Bootylicious is as bootylicious looks

(Originally appeared in the Ellwood City Ledger, March 8, 2008)

My wife caught me in an embarrassing situation a few weeks ago.

She walked into the living room while I was watching Australian Open women's tennis finals on TV.

"Are you watching women's tennis? You never watch women's tennis unless –, " she said, then rolled her eyes. "Oh, Serena Williams is playing."

I looked at her and said, "Don’t you roll your eyes at me. I've got two words for you: Rick Springfield."

"Yeah," she said, "But I like Rick for his music. You wouldn't be watching women's tennis if Serena Williams weren’t playing."

She touched Springfield's butt once at a concert so now they're on a first-name basis.

"Hey," I shot back. "It's not like they put women like Serena Williams on television for their looks. And she’s never dropped a clinker like ‘Jesse's Girl.'"

And that's pretty much how I ended up sleeping on the couch most of the last week in January.

OK, that story isn't true, except for the part about my wife touching Rick Springfield's butt.

That actually happened.

Coincidentally, it was another backside – Williams’ – that garnered a lot of attention during her triumphant turn at the Australian Open, where observers accused her of being out of shape because she has a shape.

The champion’s cup hadn’t even had a chance to get warm in her hands before she fired back.

“I’m definitely in better shape than I get credit for, just because I have large bosoms and a big ass,” Williams said, according to Sports Illustrated. “I think if I were not to eat for two years I still wouldn’t be a size 2 … I’m bootylicious and that’s how it’s always going to be.”

That much was evident in a Sports Illustrated’s 2003 swimsuit issue, when Williams appeared in a photo spread that would have had former CBS golf analyst Ben Wright wondering how she could hit a tennis ball so hard.

With roughly one out of every three Americans classified as obese, Williams couldn’t be considered oversized by any standard except that of the popular culture.

This year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl, Beyonce, called herself bootylicious in the days before she – like Drew Barrymore, Reese Witherspoon, Christina Ricci and plenty of other Hollywood types before her – cut weight to fit the image.

That outlook has an effect on teenage girls who pick up fashion magazines, which imply that their normal bodies are actually overweight. But none of that exactly qualifies as breaking news.

But there is something new about the pop cultural equation of skinny with attractive – a backlash against it. Last year, the Madrid fashion show, said, contrary to the old saying, that you can be too thin, and turned away models who were too lean.

In January, Williams showed the world that winning comes in all shapes.

And that, at least for young women, is what’s beautiful about sports. It judges its participants on their abilities, not their looks. Unlike Hollywood, sports says – albeit not as forcefully as Williams did – that it’s OK to be bootylicious.

Maybe the popular culture can follow that lead and stop turning to fashion mavens for judgments better left to Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Eric Poole can be reached online at epoole@ellwoodcityledger.com