This month's cover of the magazine "Washingtonian" featured a picture of our new president shirtless. The photo is a candid shot taken of Obama while on vacation in Hawaii, so it is not as though it looks like something straight of the pages of Playgirl. A caption next to the photo said "Our new neighbor is hot".
This has made some folks uncomfortable. It is one of the first times where an American president has been looked at as a sex symbol, and not every feels we should regard our president in such a way. According to a poll on AOL News, 54% of respondents gave a "thumbs down" on the cover. Yet, another poll that asked "Would it catch your eye on newsstands?", 63% of respondents said yes, it would.
I personally don't have a problem with it, if that is the choice of the editors. Yes it's strange and almost silly, but you must remember that this is a magazine and not a newspaper. Magazines are meant to be silly and amusing, especially if the magazine's tone is as such. It's certainly a different way of looking at the president.
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I feel as though a lot of our president's have been viewed as sex symbols. I definitely think that it's weird...but Kennedy was a huge deal to many women, Reagan had the whole actor thing going for him, and even our past president had piercing blue eyes. Now, I don't picture people having posters of any of these men scattered around their bedrooms, but the general public tends to make anyone with a high enough status into a sex symbol. I think it's odd...
ReplyDeleteKennedy was the only other president I really thought of that was a presidential sex symbol. Reagan was pretty old when he became pres, so he probably wasn't so much. I think you are right that the public will turn anyone into a sex symbol. It's one of those weird things about people today.
ReplyDeleteHmm...yes, I was going to say the same thing about Kennedy!
ReplyDeleteMmm JFK.... well, as long as this sex symbol stuff doesn't create a haze that makes people lose focus of what's really important, I say, have fun with it. It's silly, but yeah, it's a magazine- it's all about the entertainment. If anything, at least they found a new angle.
ReplyDeleteThere are people who think Obama is a hunk, so why not poke fun at it? Like Regina said, it shouldn't be taken as far as to lose focus of his real job as president.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to start worrying when that status goes to his head and he starts holding press conferences with his shirt unbuttoned.
ReplyDeleteI have actually seen more about the first lady in the news lately, especially since she made Maxim's top 100. How are we to feel about that?
Also, in the fashionista department, I saw that she wore $540 sneakers to feed the poor at a food bank...hmmm...I thought we were in a recession...I sure hope our tax dollars didn't pay for those.
I don't think magazines are silly and amusing. Sure, some are, particularly tabloids and whatnot, but to generalize magazines this way is not right, in my opinion. Perhaps "featurey" or "creative" would've been a better description.
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