustrated say Yes To This But No To This"). She writes, "The same magazine that says readers find the annual swimsuit issue to be ' . . . tasteful, informative and entertaining' is now saying they canceled the Adidas ad because they ' . . . just didn't feel it was appropriate.'" B.J. Del Conte, who bills himself as Canada's premier sports broadcaster summed it up best when he said, " . . . Sports Illustrated's self-ascension to the moral high ground is laughably pathetic."
           SI took an even bigger step down the road of social irresponsibility by depicting young children naked and in sexually charged scenarios. Unlike their firm stance against the Adidas men's soccer team ad, SI had no qualms about presenting children in this manner. The 1986 swimsuit issue shows a woman wearing a thong bikini arching her buttocks against a showerhead--and directly into the face of a grade school boy. Their 1989 issue posed topless supermodel Christie Brinkley with her naked three-year-old daughter.
          

           Sexual harassment is now being reported on the grade school level. One out of every four girls in this country is sexually abused by the time she is eighteen. At the same time there is an organized movement to lower, if not eliminate, the age of consent to sexual intercourse and access to children by adult males. In that contextSI, by having placed children in sexually charged situations with adults, has contributed to lowering the prohibition against children as sexual targets and fueled pedophilia .
           With evidence in hand, Smith called for a boycott against the swimsuit issue that was heard around the world. At Smith's urging, activists across the country moved into action. The Media Action Alliance in Minnesota drew up a list of the names and addresses of every major advertiser in the swimsuit issue, and organized letter writing parties; Media Watch in California distributed postcards addressed to SI protesting the swimsuit issue; people from as far away as Australia contacted Smith for information on the boycott.
           No longer could SI count on an uncontested release of their heavily promoted swimsuit issue. Smith had succeeded in reframing public understanding of the SI swimsuit issue as a matter of social concern and people were listening.
           Actually, the swimsuit issue had always been contested, by individual women who hid the issue behind other magazines at the supermarket, or threw it out when it was mailed to their homes. There were organized protest as well, like the continuing annual picket in front of the Time-Life building organized by Men Against Pornography and Women Against Pornography (WAP).
           According to WAP, however, their annual protests were too often ignored by mainstream media. Then Smith rallied to their side, sending letters and her brochures to SI advertisers. Says member Cecilia Blewer, "Linnea was successful in articulating to the media and to the advertisers the injustice and harm imbedded in the swimsuit issue" (WAP Newsreport, Summer 1993, p. 6).
           This harmful depiction of children along with SI's sexist discrimination fueled worldwide media and public scrutiny. Activists across the country, including Smith, moved into action and called for a boycott of the swimsuit issue. The Media Action Alliance in Minnesota drew up a list of the names and addresses of every major advertiser in the swimsuit issue, and organized letter writing parties; MediaWatch in California distributed post cards addressed to SI protesting the swimsuit issue; people from as far away as Australia contacted smith for information on the boycott. For years, people had been protesting the swimsuit issue, individually by hiding the issue behind other magazines at the supermarket or by throwing it out when it arrived in the mail and through organized protests like the annual picket in front of the Time-Life building organized by Men Against Pornography (MAP) and Women Against Pornography (WAP). Now, people are listening. Says WAP member Cecilia Blewer, "Linnea was successful in articulating to the media and to the advertisers the injustice and harm imbedded in the swimsuit issue." (WAP Newsreport, Summer 1993, p. 6)
           SI representatives tried to downplay the effects of these efforts, but what could they say when Korean car maker Hyundai Motors made the announcement they were pulling their ads out of the issue? Certainly this was a sign of things to come. Even though Hyundai was the only company to make a public statement about their decision, and credit Smith and her work as a reason, "it appears that other advertisers used their position to exact changes in the swimsuit issue while others quietly dropped out altogether." (Blewer, WAP Newsreport, Summer 1993, p. 6).
           The children were removed from Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue in 1993 and are still gone today. While the content remains the same, the swimsuits and poses are not as explicit as they used to be. Is it only a matter of time before the issue disappears altogether? Says Smith, "I don't think the swimsuit issue is going to be tolerated. I think we're going to look back on this and wince the way we did with separate drinking fountains." (from The News and Observer Feb. 11, 1993.)
           Smith's brochures are definitely powerful enough resources to make that vision a reality. They are impressive in the ease in which they can be studied, and the breadth of information they contain. They stand as a challenge to all public definitions and expressions of women, our bodies, and our sexuality. They are a much needed interruption of the violent corruption of human sexuality that the pornography industry --and its imitators-- pump out each day, in each city, in every country in the world.
           There is no telling what these brochures can accomplish, once they are released worldwide into the hands of the Web audience. But Smith already sees some changes right here at home. In an interview with The New York Times she said, "...In my daughter's junior high, more girls went out for the basketball team than the cheerleading squad. I think that this idea of dehumanizing and objectifying women--in sports and beyond sports-- is going by the wayside." (January 23, 1993, p. Y34). Change can happen, but we all have to do our part. According to Mary Pipher, author of the book Reviving Ophelia, "Cultural change is one person after another doing the right thing. It's just that simple. The only way that cultures change is when people do things that take energy and courage and kindness, and everybody is capable of cultural change." end

Linnea's Letter to the American Football Coaches Association Members and the Board of Trustees callingon the AFCAA to disaffiliate with Playboy and other pornographic magazines.

Playboy Magazine's Letter Threatening to Sue Linnea Smith

Linnea's Letter to Carolina Union about Nadine Strossen

*cover letter *Gary Cole

Letter to advertiser and response to Playboy publisher: Complete version of a letter Linnea Smith wrote to advertisers in Playboy magazine and response to Playboy publisher (July, 1995).

athletes