Daily Spin: Does Sexuality Affect the Outlook of Professional Sport?

Sexuality can be described as that having to do with sex and sex-related topics and sciences in all its forms. Professional sport over the years has grown to become a window of sexuality where the main star of the game is not so much the best athlete, but rather the best looking athlete.

Athletes who garner the most advertisements and sponsorships in today's market are usually identified as the most alluring and eye catching prospects i.e.: LeBron James, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, just to name a few.

Sports, unfortunately like everything else, has fallen into the pitfalls increasingly overt sexualization of our society's cores, to the point where young athletes now succumb to the pressures of not only being good at their respective sports, but also facing the pressures of looking good as we.

Such is a common factor that leads to the likes of drug abuse, anorexia, emotional distress, sleep  deprivation, sexual abuse committed by coaches on younger players, media and social pressures, and death.

For young female athletes who want to make it big in their sport of choice, the oncoming pressures of looks and notoriety are proving to be a daunting task of which they themselves undertake.

To simply put it this way: if your an eighteen to twenty-four year old woman, your an athlete and you win lots of games and earn lots of money, your bound to have more in the likes of sponsorship and advertising opportunities.

However, these things can come with a catch: you'd often have to put yourself in a compromising position by appearing on the cover of a soft-core mag such as Sports Illustrated or Maxim.

This was never the case before with professional or semi-professional athletes, but the roles of being a model has crossed over to that of basically a woman, regardless of her social bearings, simply posing to the camera.

Serena Williams is not what you call a model in the classic sense, but her recent photo-shoot in Sports Illustrated (where she models in swimwear) can be shown as an example of the evolution of sport culture and the influence of sexuality.

The business mantra is simple: sex sells. And if you don't have it, or at least don't possess the niche look, even if you were twice as good as Federer or LeBron, chances are your opportunity to branch out would be severely limited. 

David Beckham is the ultimate classic example of a sports star who became star model, then going from a star model to becoming a sex figure.

Beckham was a rising star for English soccer powerhouse Manchester United, but his looks and personality, not to mention his famous wedding to Posh Spice, further drove his stature from footballing icon to perennial modeling titan.

Beckham's name now is a multi-million dollar marketing brand, his looks and persona plastered on everything from underwear to coffee mugs, from expansive Rolex watches to men's perfumes.

It is an unfair but actual fact of life for many in the athletic and modeling industry, but at least we can be assured that its only a handful of athletes who permit themselves in such regard, not the most of them.