Bare Naked Sacrifice

Aly Raisman, 6-time Olympic medalist for Sports Illustrated magazine 2017. 

Aly Raisman on topless photo shoot: 'Women do not have to be modest in order to be respected'

by TAYLOR MAPLE
April 13, 2017

Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman said she gives no heed to critics of her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit photo shoot -- it's something she expected.

"I knew people were going to say that I wasn't a good role model and all of this stuff," Raisman, who posed topless in the magazine, told Motto. "I did the issue because I love my body. I can express myself in any way that I want. But that doesn't give anyone the right to judge me. I think being a role model is about being a kind person."

"It really made me realize women do not have to be modest in order to be respected," Raisman added.

Raisman is often outspoken about body image and the need for young women to have confidence. She's recently partnered with Playtex Sport to encourage women to continue participating in sports while on their periods. Raisman spoke about the need to support girls when they are going through puberty.

"Girls feel really insecure and awkward at that stage -- your body starts to change," she said. "Instead of feeling uncomfortable and not talking about it, I think it's important to have this conversation."

Raisman also tackles the issue of sexual assault and the need for girls to speak up when someone's behavior makes them uncomfortable.

"It's very hard for young women to speak up," she said. "I think young girls need to understand that if something doesn't feel right or they feel uncomfortable, then it's probably wrong. And it's OK to speak up."

Lena Filanea in white light

COMMENTARY 


There is an irritating unreasonableness on the border between arrogance and assumptions of privilege American women, white American women, in particular, flaunt. Their contradictions mislead with aplomb. Here, they have an urgent need to feel and be free, on the other hand the culture we live in is violent towards women, and any social advancement made was hard won because the fundamentals of European thought viewed women as chattel. For hundreds of years, white women have endured these conditions of spiritual squalor, and in the infancy of freeing themselves from it, somehow believe nudity, or near nudity is an expression of freedom!

We, all enjoy it, but on deeper reflection, and in particular raising daughters and sons, the heaviness of the contradictions prey on common sense; and unless there are deep connections to the spiritual teachings that discipline the spirit, and mature the emotions women increasingly fall prey to the lusts of uncontrollable energies men cannot intelligently control. What I am saying is the obvious, but the innate pride of American women emboldens them dreaming of a righted wrong that is barely controlled by law!

Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman flaunts each contradiction, I suspect, because she doesn't know any of the things I recalled. Talking directly into a generation of disturbingly unsophisticated young people, in comparison with past generations, she said, "... women do not have to be modest in order to be respected."

As if she caught herself she adds rather stupidly: "It's very hard for young women to speak up. I think young girls need to understand that if something doesn't feel right or they feel uncomfortable, then it's probably wrong. And it's OK to speak up."

Her immaturity and non-grasp of the depths of sacred womanhood, or being a conscious and intelligent woman in a violent culture aimed at taking from the female species as much sex and power as possible; she sounds foolish. Sadly, millions take her advise and step into an unknown: the provinces of the sex trade in all of its variables, and forms.

In various ways we are all complicit.


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
April 14, 2017

lying down Daniela Cavalieri