Look out. I'm already in a foul mood:
- I got to work to find that the "Center for Equal Opportunity", a conservative organization whose mission is to undermine equal opportunity and affirmative action, has targeted my alma mater for "evidence of significant discrimination based on
race and ethnicity in undergraduate admissions at Ohio State University and
Miami University. African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latinos were given
preferences over whites and, again to a lesser extent, Asians." I could go for HOURS how pissed off that makes me, but this is neither the time nor the place.
- Then I read that someone who I THOUGHT was dead, someone who I prayed for and mourned really isn't. I'm almost never at a loss for words; I am over this.
THEN I look up, and... oh, how wonderful. It's swimsuit time again. I cannot contain my enthusiasm. I am so excited to see how women are not valuable to the Sports Illustrated empire unless they are oversexualized objects wearing little more than dental floss.
Case in point #1: As I always do at this time of the year, I check the WNBA, Women's Hoops, and High School pages on SI for a comparison. I went a step further this year and checked the Sports under the "More" tab at the top of the SI Homepage. It's nice to know that the WNBA and Women's College Basketball are more important to SI than Cycling, Canadian Football, and off-season figure skating, track and field, horse racing, and Olympic coverage. It's infuriating to know they are held in the same regard as CRICKET, a sport that most of those of us on this side of the pond know almost nothing about, save their games can go on for DAYS. The Sportsman of the Year page is better done than women's sports. Hell, the high school page is better done than women's sports. This is nothing new, and you'd think I'd be over it by now, but I'm not. I don't ask for much. I'm not asking for a College Volleyball or Women's Hockey page. I'm just asking that, if you deem a sport as worthy of having its own page, give it the same treatment and dignity as the other pages.
Case in point #2: Not only do I have to see the "Model Search" ad, even as I type this blog, not only do I have to see the come hither looks as I scroll down the page, not only am I forced to cut off the top of the FN page (lest I be subjected to damn-near soft porn stalking video on loop), and not only do I have to naviagate away from the SI homepage (and thereby miss all the headlines) immediately if I don't want three string-bikini clad post-pubescent girl/barely woman figures in my face periodically, BUT ALSO when I'm on the SI pages, I have to be careful to keep my hand steady, because if my cursor accidentally strays onto the SoBe ad at the wrong time, I am sentenced to watch a body-painted chick I cannot get off my screen without refreshing the page. The only good thing to come from this is that it's caused the other video feed (which usually annoys the hell out of me) to freeze up and go black.
As I say every year, I am a realist. I know that I am an anomaly: women who passionately love football and follow a lot of sports are not the norm, so we are not the target audience for this website or for Sports Illustrated in general. But we are here. So are our sisters. And so are your children. What are you teaching your sons about how to treat and value women by marketing in this manner? What are you teaching your daughters about their worth, especially if they don't fit into this Barbie-beautiful mold to which the models belong?
Again, I don't ask for much. Just a link or a button to redirect those who WANT to see this schlock to a super-tricked out page, complete with videos, images, and surprise bonus material when the cursor slips. Give the rest of us auto insurance, car commercials, or self-aggrandizing pieces, like you usually do. I'll even stop complaining about the standard video feed. Well, maybe not...
Jessica Perez
Adaora
Rare Photos of Allen Iverson
Leading Off: Pictures of the Week
Comments (16) Add A Comment
here here
and well written
Becky37
Acton , MA
Total Comments (7678)
I completely support your perspective and understand the frustration you feel.
I'm a chauvinist creep, I know. I support the double standard in media by clicking.
I think it's wrong.
But I can't help it.
<sobs uncontrollably>
They're so pretty.
And I'm a dirty old man.
I'm sorry, B-i-G.
Grue
Total Comments (21383)
Hi B-i-G. I'm sure you understand the economics behind (no pun intended) featuring women in swimsuits to sell, well just about anything.
We guys will always be Neanderthals, so the best thing to do is to not let it intrude on your FN experience any more than necessary.
Install firefox for your browser and add the Adblock plus plugin.
No video loops of models, no banner ads, nothing. Just Fan Nation.
And us Neanderthals.
