Oh BBC home page picture editor could you be more annoying?

[Trou]

This story is about normal-bodied middle aged presenter investigating swimming as a health activity. So why have an image of a super thin model in a too-small cozzy as the click-through image on the home page?
Also
Imagine the disappointment of those who do like a young ladle-ogle when they find the reality is Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall in a pair of swimming trunks.

'As I’ve said before, if one of the swimmers was going to be used it would have most likely have been the best looking.'

They should have used I've of the actual swimmers, who is quoted and named in the article.

If the woman in the pic was one of the swimmers and was named and quoted/ interviewed it would be aok by me.

I still prefer the pic of hugh and carrot woman 😁

Send personally its good imo to show young conventionally attractive women doing stuff, rather than used as decoration.

She's not named or part of the article though. That's the problem.

Stock photos are invariably awful. I don't know who collates them but they show a white, sexist, model world. It's like the Nazis won on stock photo sites.

And they aren't 'real' people. And I don't mean overweight I mean that they are gurning models. And I've known a few models and they don't look like that everyday.

So no, news articles shouldn't be using them. News is real, the photos should be real. Anything else is just lazy journalism or click bait.

I can't stand the menopausal middle aged woman with grey hair stock photos, especially when they are doing joyous exercise. Or the ones with a similar plastic man where they smile together like a denture fixative advert.

Oh god yes, the ‘grinning cheesy American style’ stock photos just dont work in the UK. We’re all a bit dour and pissed off looking.

I think that photo is definitely sexualised, what with the woman's pose with her legs slightly spread and the skimpy costume. It is clear to me she isn't partaking in the activity described in the article, her hair and swimming costume are not at all suited to cold water swimming.

I think it's a shame some posters can't see that using women for decoration, presenting the female body in a manner that titillates the heterosexual male gaze, is bad for all women. It is reducing us all to objects.

And no, I'm not jealous of this woman, I do not have a problem with beautiful women in stock photos (where appropriate) and I'm not trying to body shame her. It would just be nice for a change if the default image of a beautiful woman in a revealing outfit wasn't so pervasive across all media, including a news article about a pastime favoured mainly by middle-aged people.

Yes all menopausal women in stock photos are super-healthy-looking and in a great mood, and it's always really sunny as they tumble between pure white sheets with their silver fox, or gaze at the horizon over a bowl of muesli.

The thing about menopause is you often feel crap, exhausted or just fucking pissed off. That doesn't mean it's all negative and I do see it as a gateway to a new start – but it would be nice to see a grumpy woman grabbing her midriff flab, or a lesbian middle-aged couple sharing some chocolate. It would make me laugh and feel recognition instead of feeling even more crap.