Leyna Bloom, Naomi Osaka, Megan Thee Stallion Cover 2021 SI Swimsuit Issue

Is the Sports Illustrated Swimwear issue the new barometer on American women’s sexuality?

On the same day that the legendary magazine Sports Illustrated introduced three cover stars for the 2021 edition, Victoria’s Secret CEO Martin Waters reintroduced the one-beloved lingerie brand to investors and analysts ahead of the retailer’s August 3 spin off. Within weeks, Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works will be separate companies..

Three Self-Identifying Black Women Launch Sports Illustrated 2021 Swimsuit Issue

The Sports Illustrated Swimwear cover release was a time for celebration, with trans model Leyna Bloom spotted in first place on photographer Yu Tsai’s IG. Bloom publicized her inclusion in the magazine in March, but Monday’s cover news was a fresh delight.

Tennis champion Naomi Osaka also has a SI swimsuit cover, days ahead of the kickoff of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Today’s third Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover goes to hip hop star Megan Thee Stallion.

We note that all three women identify as Black women, and this reality also must be a first ever, even though few are talking about it. Too much to celebrate, I guess.

Leyna Bloom, First Trans Woman SI Cover

As the first trans person to land on the front page of SI’s annual special issue, Leyna Bloom is breaking new ground.

"I have dreamt a million beautiful dreams, but for girls like me, most dreams are just fanciful hopes in a world that often erases and omits our history and even existence," Bloom wrote of the honor in a lengthy statement on Instagram. "This moment is so powerful because it allows me to live forever even after my physical form is gone. Not a lot of people get to live in the future, so at this moment, I'm proudly choosing to live forever."

Bloom is clearly adept at speaking to concepts of ‘being’ and stages of existence. In another new interview, she says:

“We all know that the world [right now] is in this compassionate space of transformation. Any woman of color being on the cover of this magazine means that the world is evolving, and I’m part of that evolution process,” Bloom told the world via phone. “This moment represents that we’re going into the future, and this is what the future looks like.”

The High Climb of a Future “Compassionate Space of Transformation”

AOC truly hopes so, Leyna. But it was only two years ago on August 6, 2019 that we wrote a headline Valentina Sampaio Shoots Pink Campaign for Victoria;s Secret as Ed Rayzek Steps Down from L Brands. As Victoria’s Secret’s Chief Creative Officer, Razek — who I knew well in a professional sense — was asked by Vogue Magazine if the brand would ever use a transsexual model in the fashion show.

In a jaw-dropping response that stunned any marketing person with a critical thinking capacity, Ed Razek replied that “transsexual” models should not be cast “because the show is fantasy.”

Yours truly could really pick up that ball and run with it — then and now — but we’ll let Razek’s words stand on their own.

In a bit of poetic justice, trans model Valentina Sampaio was named last year’s SI Swimsuit Rookie, in addition to working for Victoria’s Secret. And she’s had considerable editorial exposure in our COVID-laced world.

As Naomi Osaka prepares to play tennis for the Japanese team at the Olympics, she has now spoken of the not so compassionate world she has faced as a mixed-race Haitian Japanese woman identifying as Black. I noted in these pages that Osaka’s depression had to encompass the pride — but also the potential suffering — she would experience not representing the US at the Olympics.

Some Osaka Fans ’Revoked’ Her ‘Black’ Card

The tennis star Naomi Osaka speaks to the backlash she received over her decision to represent Japan in the upcoming 2021 Tokyo Olympics. In her new Netflix docuseries, Osaka said some critics told her that her “Black card” was revoked.

Such a pill would be difficult for any athlete to endure, but especially because Naomi became very active in the racial justice movement after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The change in Naomi’s sobriety was noticeable to us, as she became increasingly active.

Naomi was born in Chūō-ku, Japan in 1997 to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father before moving to the United States at age three.

We knew that Naomi had been representing Japan several years ago. But in our not as compassionate a world as Leyna Bloom imagines, angry fans seeking any excuse to criticize Osaka “revoked her ‘Black card’”.

And we wonder why there is no peace in the Middle East.

“I’ve been playing under the Japan flag since I was 14. It was never even a secret that I’m going to play for Japan for the Olympics,” she said.

To which we can only give Naomi a big hug and say “That’s much too logical a way of approaching the racism, Naomi. “

Fans need to get a grip that Naomi Osaka was raised to embrace her Japanese heritage as strongly as her Black heritage. Honor is extremely important in Japanese culture, and AOC truly understands why Osaka is playing for the Japanese team. Do we wish she was on team USA? Yes, Do we support and applaud her following her own deep principles? Yes.

