Dear Models on the Cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

Hey ladies,

You don't know me and I don't know you. However, you have impacted my life. And I want to let you know.

I'm 24. I live in South Carolina. I have a son who's 7 and a husband who is 28. We are an average family I guess.

I don't know much about you.

I know you're beautiful, on the cover of a magazine, you're pretty tan, you seem happy in the picture, I'm sure you're having a great time...oh! And I also know what your butt cheeks look like. They're pretty, I guess. Very, um fat free? But yes. I know what your rump looks like. All three of you.

Which is strange because I don't know you. Or anything about you. I don't know what your favorite foods are. What you like to do with your free time. Your hopes and dreams. Your cares and fears. Nothing.

But I do know what your butt cheeks look like. And so do millions if not billions of other men and women around the world.

Some of them married. One of them my son. We were privileged enough to see all three of your butt cheeks and naked backs as we went into the gas station to get some pretzels yesterday. We needed some snacks to watch Frozen.

And you know..I'm not okay with that.

Hence this letter.

You see, I'm one of those weirdo people who believes that a woman's and also a man's body is sacred. I think that private parts should indeed be private. I'm just old fashioned that way. My husband and I reserve our sexuality for each other and each other alone. We are raising our son to value women for what is on the inside, and not to indulge his eyes with sexual images of a pornographic sort. I guess we are just weird like that too.

You see, there is a bigger picture here. It's not just about you and your tanned toned butt cheeks. It's not just about Sports Illustrated taking one of their yearly covers to indulge in the "beauty" of the female body. It's not just about having "fun" and "living" while you're young.

Something much deeper happens when you pose with your butt cheeks exposed.

And you have to know that. You're adults.

You do know, don't you?

I'm sorry girls. I have an issue with you. Here's why.

#1. I think pornography is wrong. I think sex is made to strengthen the bonds between a man and a woman and for procreation. I don't think sex is made for the pleasure of all people at all times. I think it is VERY time specific. I think we live in a culture that is hurting and seeking to ease the pain with any "healing" balm it can find.

Namely, the fleeting pleasure that comes from seeing a rush of nude or partly nude tantalizing flesh. Yeah, that might give you a rush of happiness, but it also creates a seething void inside of you. It's sort of like a black hole really. Did you know that men, like my husband, and husbands all over the world have to fight against urges to indulge their eyes, while staying connected at the heart to their wives? Did you know that men EVERYWHERE struggle with purity? To keep their hearts pure? Do you care? You pose and you smile while you contribute to the decay of marriages everywhere.

Yes there is responsibility involved. Yes each man is accountable for his own actions. But by you lowering men's standards, you are creating a world for our daughters that is going to suck. Each time a man sees YOU, he forgets what a real woman looks like and craves the "you" that doesn't really exist. The perfect, toned, always happy, photo shopped woman that doesn't sleep next to him. That would be me, the one who has had a hard day, and looks like crap, and wants my husband to value me for what is on the inside. Wants him to have a definition of beauty that doesn't include the words tanned and toned. That includes the words kind, gentle, loving, strong. 

#2. I think by exposing our butt cheeks to the world, we devalue a woman's true beauty. A man used to have to work to get that sort of satisfaction. Now we are creating a culture of men who think they just deserve butt cheeks up front! Like they are special! "Hey girl, the gorgeous models give me their butt cheeks, and I don't even know them!" What message are we sending to women everywhere? To men everywhere?

We women kill chivalry. We kill romance. And then we cry when our men don't care about our inner beauty or care to pursue our hearts. Which, if we are honest, is what we really desire. We are all a little pink princess inside, dying to be loved and rescued by prince charming, no matter how bitter we are, or how far we have repressed that desire.

I know men are naturally captivated by a woman's outer beauty. But could we keep some of it sacred? Could we withhold the goods until the man is deserving? Supply and demand here. I've said before, if all women everywhere would just stop putting out to random men, men would have to marry their partners and wouldn't be able to live promiscuous lifestyles. Women, we have the power.

#3. Why does any of this matter? Am I just a prude, complaining, fat, loaf?

 Possibly.

But maybe, I'm just a mother. Who doesn't want her son exposed to pornography when we go for gas, or to Wal-Mart, or when we watch a Hardees commercial.

We, America, used to have standards. Where have they gone? There should be censorship to the point where I don't fear nudity or near nudity in the shopping center. A magazine that pushes sexuality of any kind (even Cosmo) should be hidden out of the sight of seven year old boys. This world is crazy enough that my child and children everywhere shouldn't have sex pushed in their faces so much. Then we complain when there are so many teen parents, so many families on welfare, so many fatherless sons, and so much crime as a result.

Ladies, I'm sure you got into modeling with the best intentions. You ARE beautiful, and the world can benefit from beauty. But, I want to encourage you to show off your true beauty, and stop contributing either knowingly or unknowingly to this problem in our current popular culture. Think of the little seven year old girls who CAN SEE YOUR BUTT CHEEKS as they walk through a Kangaroo! What ideas will they get about growing up? What will you inspire in them?

All I ask is that before you model,

you think!

Sincerely,

Jessie