i find it interesting that parents will create such an uproar over something a child isn’t even able to look at/buy themselves, and yet these are the same parents who buy their teens/pre-teens those trashy magazines with Brittney Speears and Paris Hilton dressed like whores and telling the reporter all about their latest escapades from the previous weekend.
In my opinion, Playboy is a tastefull way to show off a woman’s body. Children see a LOT worse turning on the tv, reading magazines and going online nowadays.
I don’t think the point of the article on ESPN was to criticize Playboy or was the make a commentary on women posing for Playboy. The point is, when an athlete who is (or may be) a role model for young women poses naked, what is the message being sent.
I don’t know. I have never been a 12 year old girl nor have I had to face this with kids of my own, so, I don’t know.
As an adult, I have no problem with it. But, I guess I see the potential negative impact on young women/children.
aha! and that is why we don’t have tv, magazines (well, Inside Triathlon and the Economist), and why I don’t let my daughter use the computer. It also explains why I have a very difficult time finding clothes for her that are acutally age-apporpriate for a three-year old to wear. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she is 9 or 10…
this is a nation compulsively obsessed with nudity.
more parents ask themselves if their children should see images of other people nude (or even, god forbid, ‘having sex’) than ask themselves if their children should see images of people chopping off one another’s limbs with machete knives, or blowing up one another’s brains with hollow point bullets from k-mart.
there is something terribly amiss with the values of the majority of folks in this country, but it ain’t because of too much nudity …
As a coach who has worked with girls from age 9 through college at various times I can tell you that most 12 year olds are not as naive as most of you seem to think. Many of them know a lot more about sex then you did at that age.
Is it really that bad to teach girls to have pride in their bodies? Especially girls who play sports and have athletic bodies.
If you really want to go after a magazine or a model go after ones like Seventeen and the like as they are the ones doing the real damage.
Yes sorry, i got a little off topic there.
The message sent is that she has a great body she worked hard to get, is natural (as far as I know although I am sure airbrushed) and is actually something a woman can healthily aspire to try and get for themselves.
Heaven forbid someone should be able to flaunt something they worked extremely hard for.
i dont understand why so many people think that athletes have to be role models. if rothlisberger wants to ride without a helmet, thats his problem, if jordan wants to gamble, so be it, if this chick wants to be naked in a magazine, thats her choice. every person has their own value system and what they do for a living probably has little to do with it. if parents think being nude in a magazine is bad, teach your kids that, dont rely on athletes doing or not doing something to show your kids what is right. if you dont like the magazine, dont buy it or dont display it openly in your house.
Ok, I hear ya. But, just remember, this is Amanda Beard – the little girl who went to the podium to receive her olympic medal clutching a stuffed animal. Many people feel like they grew up with Amanda watching her bloom from that little girl to a woman. I think that many parents watching her with their own kids talking about how that could be them some day. I think I would be mortified to think about my little girl getting naked for a magazine.
Plus, I found the article on espn.com, not Playboy. So, keeping Playboy out of my house does not keep this story from kids.
So I think the concern here is that if kids see naked people in magazines, or hear about sex, they will turn into immoral sluts somehow as a result? Or they will lose self respect or something?
If my daughter grows up to be decent-looking, I will use this example, and many others, as an example of how much cash she can bank if she works hard on her athletic talents. I don’t care what the prudes think, if a gal’s looks give them that little edge to stand out, then lucky her.
Alan, please. Even if 12 year olds were capable of such nuance, there’s no nuance to be discerned her. “Look- tits!” isn’t really that subtle.
Your comment was, “they get the idea that the only thing people value in women- even women who’ve reached the very pinnacle of their field of endeavor- is sex.” You now seem to admit that a naked photo may simply be just that – a naked photo. There isn’t necessarily a message or idea to be taken. But even when looking at it as something more than just “tits,” children are capable of placing a Playboy spread into its proper context. And they’re able to also consider the numerous other examples and instances where women are valued for things other than sex.
That being said, is there anything inherently wrong with valuing women for sex?
