Move Over ESPN, Morehouse’s Student Paper Has a Better ‘Body Issue’

Three of the country's most storied HBCU's focus on self-affirmation, not just sexiness.

By Jamilah King Nov 01, 2013

Morehouse College’s student newspaper "The Maroon Tiger" released its first ever "The Body Issue" this week. While it’s modeled loosely after ESPN’s popular "Body Issue," this one is more than just an adoring look at the physical body. Morehouse’s paper features 30 students from that campus and neighboring Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University who have agreed to pose nude and tell stories of overcoming abuse, addiction, and mental illness.

"I remember following the release of ESPN’s Body Issue and thinking to myself how distorted a presentation it was to showcase these ideal images," MT managing editor Jared Loggins told HBCU Digest. "Frankly, I think the edition missed the mark. Here we are, living in a diverse country. The vast majority of Americans don’t look like that (not that having the perfect physique is a bad thing). The Maroon Tiger Staff wanted to created something of a socially conscious and radically different response to ESPN. And that’s what got the ball rolling."

The paper’s editor-in-chief Darren Martin is about self-affirmation, not just sexiness. 

"Initially, we wanted to make this issue a socially conscious version of ESPNs Body Edition. This edition, with the tagline, ‘The Bodies We Want,’ is not indicative of the reality that we as students — or, broadly, Americans — face," Martin told HBCU Digest. "Then the MT team started to research a narrower topic — body politics on college campuses and the mental/physical effects on students who struggle to change or hide themselves behind a veil in order to ‘fit in.’ This edition does not only focus on the physical body, but mind and soul as well. We wanted our peers to be able to liberate themselves through the technique of a narrative and, in return, inspire and liberate others because of their transparency."

 

Check out the full digital version of "The Body Issue" from Morehouse College.