The return of Rick Reilly at SI

He made a dumb joke. And yeah, I found it tasteless. But making Kate Upton into a feminist cause ignores the elephant in the room (no SJ-style double meaning intended), doesn't it? She has made her name and living cashing in on her appearance. Reilly is a jackass, and it was a terrible attempt at a joke, but Kate Upton's breasts probably crossed over from "private parts" to just parts years ago when she was photographed for SI wearing only body paint.

I'll answer your question with a question. If I am not cool with Rick Reilly commenting about her breasts, should I still be cool with all of the modeling Kate Upton has done in which her breasts were the asset she was selling?

To be clear, I am not cool with men harassing women or being sexist toward women. But it is largely a matter of context, isn't it? This wasn't a female office worker having to deal with unwanted, shitty remarks from male colleagues or running into a glass ceiling because of an old boys club. Or a female reporter having to deal with meathead athletes acting sexist. It's a woman who made her name based on her appearance. ... being subject to a stupid comment about her appearance. You said you call it "objectification in the feminism biz." OK. But what did you call it in the feminism biz when Kate Upton chose to appear in an ad wearing a leopard-print g-string and tiny bra? I am not equating the two. But I am saying that Rick Reilly's stupidity didn't come out of left field. The only reason any of us know who Kate Upton is, is because she rode her appearance to fame.

 

Asking for what? She's not a rape victim.

I didn't think my post was ambiguous. I thought your post was trying to make Kate Upton a cause celebre for women who get objectified by men, and I pointed out what seemed obvious to me. This was not Jane Winebox having to put up with unwanted suggestive comments from the next cubicle all day long. Kate Upton is a very public woman who has become famous capitalizing on her appearance. Her appearance is precisely the reason for her modeling fame. Reilly's tweet was superfluous and dumb. But it's not like a comment about Kate Upton's breasts comes out of left field. She has appeared in SI with only body paint and poses wearing lingerie that accent those breasts. Of course she is a woman who gets objectified. It's what has made her famous. Rick Reilly making a lame crack about her breasts is a far cry from 99.9 percent of women who complain about being objectified or sexually harassed.

 

I was responding to your first post when you followed up with that gem.

That is such a bullshit post. You know what Rags would ACTUALLY say? When you didn't respond to me, but instead put your words in my mouth and tried to present me as a stupid caricature or cartoon, you created a straw man. Straw men are just plain lame. Unfortunately, they make the internet go round.