As the mother of 2 girls (11 and 8), I have no problem with any woman who wants to pose nude. Playboy is not a magazine that my kids would ever get a chance to see, so it’s not really an issue in our household. If they ever did see it, I would welcome the conversation that would entail. I would tell my girls that she is an athlete who has worked very hard and she looks very good because of that hard work. I would also say that I think it’s sad that she feels that the right thing to do with that athletic body is to display it in a magazine. I would explain that people will do almost anything for money and exposure and that I would hope that they will decide for themselves what is and isn’t good for their lives without being swayed by money.
We’ve had some great conversations stemming from the Dove ads that have been around. I see this one no differently.
**It also explains why I have a very difficult time finding clothes for her that are acutally age-apporpriate for a three-year old to wear. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she is 9 or 10… **
It only gets worse. My girls are 8 and 11 and we have a really hard time finding clothes that don’t look like the latest Paris Hilton crap.
Dawn, It’s good to see a parent that can approach this situation rationally.
I am 25 and have no intentions of becoming a father any time soon but this is the type of mothering I received anf the type of fathering I hope to pass on to my children some day.
Children need to be taught to know what to expect from their decisions, taught to be personally responsible for their decisions and trusted to make the right decisions when the time comes.
“every 12 year old on earth has found an read some playboys.”
BS. I grew up with some very religious families who had kids that weren’t exposed to Playboy unntil high school.
"So I think the concern here is that if kids see naked people in magazines, or hear about sex, they will turn into immoral sluts somehow as a result? Or they will lose self respect or something?
Is there a good reason to believe that is true?"
No, it won’t always be true, by why risk it? I also don’t think the idea is them turning into a slut, but having a skewed idea of what sex is. Do you want YOUR 14 year old sleeping with a dozen dudes then trying to figure out who the father is a year later?
An example from my childhood: I had a cousin get pregnant at 16, we found out who the father was after the 7th paternity test. Her parents were never around for her, and when her dad was around he was just a bad influence. None of my other cousins or myself grew up the way she did, and none of us have children running around birthed out of mid-teens. This cousin was exposed to sex (her dad had partners over all the time with her there starting when my cousin was about 8 years old) at a young age. She had no appreciation for it.
Now, this is one example. Would my cousin have had the kid with good parents? Maybe. But why risk it? Introduce nudity to kids when they can understand it.
“than ask themselves if their children should see images of people chopping off one another’s limbs with machete knives, or blowing up one another’s brains with hollow point bullets from k-mart.”
But Al Jazeera shows this kind of stuff all the time, and they rarely have problems with violence in the middle east…
I think you’re close but still off. First your other comment of “Nakedness does not equal sex”, although true, is a bit off the mark. I agree with another poster that kids are very nuanced and quite able to tell the difference at an early age between “Sexual” and “non sexual”. That being said the difference between playboy and the greek art should also be pretty damn obvious.
The problem surrounds not “nakedness” but the societal aspect of sexualising it. Someone mentioned 17 and otehr magazines as “The problem”. Well I’d say that they are pretty on the mark with that comment as these magazines along with a plethora of shows simply reinforce the sexual attitude.
In the end you have a complete breakdown and eventual loss of ability to differentiate between “Nakedness” and “Sexuality”. So no “Nakedness” does not equal a breakdown of into immoral behavior. However socially acceptance of sexuality, particularly at very young ages, couple with sexually naked “Hero’s”, magazines with instructions, celebrity porn etc etc leads to a “Can do attitude” at a young age.
Is there a good reason to believe that is true?
Well yes and no. On some levels things have seemed to improve despite some of this sexual bombardment. teenage pregnancy seems to be down over the last 10-15 years. However I believe teenage sexual activity is up. Is that bad or good? I leave that for you to decide. Frankly I finds it pretty bad, especially for women. This has been shown to be true via some studies comparing early sexually active females to not active. Not 100% sure as it’s been a while since I’ve read the article, but most things, including poor body image, depression, low self worse were all higher amongst sexually active young women than non active.
