Another Blow to the LPGA

I was reading an interview with the interim commissioner of the LPGA this morning and I was surprised by one of the questions.  The interviewer asked for a comment on the posing nude of three LPGA ladies in an upcoming ESPN The Magazine issue.  This news apparently came out a couple of weeks ago but somehow I missed it.

The commissioner gave a typical answer to the question.  But I was appalled by the notion that some ladies on tour would even consider doing this photo shoot.  The LPGA has been working so hard to attract fans for the golf that these ladies play, that promoting sex is only going to be a set back.  It is hard for men not to have some lustful thoughts about some of these women.  Let’s face it, there are some absolutely gorgeous women that are now playing on the LPGA.  But the true fan will look past that fact and see the golf.  These ladies play terrific golf.  They are competitive and creative.  It is very entertaining.  The tour does not need to sell the sex to attract fans.

I was extremely disappointed when I found out who the three ladies were.  It didn’t surprise me that Cristina Kim was one of the three.  But I was a fan of Sandra Gal.  Now I need to rethink that.  I don’t want to root for someone who has so little respect for themselves and their sport.  I am not familiar with the third lady but there is nolonger a chance that I will root for her.  The ladies on the tour have been terrific role models for young women.  Their sportsmanship and their respect for their opponents while still giving their all to win is something that all kids need to be exposed to.  But now, I certainly don’t want my daughter to think that it is alright to disrobe for money.  In some ways that is a form of prostitution.  This ladies were paid to promote sex.

Fortunately, they did not pose in a magazine like Playboy.  I don’t care how tastefully done the shoot is, it is still pornography and is wrong.  Wake up people and walk away from the god called sex.  Life is so much more than sex and can be enjoyed apart from sex. 

Personally, I wish the tour would punish this behavior somehow.  They won’t because it was done for a sports magazine and not a pornographic one.  This action hurts the tour and these women should have to pay for the damage that they are causing.