COMMENT: Selling soft porn? No, Serena was celebrating her BODY

I'm not going to claim that I know the ins and outs of every feminist issue.

But I can safely say that as a 22-year-old woman, I was thoroughly angered by a piece which recently featured in The Independent titled Serena Williams sabotages own equality battle with soft-porn photo shoot.

Why? Because it basically puts women back in a box, and insinuated that the only reason a woman might pose in a swimsuit is to tease and titillate.

Serena Williams' Sports Illustrated cover shoot was gorgeous, yet it was labelled nothing "other than soft porn," by a female sports journalist, and I can't help but ask, are we really that backwards?

For Christ's sake, a woman in a swimsuit is far from soft porn and to label it that is not only degrading, but insulting to Serena.

For anyone who hasn't read the Sports Illustrated feature, Serena wanted to show off her body because it's muscular – and she's proud of that. She wanted to show that it's not only your standard runway models who get to grace covers of magazines.

Strong, athletic and successful women do, too.

Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes of our time, and loving herself and her body does not "sabotage the equality battle."

She has had to face this criticism throughout her whole career, her whole life even, so to describe her as "wanting to be validated for how [she] looks," is totally wrong and disrespectful.

The author says that she "doesn't agree with photos objectifying women." But, what about photos 'objectifying' men? Or indeed, athletes?

The ESPN Body magazine photographs countless athletes year after year, yet is this considered objectification? No. It's to celebrate their bodies, which endure workouts, diets and gruelling regimes so they can be as successful as possible in their line of sport.

Their whole lives are about their bodies. Their talent is their bodies.

Why shouldn't they show them off if they want to?

The opening line of the article suggests Serena's interest in thong bikinis speaks to her sudden lack of interest in the issue of equality.

"I've never actually worn a thong bikini… the thong is perfect, it really made me feel comfortable. I'm officially a thong girl now."

Cool, Serena's into thongs. But that's not all she's into.

How about this quote by Serena: "Luck has nothing to do with it because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come."

Or this one: "I love who I am, and I encourage other people to love and embrace who they are. But it definitely wasn't easy – it took me a while."

Fixating on her comments about a thong is pretty demeaning and it dismisses how hard she's worked and how much she has had to overcome in order to feel good in herself.

Trying to make it out as if Serena is only into 'showbusiness' like the Kardashians and only cares about how she looks is an unfair assessment of the Sports Illustrated feature.

When you can acknowledge that "Serena has done her bit in the past to raise the issue of equality in sport," why concentrate on a photo of her in a swimsuit?

"She has done her bit" No, she's done A LOT. Why suggest her time has come and passed, and she no longer bothers with equality issues anymore?

Appearing to miss the point, The Independent writer asks: "So to look strong, sexy and to be a woman involves baring your butt and boobs?"

That's not the point.

She's not talking about being naked. She's not talking about showing off her boobs and bum. She's talking about being COMFORTABLE in her own skin, after years of criticism. 

She is talking about how she was bullied about her larger frame and has now overcome it.

And she's saying it's OK to be ANY kind of woman, with any kind of shape, and still love yourself.

"These photos switch Serena into the traditional passive role for women who are objectified as things to be ogled," we're told.

Just because she poses in a swimsuit does not render her countless other achievements null and void.

Women have  overcome the "traditional" and "passive" labels in a big way, and even though more changes need to be made, women have come so far.

We are business women. We are entrepreneurs. We are travellers. We are mothers. We are fighters. We stand up for what we believe in. We are not passive anymore, and if you look at current events – it shows.

500,000 people marched in Washington earlier this year for women's rights. 100,000 marched in London and 5,000 marched in Dublin. 

Tables have turned, and for a woman to make these comments warrants more than a 'simple SMH and move on' moment.

Do you not see the bigger picture? Do you not see that she feels empowered by her body and is proud of it? She's clearly not doing it for people to "lust" after her as the article states.

The article ends by saying, "They allow themselves to become a commercialised version of 'sexy'. And we all know how that sells."

As I stated at the beginning, Serena is celebrating her body because it doesn't look like everyone else. It's not what you see on the average commercial.

She's celebrating her body because she's strong and she's proud of it.

And who is anyone to tell her she's wrong?