I would walk through fire for the women of DU, my wife, my daughter, my mother, every woman I know.

[hedgehog]

30. This topic reminds me of the occasional postings notifying some members

that a seemingly innocuous phrase or tradition can have very loaded meanings. I am thinking specifically of the phrase "tar baby". For me, growing up in white neighborhoods in the North, it was used to designate a problem you brought upon yourself. I had no idea that it was used in other places to denigrate African American children. We had a similar discussion last week in which Mr.Scorpio educated many of us as to why associating fried chicken with African Americans is such a charged practice. (I knew that that is a bad idea, I just never knew why.)

That said, I know that many, including myself ( an old white woman) saw the SI Swim suit edition as a silly but harmless set of pictures. Given some of the photos I've been exposed to in work places over the years, it is rather tame. What I have learned from all the recent discussions of the SI swimsuit issue is that I do not have to tolerate this or other such objectifications of women's bodies as business as usual.