Does Swimsuit Issue Send A Mixed Message?.....

Let's see....What should I write about today?

How about another school shooting?
Nah. Just wrote about that a couple of weeks ago. Only the names change.

How about the fact that the President is more worried about defending himself from attack, than defending our nation from attack?
Nah. It's a strange world when you know you're smarter than the President of the United States.

How about hot young ladies?
Yeah, let's go with that.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue arrived in my mailbox this week. I consider it the first sign of Spring. Spring is still a number of weeks away, but when this magazine comes, you know it's on the way.

Ronda Rousey in body paint.

For 55 years now, Sports Illustrated has been sending beautiful young models to a beach for a photo shoot. They always try to break ground finding new ways to feature the women in bikinis. Even body painting. Over the years, some of the models have skyrocketed to fame from an appearance of this issue. Who can forget my favorite, Christie Brinkley in that white bikini. BTW, she's now my age and still looks fantastic.

This years issue celebrates diversity, in a way. There is a black model on the cover for the first time. There is a beautiful young lady with a prosthetic leg. They also include "full figured" models. They even include a section with nude models with empowering words like "brave" painted on them.

Kate Upton

So, what's the problem? On the surface nothing. I enjoy looking at the magazine. Every page. These young ladies are beautiful. I haven't seen anyone that looks like them at my local Edgewater Beach.

Models model. It's what they do. They've earned that right by doing workouts instead of sitting back with a bad of Cheetos. The magazine presents them in the most attractive way. It's not pornography at all.

But this year, something is nagging at me. The recent headlines are all about men, especially men with important positions, taking sexual advantage of young ladies. The #MeToo movement has gone way beyond critical mass. One young woman after another has told stories of sexual imposition, and worse, by men in power. Another magazine, Time, named this movement the "person" of the year for 2017. Men guilty of this have been immediately banished.

So not all men are good guys. Some have little self control. Sexual assault on women is nothing new. Much of it is not reported.

I guess what I am saying is that for some men, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is like having a Gun Show for school shooters.