Fucking VR.
I had the most “action” from '85 -'90 in my entire life, was getting fucked daily, not so much the case, for the last 20 years.
I think if you told someone in 1985 who was used to the SI Swimsuit Issue containing the likes of Elle Macpherson, Kathy Ireland, Christie Brinkley and other women widely regarded as the most beautiful in the world that the magazine now features mostly old ladies, transvestites, has-been actors, female athletes, and fat chicks, they would assume society has lost it’s mind.
Sure. But how strenuously would you argue they were wrong?
Moderating:
I believe the magazine has featured trans women, not transvestites. The word “transvestite” describes a man dressing as a woman, and has mostly been replaced with words like “cross dresser” or “drag queen”, depending on why he does it. It’s rude (and a violation of the board’s policy) to refer to trans women as transvestites, as that is misgendering them.
It’s also being a bit of a jerk to women to dismiss fat women who were selected for being beautiful fat women as “fat chicks”. This would not have garnered a mod note on its own, but it is the kind of language that makes this forum less friendly to women than we are trying to make it.
Understood. It was meant to be hyperbole reflecting how someone from 1985 with less then enlightened sensibilities might react to finding out that in the not to distant future, all SI cover models do not all look like Paulina Porizkova.
But I’ll tell you this though. Explaining to someone in 1985 the concept of “plus size models” would make me sound like a crazy person.
Me: So in the future we have “plus size models”.
1985 Guy: What like 6’ 3" model / volleyball star / TV personality Gabby Reece? 1995 Guy was here earlier and told me about her. She sounds hot!
Me: She is, but no. Like they’re regular height models…but heavier.
1985 Guy: What…like FAT?!
Me: Well we don’t use that term…but yes.
1985 Guy: Why don’t they work out or diet?! Aren’t models supposed to be beautiful and sexy!?
Me: They are beautiful and sexy. It’s just that we recognize being beautiful and sexy doesn’t mean having to have a traditionally “perfect” body.
1985 Guy: Isn’t that the whole point of being a model - having a perfect face and body?
Me: Not anymore.
1985 Guy: Wow. You sound like a crazy person to me, but I guess you guys in the future really are enlightened. Hey do you guys also have models with perfect bodies but really ugly faces?
I am thrilled with Martha Stewart. Senior women are sexy and not “put on the shelf” anymore.
Sorry if thats a hijack.
Rubenesque women were beloved by great artists for centuries, so it isn’t the biggest stretch. I think Stewart would be more surprising, but it also represents progress.
BBW Magazine was founded in 1979. Ford Models founded their plus-sized division in 1978. Plus sized models weren’t some 2020s innovation, SI has just been a dinosaur desperately seeking relevance in the age of dying print magazines.
Lots of people are totally unaware that standards of beauty change over time, and would, in fact, be shocked to see the changes in the swimsuit edition.
I agree that highlighting attractive older women is more surprising than highlighting voluptuous young women. And also that
You don’t need to buy a print magazine to look at attractive women these days. They need to give people some reason to consider it.
Of course most eighty year olds look as natural as Stewart does. One also notes that the timing of this courageous decision matches the cadence of the Boomer generation, who in their youth were generally quite respectful of their elders, and who as a generation have been consistently selfless and whatever the opposite of self-absorbed is. (Mmmkay)…
Still, it is progress, of a sort. It is not my place or desire to debate “The Beauty Myth”, nor do I have much desire to tell others what to do or how to be - and especially in this thread. But could it be said there is now less escape from these confines, if instead of challenging stereotypes there are now unrealistic aesthetic expectations even of elderly people? Asking for a friend. [/very mild sarcasm]
1985 Guy: What a minute…you guys in the future have this Internet thing that gives you access to all the porn in the universe? And you STILL wait around until February for Sports Illustrated to publish a few bikini pics? THAT sounds crazy to me!
2023 person (<–note the gender-neutral term): No, no, no. That’s not why we wait around for it. A certain segment of our society waits for the issue to decide on what and how to complain about it.
Instead of the 52 weekly issues you used to get, the swimsuit edition is one of 6 magazines you get all year for your subscription. You don’t even get a football phone.
I for one looked forward to reaching an age when I could “let myself go” since my youth, and just because a bunch of women who started out beautiful are now sporting tastefully understated plastic surgery that lets them continue to be desirable doesn’t mean I’m giving up the dream. I haven’t shaved my legs in months - maybe I’ll quit plucking my chin hairs, too!
If you mean Rachel Levine, she is a trans woman, not a man. Trans women existed openly in 1985 and well before then, and were called transsexual women in those days, and then as now the only persons who called them men did it with hostile and destructive intent.
Moderating:
To refer to Admiral Rachel Levine as a “trans man” is misgendering. We don’t allow that on the board. I suggest you acquaint yourself with the current rules regarding misgendering trans persons.
Don’t do it again, because next time it will be a deliberate slur and you’ll receive a warning.
Judging by all the shaved heads, goatees, tattoos and facial piercings, a person from 1985 would be forgiven if they concluded that most people in the 21st Century are carnies and bikers.
1985 might have been just a few years too late for this, because local attitudes on transit projects were already beg8nning to shift, but…
“I’m positive that’s an L.A. subway station, but they"ve blurred out the station name in post production because the story’s set somewhere else.”