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ESPN's Body Issue

Fun stuff, Rachel. I subscribe to the ESPN magazine (which is consistently excellent journalism) and I have to say, I don't think the issue is so much about titilation as it is about seeing the body much as classical sculptors did, which you allude to. I don't think we need to assume the pictures must be viewed sexually. I enjoyed seeing the various athletes and their body types as did my wife, but there's actually very little that is tantalizing. The photo essay, moreover, may have even more pictures of nude male athletes than of females.

Also, the entire issue is devoted to the body, not just in the "Bodies We Want" photo essay, but in all its other articles. There's one on physical rehabilitation after a shooting leaves an ex-NBA player paralyzed from the waist down. There's another on the injuries sustained by a racecar driver. And yet another on how improved safety gear makes players more reckless with their bodies. 

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