Aga Shunned by Polish Catholic Church

[kskate2]

Aga posed in ESPN's body magazine and now a Polish church is firing back.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/tennis--agnieszka-radwanska-shunned-by-church-for-nude-photo-shoot-151212509.html

http://jfxgillis.newsvine.com/_news/2013/07/16/19505750-agnieszka-radwanska-shunned-by-church-for-nude-photo-shoot

 

[shawnbm]

This one particular polish youth group may be a bit too sensitive on the issue, as it appears to be a fairly tasteful photograph--not lurid or pornographic.

 

[kskate2]

Agreed. I've seen many of the body issues over the years and a few tennis players have posed. They've all been done tastefully.

 

[tented]

Aga posed in ESPN's body magazine and now a Polish church is firing back.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/tennis--agnieszka-radwanska-shunned-by-church-for-nude-photo-shoot-151212509.html

http://jfxgillis.newsvine.com/_news/2013/07/16/19505750-agnieszka-radwanska-shunned-by-church-for-nude-photo-shoot

That's an over-the-top reaction to a tasteful photograph, intended to promote health and fitness.

 

[Calvy]

Some Catholic organizations would be outraged this little event then the priest were sexual abusing children. Sometimes their attention are on the wrong things.

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

i've been meaning to post on this, so thanks for sharing

That's an over-the-top reaction to a tasteful photograph, intended to promote health and fitness.

absolutely agree with that and the other replies. i think it's specifically annoying because the body issue actually is about a positive, empowering body image. if anyone has seen Hope Solo's cover shoot -

that's not a sex object.

so basically, they're going down the old "the naked body is nothing but sin" road. it's really THEM who're reducing all nudity to sexuality.

 

[Chelsia16]

While I like Aggie as a tennis player, I can understand CYO's decision.
Women have to be strong, while having a good body image is important to women, this ESPN magazine "Body Issue" served no purpose in terms of tennis nor sports in general.
Aggie needs to concentrate on her game, not her "body" nor new "blonde" hair.
When playing tennis becomes a beauty contest (as some try to put Maria (4) on Serena's (16) level because of her "beauty"), the WTA suffers.
Notice that all this beauty nonsense and gossiping were not around when legends Navratilova and Graf played; it was about their game.

 

[Kieran]

Well said, Chelsia16 - I agree...

 

[britbox]

Got to confess, I liked the shot of Aga.

 

[Kieran]

Got to confess, I liked the shot of Aga.

Liked it meself, but she's not a girl I'd look at or read an article about unless she strips off. That's the point of the 'nude body issue', I suppose...

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

^ well, you might be right there. does that hurt, though? so she (and the sport) get a little extra attention. they're really going to some lengths in the shot to put in a few reminders of what her sport is, after all

anyway, while Radwanska's shot is more glam-and-glitzy than others in the issue, i don't understand why THIS would show the problem of beauty-centrism in the sport. that stuff has been with tennis for decades. and they all dress for it, on court, in fashion spreads, at events. in fact, Radwanska has always been one to go for that stuff - always playing with a ton of makeup, some jewelry and whatnot.

so to jump at her only now, just because she's not wearing clothes (while not revealing anything that is labeled 'offensive' nowadays)? i'm sorry, that's being hypocritical. i'm all for speaking out against the beauty contest aspects, but this isn't why they dropped her. it's because she was in the nude, and nudity is bad because it makes you think of sex and sex is bad because...


btw, Serena has been featured in the issue before as well. better picture though.

 

[Kieran]

^ well, you might be right there. does that hurt, though? so she (and the sport) get a little extra attention. they're really going to some lengths in the shot to put in a few reminders of what her sport is, after all

anyway, while Radwanska's shot is more glam-and-glitzy than others in the issue, i don't understand why THIS would show the problem of beauty-centrism in the sport. that stuff has been with tennis for decades. and they all dress for it, on court, in fashion spreads, at events. in fact, Radwanska has always been one to go for that stuff - always playing with a ton of makeup, some jewelry and whatnot.

so to jump at her only now, just because she's not wearing clothes (while not revealing anything that is labeled 'offensive' nowadays)? i'm sorry, that's being hypocritical. i'm all for speaking out against the beauty contest aspects, but this isn't why they dropped her. it's because she was in the nude, and nudity is bad because it makes you think of sex and sex is bad because...


btw, Serena has been featured in the issue before as well. better picture though.

I don't know where the hypocrisy is, unless the Catholics who took issue have previously held a different position. It's a bit like the Buddhist of Monte Carlo, who pumps his proud Serb chest and kisses the crucifix and loudly and proudly lets us all know what he's supposed to be about. Aspiration, most likely.

I wouldn't personally hang Aga too much for this - but I think it's just another way magazines use sex to sell copy. I know, people will say it's a prim and proper photo - and it is - but it's a nude issue for a reason: it gets people pausing to have a gawk. And whatever people think about the Catholic Church, in this case they're actually being consistent...