UB bulls
West Buffalo, CA
Total Comments (8642)
I had a choice between the Rant or half naked chicks.
BS&B:TrustInO-6
Total Comments (14550)
"Then I read that someone who I THOUGHT was dead, someone who I prayed for and mourned really isn't. I'm almost never at a loss for words; I am over this."
yea, what was that about. I heard that the other day. How horrible and tasteless.
Grue
Total Comments (21383)
Thanks. I use Chrome and I had to right-click the ad and select "Block This Ad". Worked like a charm.
Grue
Total Comments (21383)
Here you go, B-i-G. SI should've covered this.
Tin Man
Total Comments (17412)
Onetallflyer--
A) I do not go to Wal-Satan; I haven't since Sam died and his spawn sold their souls to make more profit at the expense of the American people and our economy.
B) The managers have no more say in the store stock than I do about how my tax dollars are spent. We can each TRY to change things, but it's really an act of futility, so to put my disdain on them is unfair.
C) I don't buy Cosmo or any of the others-- if I did, I'd complain to the publisher about the models and the airbrushing. If I belonged to a Cosmo blog, I'd complain about it there as well, but there is no point in my joining a Cosmo blog-- I've no interest in most of the subject matter they present. Here, I enjoy MOST of the subject matter, but once a year, it gets REALLY annoying. And as a patron of the site, I think it's OK for me to complain about it, especially when it's my blog that others don't HAVE to read on said site. On the other hand, I have no choice but to see this drek unless I avoid the site altogether because it's EVERYWHERE.
D) I work with college students on a daily basis-- I often talk to "my girls" about how unrealistic these things are and about maintaining a healthy body image, despite what is thrown in our faces everyday. Sometimes I'm heard, but often, I'm not...
E) I've already acknowledged that my ranting will have little to no impact. But again, it's my blog, I can say pretty much what I want. If you want, on your blog, you can exalt the virtues of seeing nearly naked women everywhere...
And for the record, I see absolutely nothing wrong with giving him a better experience if it improves my experience in the process... ;)
buck-i-girl
Total Comments (2306)
Cain, Grue, and UB-- is there a way to do blocks ONLY on this site? I'm not sure how it will affect other sites I need to visit if I turn off ads here.
And randomly turning ads on and off for various sites will be a bigger pain in the arse than having boobs in my face every time I log on here...
buck-i-girl
Total Comments (2306)
And UB-- I LIKE some of you Neanderthals... SOME of you...
;)
buck-i-girl
Total Comments (2306)
Sure. You can tell addblock to not remove any ads except for the ones you tell it to block. When you install it, don't pick a "filter subscription list" and just block sections of sites manually as you encounter annoying ads.
But the better way (from my experience) is to pick a subscription and let it do its thing on all sites and then tell it to turn itself off for specific sites. I found amazon wouldn't work right with the ad blocking on, for example.
BTW, the Adblock "subscription" is free. It only means that every few days you get an automatic update of rules that adblock uses to decide if something is an advertisement or not.
For example, while you are visiting this page, you are connecting to fannation.com, but you are also connecting to:
ads.cnn.com
adsonar.com
tynt.com
scorecardresearch.com
Adblock recognizes those other sites as advertising related (some are displaying actual advertising, while others are tracking your movement around the web) and prevents them from loading.
UB bulls
West Buffalo, CA
Total Comments (8642)
BIG, how about a glass of Silver Oak and Robert Smith!
Hippy Weed
Columbus , OH
Total Comments (5469)
Trying to placate me, eh Hippy?
Fine-- I'll take the former, but you can keep the latter. Now if you had said GREG Smith...
;)
buck-i-girl
Total Comments (2306)
Sigh... Why doesn't Sports Illustrated dedicate an issue of their magazine to intelligent men?
buck-i-girl
Total Comments (2306)
The whole swimsuit thing is an anachronism. These days putting women in swimsuits in order to sell magazines, when 50% of the internet is ****, is outdated to say the least.
SI ought to just give it up. Cheryl Tiegs in fishnet was a big deal in 1979. It isn't anymore and SI should go back to its focus on sports.
smart alec
Total Comments (1064)
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