Amanda Beard: From Olympian to Playboy

I wanted to share a letter with you that I submitted via Amanda Beard's website.

I would love for this message to be passed on to Amanda. I was so disappointed to see Amanda on the cover of FHM as well as posing nude both in Playboy and in the PETA ad. What surprises me is that she is an accomplished athlete and still chooses to degrade herself. Usually women who take this route aren't talented and they have nothing else to offer the world except their bodies. Athletes like Amanda typically don't take the easy way out. I would hope that Amanda would see the importance of being a role model to young girls who should learn that athletes (or anyone else for that matter) don't have to sell their bodies to get ahead in the world. If women are ever going to reach equal ground with men, these types of things have to stop. Women have to take a stand and say, "I'm better than exploiting myself. I don't need to do this." When sexuality is used to sell something and money is exchanged, it becomes degrading. Amanda certainly does not need to degrade herself for money. It ruins the reputation she has worked so hard to build and diminishes her athletic appeal and most of all, she loses the respect so many people had for her as an athlete and as a person.