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

the hypocrisy to me would be if they were to argue (don't speak polish, so i don't know what exactly the argument was) that they oppose these photos because they don't appreciate a female player laying so much emphasis on her looks and female sexuality (the beauty contest that Chelsia critizised). if that were the case, they should've dropped (or never endorsed) Aga years ago. it's far from her first 'sexy' photoshoot, and her on court styling isn't exactly all business either. so my problem is that i see no change in Radwanska's behavior, there's not really anything she did different, but for a few inches of garment (and last time i checked, unlike other religions, catholicism has no strict clothing requirements, but moral ones). if they got a problem with a tennis player showing her sexy side, again, then Agnieszka was a horrible choice from day one.

i just think it's too bad because unlike another big american sports magazine (with an issue for bathing wear), the Body Issue to me always was refreshing in that the gawkers were not just served sexy pics, but confronted with real athlete bodies. male and female, in all their glory, and not reduced to sexuality. or the questionnaires - they're focusing on body health, body image. they're not talking about how she likes to giggle about boys with her gals. even in Aga's interview.. asked what part of her body she doesn't like, it's not "oh, i'd like a smaller/bigger anything" - she's talking about her serving shoulder.
and again, look at the cover photo. do you seriously think the average Playboy/SI swimsuit issue reader would see this and go "yummy, more inspirational material"? i kinda doubt it.

 

[britbox]

I'm a bit confused by that post JS - are you telling me the Polish Catholic Church sponsored Aga at some point?

 

[Kieran]

I doubt it too, but let's face it, they don't need a nude issue to show off an athlete's pecs, you know? I'm not against it! But I'm saying, call it what it is. Sex sells and when you strip a famous athlete, then people will want to see it. The Catholics in Poland are right to see this as being incompatible with her faith.

Nudity isn't bad, of course, but using it to sell magazines etc? I see their point.

However, it's no biggie, as they say, somewhere...

 

[britbox]

Do you think she'd have got away with it, with a few tactfully placed fig leaves like in biblical illustrations?

 

[Kieran]

Do you think she'd have got away with it, with a few tactfully placed fig leaves like in biblical illustrations?

A demure smile woulda helped! :snigger

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

I'm a bit confused by that post JS - are you telling me the Polish Catholic Church sponsored Aga at some point?

that would've been awesome... haha, no, what i meant by "endorsed" was whatever affiliation had been going on between her and the group.



as for "do they need a nude issue"? nah, they don't. but i think it's a good step, and i think that, for the biggest part, it's not a sex thing. i guess some are just more comfortable doing playboy-like spreads (Zvonareva... that looked rather shady, and not in a good way either *shudder*). but for the most part, i thought the nudity focused (and accompanying texts) focus much more on strength, muscles, the demands of athleticism, than on sexual attraction. maybe that's just me though. (and i'll gladly admit when i find something sexy... just that if i check out body issue pics, some 80+% aren't sexy to me (not counting the guys ), but simply interesting, impressive, or generally beautiful.

or frightening. some are frightening for sure.) but again, even if they're sexy, they're hardly different than tons of other pics of the same guys and (mostly) gals (and i'll always prefer some "strong is sexy" "fit is sexy" pics over myriads of (semi)anorectic fourteen year olds in fashion mags).

anyway, i think i might be rambling a bit. sorry

 

[shawnbm]

Wow! This has gotten a lot more mileage than I thought it would. I will finally say that there may well be cultural differences from North America, Great Britain and say, for examply, Spain or Italy. Poland is a more isolationist and introverted nation; they are not showy and self-aggrandizing people. They are demure and introspective, with a lot of pain in their history. So, this is a bit of conjecture, but this may violate Polish cultural sensitivities, particularly within devout Catholic circles, and that is okay. LORD knows not everyone should be judged by the standards and tastes of some of our countries. It is refreshing to see some folks stand on different ground.

 

[DarthFed]

Wow! This has gotten a lot more mileage than I thought it would. I will finally say that there may well be cultural differences from North America, Great Britain and say, for examply, Spain or Italy. Poland is a more isolationist and introverted nation; they are not showy and self-aggrandizing people. They are demure and introspective, with a lot of pain in their history. So, this is a bit of conjecture, but this may violate Polish cultural sensitivities, particularly within devout Catholic circles, and that is okay. LORD knows not everyone should be judged by the standards and tastes of some of our countries. It is refreshing to see some folks stand on different ground.

Great points here. I don't know enough about the differences in religion from country to country (Polish Catholic Church vs. other Catholic Churches) but to me it seems like a tastefully done picture. As far as I know it is not a sin to just be naked in any religion. Therefore I do wonder if this is mostly a cultural thing in this instance.