Megan Thee Stallion First Rapper on SI Cover

Megan Thee Stallion is only the second musician to be on the cover, and she's the first rapper. Beyoncé covered the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2007.

According to Nielsen Music, "WAP" accrued a record-breaking 93 million streams in the US the week after its release in August 2020.

Before debuting her single "Body" at the American Music Awards in November last year, the rapper preached a motivating message of self-love, and she’s not flying solo in the community of Black women.

"I love my body. Every curve, every inch, every mark, every dimple is a decoration on my temple. My body is mine. And nobody owns it but me," she said in a prerecorded message that played as she took the stage. "And who I chose to let in is so lucky. You may not think my body is perfect, and it probably never will be, but when I look in the mirror? I love what I see."

Megan Thee Stallion has a very powerful message for all women about body positivity.

Tyra Banks became the first Black woman to appear on the SI cover in 1996 when she shared the shot with model Valeria Mazza. The next year, Banks appeared again but solo on the cover. In 2019, she covered the magazine for a third time. "I remember thinking, 'Wow, this girl looks like me!'" Megan recollected for press with her own cover announcement. "Here is this stunning Black woman owning her curves and it made a big impact. It made me think, maybe I can be on the cover of SI Swim one day. And guess what—I am.”

MJ Day Reframed Female Sexuality for SI Way Ahead of VS’s Ed Razek and Les Wexner Agreeing They Had a Big Problem

I would like to think that Victoria’s Secret CEO Martin Waters sat down with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue editor MJ Day, before embarking on this new and improved — we dumped the Angels — revamp. I fear VS may swing too far in the opposite direction, when MJ can set them straight on American women and sexuality. Day was appointed senior editor in 2012 and has worked on every Swimsuit issue since 1999.

The members of the VS Collective are first-rate. They are total star power: Adut Akech; refugee model, real supermodel and new Estee Lauder ambassador; Amanda de Cadenet; English photographer, author, and media personality; Eileen Gu, a 17-year-old Chinese American freestyle skier and soon-to-be Olympian; Megan Rapinoe, the 35-year-old pink-haired soccer star and gender equity campaigner; Paloma Elsesser, the biracial rising star model who was the rare size 14 woman on the cover of Vogue; Priyanka Chopra Jonas, a 38-year-old Indian actor, tech investor and new Manhattan restauranteur; and Valentina Sampaio, model and trans activist, 2020 SI Rookie.

In my decade at Victoria’s Secret and ‘fight’ over the Angels, my devotion to communicating with women consumers on positive sexuality as seen through their own eyes was absolute. I was totally opposed to the Angels as a wedge between the brand and the women who loved us.

Obviously, I lost the argument and resigned, rather than play that boys club game of revamping a brand for men and not women. I totally disagree with writers who say VS was always a boys club. That is not true.

The issue is that Les Wexner stopped listening to his team of top flight women executives and got way too tight with Jeffrey Epstein and Ed Razek about what the VS brand should be. Let’s just say that neither Jeffrey Epstein or Ed Razek was too keen on feminism or feminists. Les originally was, and he lost his way somehow.

The idea of women controlling their own sexuality and sexual identity became verbotin in the company. You can track the rise of social conservatism and every new law to control women’s bodies with the increasingly male gaze at VS. The two run concurrently and the mother ship finally blew up.

I don’t know if Victoria’s Secret can regain a place of prominence with American women. They remain the biggest kid on the block in revenue, even though VS has been dramatically cut down to size.

My only point on including the new 2021 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the same article on Victoria’s Secret being about to fly solo on Wall Street, is MJ Day herself.

MJ pulled the SI Swimsuit out of the clutches of horney men almost a decade ago. She has made the Swimsuit issue a celebration of positive sexuality that VS can only dream about. We used to own it on MJ terms. Then a couple cocky men got Les Wexner’s ear and blew it up.

I also don’t see a personality like Megan Thee Stallion on the VS Collective, much as I LOVE Adut and Paloma. I KNOW how much money women of color spend at VS.

What are you going to do, VS? Give the I am sexy business to Rihanna’s Fenty lingerie? You are still in very treacherous waters, VS — when there are people out there who can give you some excellent advice.

If nothing else, and I’ve said this in years prior, VS chief marketing officer Martha Pease should put MJ Day on speed-dial with a consulting contract, if SI permits it. Just sayin’. Anne