The other three models for the issue were actor Megan Fox, musician Kim Petras (the second trans woman to appear as the SI swimsuit cover), and model Brooks Nader.

Sports Illustrated called Stewart the “OG of influencers”. “Never in her life has she let her circumstances dictate her outcome,” SI Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day said. “She’s changed with the times—always one step ahead, it seems—to build a wide-reaching business empire.”

Before Stewart, the oldest SI swimsuit cover was Maye Musk, model and mother of Elon Musk, who appeared last year at the age of 74.

Over the past few years, SI has chosen people of diverse age, sexuality, ethnicity and body types to feature on its swimsuit issue. However, allegations of sexism have still been made against the sports magazine that has published a swimsuit issue since 1964.

Who is Martha Stewart?

Stewart is often called America’s “first self-made billionaire woman”. While her image took a hit in 2004-05 when she was convicted and jailed in an insider trading case, since her release, she has worked to rebuild her brand.

Martha Helen Kostyra was born on August 3, 1941 to two New Jersey teachers. To pay her way through college, she worked as a model for various brands, including Chanel and Unilever. When she was 20, she married Andrew Stewart, who went on to start a publishing house.

Martha ran a catering business for some time, and in 1982, published a cookbook called Entertaining. Since then, she has published 98 other books, on cooking, planning parties, decorating the house, etc. She also started a magazine and a TV show about home and living, and in 1997, consolidated her various ventures under one company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Sports Illustrated wrote about her, “Stewart is the founder of the first multichannel lifestyle company (Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia), an entrepreneur, the best-selling author of 99 lifestyle books to date and an Emmy Award–winning television show host. Reaching more than 100 million fans on a monthly basis through her magazines, television shows, books, and products for the home, she is the “go-to” source for the homemaker.”

In 2004, she was convicted for lying about her 2001 stock sale of ImClone Systems Inc, a biotech company. According to Reuters, “Stewart was found guilty of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of agency proceedings”. She was sentenced to five months in jail and five months of house arrest, which she served, along with paying a fine.

After she was released, she went back to her TV shows and lifestyle brand. She also starred in her own reality show, along with a 2016 TV series with her friends and rapper Snoop Dogg.

The swimsuit issue and sexism

Over the past few years and specially after the #MeToo movement, Sports Illustrated has tried to rebrand its swimsuit issue as being “empowering” by celebrating various body types and women’s choices, etc.

When its 58th issue came out last year, the magazine said in a statement that “SI Swim has grown from its fun-and-sun roots into a brand focused on inclusion, empowerment and the constant redefinition of what’s beautiful”.

The statement added, “Starting now, the annual Swimsuit Issue and SI Swim’s digital outlets will accept advertising only from companies with demonstrated programs to advance gender equality and drive progress for women’s empowerment…Additionally, SI Swimsuit will invest a portion of every ad dollar generated by the annual magazine issue to create the Sports Illustrated Gender Equity Fund. The fund will support a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating an equitable future for all women.”

While these initiatives have been welcomed, critics have continued to claim that no matter how diverse the selection of models, the women are afterall posing in swimsuits, which can be seen as catering purely to the male gaze. Arguments have been made that sexually objectifying a wider selection of women isn’t exactly empowerment, and that if the Sports Illustrated really wants to do something for women, a great place to start would be to give more coverage to women’s sports, and to do so without sexualising women athletes.