Booty In Strength

Beauty In Strength

OK.  I promise you, I am not a prude.  Nor am I a bra-burning feminist.  But I have to confess that when I checked out the above feature from the CrossFit Journal, entitled "Beauty In Strength" -  I was just...disappointed.

From the very first line of the accompanying article that likens the women of CrossFit to the "sleek, sexy blends of form and function" of the world's "finest vehicles", to the 12 page spread of the photos taken at the 2009 CrossFit games,  the journal feature does nothing more than objectify the very women it claims to honor.

Don't misunderstand me - there is nothing wrong with pictures of pretty people.   Nothing wrong with publishing them, and certainly nothing wrong with looking at them.   Calendars of firemen are a sure-shot fundraiser.   The Victoria's Secret catalogue is treasured junk mail.  It is human nature to appreciate beauty and it's good business sense to profit from it.

I am not debating the featured athletes' beauty, nor their strength.  Their accomplishments deserve praise.  But please explain to me how rear shots of women doing KB swings, countless shots of headless six-packs and the final picture of a woman's tush at the bottom of what I can only assume is a squat constitute a "tribute to the grace and beauty displayed by top female athletes in one of the world’s most rigorous proving grounds."?   In my opinion, the validity of such a tribute and the photos in the pictorial that are inspiring are simply cheapened by the overabundance of  gratuitous hard-body skin shots. 

Call a spade a spade and don't couch a skin-torial in the poetry of strength and beauty. 

Oh, and did I mention that the HD version is only available to subscribers?

And yes, I'm sure I'll be just as disappointed when the men's "tribute" is published next :)