OLYMPIAN GWEN TORRENCE, shown from the waist up, and wearing only a pair of hoop earrings, appears on the cover of the July Life magazine under the words "Naked Power." Her arms are strategically folded and pumped up to show off her sculptured upper body. Oh, my, she's beautiful and the photograph is a work of art.
But two things are missing from this picture.Hint: She's a sprinter. (Wouldn't it make more sense to show her legs?)
Inside the magazine we have more Olympic skin showing - 15 other male and female Olympians without a pair of trunks or Olympic uniform in sight, including synchronized swimmers Margot Thien and Nathalie Schneyder wearing only their smiles in an underwater pictorial called "Mermaids" that could be straight out of Playboy, except that it isn't full frontal nudity, just a side view showing two twenty-something women in excellent shape.
They certainly look a lot healthier than the spooky Calvin Klein skeletons modeling in the fashion magazines and more naturally "girl next door" than the sex symbols on "Baywatch," but since when does having your daughter in the Olympics mean you may see her in a nude pictorial in a national magazine?
Life magazine justifies its nude pictorial by stating that the first Olympians of ancient Greece competed in the nude. That historical footnote may be just an excuse for going over the line, turning away from what, in recent history, has been our greatest symbol of wholesome athleticism.
An estimated 3,800 women are expected to be among the 10,800 athletes competing in Atlanta. That's 1,100 more than participated in 1992. But the Olympics this time are on the edge of being exploited and commercialized around sex. Is this how we cover the story? With magazine photos that say: "Great looking dames head to Atlanta," even if the other text says something more subdued such as "Women muscle in."
If media coverage erodes the wholesomeness of the female Olympic ideal, turning Atlanta into the "Baywatch" Olympics, it couldn't come at a worse time for American adolescent girls, who could use more role models whose sex appeal is based on strength, not the body ideals of the vapid fashion model or voluptuous TV star.
Research shows that girls who play sports do better in academics and are less likely to drop out of school, take drugs or get pregnant in high school. The beauty that we look for in the Olympics is the beauty of achievement and determination. It may be sexy, but it's more than that. And its wholesome images are more appropriate on a box of Wheaties than in a magazine fold-out.