ESPN The Magazine’s annual Body Issue featuring nude (tastefully posed) athletes celebrating diverse body types across sports.
Artistic Athlete Celebration
Launched in 2009, ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue featured athletes posing nude (strategically covered) in artistic photographs celebrating athletic physiques. Unlike SI Swimsuit’s sex appeal focus, the Body Issue emphasized bodies as functional—showcasing muscle, power, and diverse athletic forms. Featured athletes ranged from Venus Williams to UFC fighters to Paralympic athletes.
Inclusive Representation
The Body Issue featured athletes across sports, genders, ages, and body types. It normalized athletic bodies’ diversity—marathoners’ lean builds, weightlifters’ bulk, gymnasts’ compact frames. The photography was artistic rather than sexualized. Paralympians and older athletes appearing alongside young stars challenged narrow beauty standards.
Magazine’s End, Issue’s Continuation
ESPN The Magazine ceased print publication in 2019, but the Body Issue continued online and in special editions. By 2023, it had featured 200+ athletes. The issue succeeded where SI Swimsuit faced criticism—celebrating functional athletic bodies rather than models’ aesthetics resonated in body positivity era.
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