Monday, June 1, 2015

The Debut of Caitlyn Jenner

The July issue of Vanity Fair will feature Caitlyn Jenner, the new identity that Bruce Jenner has taken on now that she is living as her authentic self.

Let me start by saying that I am happy for her, to finally be able to live and dress on the outside the way she feels on the inside. It must be such a relief after all of these years, and that newfound freedom deserves to be celebrated.

Which is why I feel a little bad for what I'm about to say, but...I found myself very disappointed in the debut photo.

She looks beautiful, but the passive, hands-behind-the-back pose and lack of clothing was so stereotypical of every other hollywood starlet photo shoot. The helpless sex kitten, coy and coquettish, vulnerable and exposed.

Couldn't you find a way to show us your true self without having to expose and exploit your body?

Bruce Jenner was a determined, ambitious bad-ass--crowned the best athlete in the world in 1976. And although she looks very different from that person we remember from way back then, Caitlyn is most definitely still that person inside--I just wish she had shown more of that in the photo shoot. Maybe she just wanted to make a big splash with her debut, and bowed to the pressure to conform. I hope that, in the future, she will seize the opportunity to show the world that a woman can be pretty AND strong; that you can still look beautiful on a magazine cover without taking most of your clothes off.

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