She was born June 10, 1992. At that time I was midway through graduate school. She’s just a year older than my youngest step child… and she’s the latest cover model for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Her name is Kate Upton. She’s a model. She’s a TEENAGE. And now, she’ll be the object of desire for men across the globe. There is something tragically wrong with that.
19 years old. That is just one year north of legal and indicative of something very, very wrong in this country. Upton first appeared in the SI Swimsuit mag in 2011 when she was 18…still in High School. One of her first major gigs was a body paint spread in the 2011 SI Swimsuit Gallery. NOTE: I link to it just for reference — and so you can fully appreciate what I’m talking about. The girl was EIGHTEEN in that photo spread.
There is something terribly wrong here. Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it just seem strange to have women just shedding the mantel of childhood paraded around as sexual objects? The minimum age for a Victorias Secret model is 18. Eighteen years old is all that is required to model lingerie warn by the models mothers!
Miranda Kerr (another VS model — born in 1983) did her first major modelling gig at the age of 14. FOURTEEN! She was fully clothed for that, and the magazine was geared toward’s teenage girls. But even that illustrates the same issue. A magazine for teenage girls — teens are from the age of 13-19. So having 19 year old girls striving to look like 14 year old girls?
When did society decide the penultimate beauty was pre-pubescent, boy-shaped, air-brushed GIRLS?
This practice is NOT Shero approved. This practice should be stopped. Why? It does two very bad things:
- Causes women to strive for the unattainable.
- Causes men to desire something nearly ILLEGAL!
Come on everyone, wake up and smell the My Little Pony! These are girls, not women. They don’t have hips and in many cases have probably not even experienced love or maybe even their first kiss. So, why in the hell are we parading them around in bikinis or body paint?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude by any stretch of the imagination. I can fully admit that some of these models are very beautiful…bordering on smexy even. But there’s a difference between appreciating beauty and objectification. As well there’s a difference between looking at a picture of a nearly 30 year old Miranda Kerr and a 19 year old Kate Upton. I hope you can see the difference as well.
This whole debacle goes for the fashion industry as well. How fair is it for cosmetic companies to pimp anti-aging products by using 18 year old models? You know, girls that still have skin as smooth as marble and whos hormones have yet to wreak any sort of real havoc on their bodies! Seriously — we don’t need go down that path. There are so many beautiful models out there that are AGE APPROPRIATE. If you want to use an 18 year old or 19 year old girl for a shoot, make sure the shoot is for clothing that will be worn by 18 or 19 year old girls! Not 30 year old woman or hookers.
Again, I ask… is it just me? I don’t think so.
Shero says “Shoo!”
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