''Sports Illustrated Women'' (previously called ''Sports Illustrated for Women'') and also known as ''SI Women'', was a bimonthly

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

covering (according to its statement of purpose) "the sports that women play and what they want to follow", from

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

and

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

and more. It featured real athletes, told their real stories and gave the real scoop on

women's sports The participation of women and girls in sports, physical fitness and exercise, has been recorded to have existed throughout history. However, participation rates and activities vary in accordance with nation, era, geography, and stage of econ ...

. ''Sports Illustrated for Women'' was published by Time Inc." It ran for 20 issues, between March 2000 and November 2002, targeting an audience of women, 18–34 years old, with "a passion for sports".

History

''Sports Illustrated for Women'', renamed ''Sports Illustrated Women'' (''SI Women'') in 2001, launched under the leadership of Cleary Simpson, Group Publisher and Sandy Bailey, Editor in Chief. ''SI Women'' initially ran test publications as ''Sports Illustrated Women/Sport'', in 1997. The test magazine was published in two issues, followed by four special issues in 1999, under the title ''Sports Illustrated Women''. The March 2000 launch of the ongoing product, slated for six issues per year, included a website, siforwomen.com. Circulation base rate was estimated at 300,000. By 2002 it had reached 400,000. Its newsstand price was $3.50.

Publishers Information Bureau Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

statistics showed that ''SI Women''s ad pages jumped 26.51 percent from 2000 to 2001 and its revenues increased 73.28 percent, from $5,499,509 to $9,529,281. The magazine went through a makeover and name change (to ''SI Women'') in September 2001, after

Susan Casey Susan Casey (born 1962) is a Canadian born writer. She has been lead editor of Sports Illustrated Women and O, The Oprah Magazine and she has written several non-fiction books including The Devil's Teeth concerning sharks in the Greater Farallon ...

, former Editor of '' Outside'', took over from Sandy Bailey, as Editor in Chief. Research showed that, "women are more interested in sports as participants than fans, unlike men." That year, the magazine expanded, planning 10 issues per year and revamping its content to, "a wider range of activities pursued by today's modern, active women," including participatory sports with sections on training and

adventure travel Adventure travel is a type of niche tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in ...

. In 2002, ''SI Women'' received a nomination for General Excellence from the

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

Last issue

On 14 October 2002, ''SI Women'' announced that December 2002 would be its last issue. President

Ann S. Moore Ann S. Moore (born May 29, 1950) is a former chairman and chief executive officer of Time Inc. until the fall of 2010. She became the company's first woman CEO when she was appointed to the position in July 2002. Biography Moore was a 1971 gradua ...

cited the downturn in the ad economy, stating, "''SI Women'' needed a significant investment to reach its potential", and, "The investment climate was simply not on our side."

Controversy

''Sports Illustrated'' swimsuit edition was created with the intentions of celebrating women and exposing their beauty, however it has caused uproar within the media lately. In a study done by the Department of Sociology at the University of Louisville, it was found that out of the 716 regular ''Sports Illustrated'' magazines published between 2000 and 2011, only 35 of the covers featured female athletes. These surprising numbers have gotten increasingly worse considering between 1954 and 1965 women were given about 12.6% of cover images, according to the study. According to Walter Bingham, ''SI'' writer and editor, many people want to do away with the swimsuit edition but it is their biggest money maker so they never could. About the evolution of the magazine, "the suits got skimpier and skimpier, the models' attributes bigger and bigger," Bingham wrote in 2010 in the ''

Cape Cod Times The ''Cape Cod Times'' is a broadsheet daily newspaper serving Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, which encompasses 15 towns on Cape Cod with a year-round population of about 230,000. It is owned by Gannett, which also owns several ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sports Illustrated For Women Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Defunct women's magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1999 Magazines disestablished in 2002

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

Sports magazines published in the United States Women's sports in the United States 1999 establishments in the United States