A Question of Swimsuits

Here's CBS News on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition featuring a Muslim woman in what could be safely described as a swimsuit that is out of the norm for Sports Illustrated.

This is the norm.

Of course, the decision immediately prompted some humorous parallels and jabs. 

The Babylon Bee noted a Baptist model. 

The Onion sampled public opinion.

The whole thing strikes me as an exercise in virtue-signaling and even timidity. Would Sports Illustrated have an Amish or a Southern Baptist model? Of course not. 

But wait, why not, given this precedent?

Let's get more serious and avoid stereotypes of Muslims. Would the magazine feature a Muslim woman wearing the usual skimpy swimsuits for which its issues are famous?

No. That too is highly unlikely. But wait, why not? 

I will grant the magazine one thing. Its decision sparks far more interesting questions than the bizarre commercial Gillette ran about men.