Kids shouldn’t have to ask adults to protect them. Adults should already know how to do this. You either don’t know this, or you don’t care. I may just be a kid, but I know I speak for many voices. I would like an apology from you. If you can’t do that, could you at least think of children in the future, before you print your magazine covers? We are more important than making money.
I went to the mall that day hoping to have a fun time with my Dad. I didn’t expect to have to deal with that. I bet other people feel the same way as I do. Maybe they just don’t think they can do anything about it. Or maybe they are just getting used to it. But I don’t think kids are used to this. They just want to be kids.
Maybe you are trying to keep up with our culture, and so you feel you have to create these images. But it’s an important life lesson to learn to stand up for what is right, even when nobody else does. Just because America wants these kinds of pictures, doesn’t mean you have to deliver them. You can respect women and sell magazines at the same time. And I would gladly grow up and buy Sports Illustrated, if it was really about sports.
Thank you for reading my letter,
An Eleven-Year-Old Boy
(This letter was drafted by my son. He kept expressing to me how mad he was about the cover of Sports Illustrated. I told him that writing is a good way to have a voice so I suggested he sit down and record his thoughts. We talked about how he felt. I edited some sentences for the sake of structure, and I corrected grammar, but these words are his original ideas.)
