The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is obsolete and disgusting and must die

SAmerican model Halima Aden makes history not to wear a bikini.

The Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, the inexplicably durable odds of American sexism, to celebrate Aden was the first model to wear a hijab and a burkini, a swimsuit covering the entire body.

It's great that a major American magazine is highlighting a Muslim American and her religion-inspired fashion. "I wanted people to see that you could always be really cute and modest at the same time," Aden told the Star Tribune when she entered the Miss Minnesota USA contest in 2016.

But the latest decision taken by the magazine for inclusion illustrates the point on which religious conservatives and feminists have been able to agree for years: the issue of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit must die.

Since its inception in 1964, the swimsuit edition has been devoted to something other than the empowerment of women or the promotion of diversity. But it was a cash cow that the magazine made a self-contained number from 1997. In 2011, this unique issue generated 7% of Sports Illustrated's annual sales. There are many examples of the goosebumps of the magazine over the years, from a 63-year-old model who has returned to Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and bringing his daughters with her to his your-deaf #MeToo shoot.

In 2016, the swimsuit edition wore the bombshell over sized Ashley Graham and since then has marketed the increasing "diversity" of its ever-hot, always airbrushed models. He also presented non-models and athletes, such as tennis champion Serena Williams and Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, capitalizing on the "strong is the new sexy" trend.

Because feminists have expressed their disdain for the sexism of the magazine in recent years – Even in 2002, the National Women's Organization stated that "the swimsuit issue promotes the nefarious and dehumanizing concept that women are a product for male consumption" – Sports Illustrated Swimsuit has decided to wake up better. Now, it can be both sexy and inclusive, right? Right? Well, nothing to sell these 1 million copies.

But the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is not interested in women, athletes, or religious models. He cares about staying relevant while enjoying the men who buy a magazine to drool in front of exciting women. These silly assertions of empowerment through the swimsuit issue can not change the fact that the pages of sexualized women meant for men are inherently sexist, insulting and rude. No amount of diversity can hide the real problem of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.