by Thúy-Lan Võ Lite
You’ve probably heard by now that Diamond Magazine‘s next issue will feature our own Margaret Sullivan ’12 — in the nude. According to the Prince:
“The magazine, the first official issue of which was released today, aims to ‘empower people to embrace their sexuality in a positive light and feel OK about their sexual desires and to honor the naked body,’ said founder and editor-in-chief Matt Di Pasquale, a 2009 Harvard alumnus.”
The photo shoot sparked a sizable campus controversy; the 94 comments on the Prince article (as of Thursday, 1:32 A.M.) range from supportive (“Lookin’ good Margaret,” writes Admirer) to deprecating (“oh boy the magazine is awful,” writes mother jones). NJ.com and The Huffington Post also picked up on the story but cast it in an unfortunately negative light; from the former:
“The report said Margaret Sullivan, class of 2012, said she only used her first name in connection with the photo shoot, in hopes she couldn’t be found through internet searches, but “the Princeton community had picked up on it.” She described herself as “poor” and said payment for the photos was part of what enticed her to apply.”
While money perhaps provided an incentive for Margaret to pose for the magazine, the coverage (and much of the Prince commentariat) misleadingly renders her a passive agent in the shoot. Although money was undoubtedly a factor in her decision, the Prince article definitely shows that she made a conscious choice to appreciate, control, and, yes, expose her body:
“Part of what was nice about it for me was getting to experience sexuality without the experience of an actual sexual scenario,” she added. “It was more about me and how I felt about myself.”
I say: kudos to her.
(Photo from Margaret’s Facebook with permission.)
