OF SEXISM AND SPORTS MAGAZINES.

Byline: Karen Crouse

INDIANAPOLIS - Pretty soon my favorite national sports weekly is going to appear in my mailbox wrapped in brown paper. What convinced me of this was the photograph the magazine ran on Jenny Thompson in the issue currently gracing newsstands.

Thompson, one of the U.S.'s brightest gold-medal hopes in swimming in Sydney, is standing in a Wonder Woman pose, resplendent in red boots, hotpants, pearl earrings, a navel ring and . . . a tan. Her fists cover her chest and actually do a much better job of it than some of the skimpy suits that were de rigueur before the advent of full-length bodysuits.

My problem isn't with the photograph, per se. It is, as Kevin Garnett would say, tastefully done (which is more than I can say for the headline preferred by some of the magazine's editors, which was, according to a magazine employee, ``Holding Her Own.'').

I'm peeved on principle. I mean, where is the picture in the same issue of Dodger outfielder Gary Sheffield naked except for his strategically placed fielding glove? In a related question, why hasn't Jan-Michael Gambill appeared on the cover yet?

If Anna Kournikova can be splashed across the front of my favorite national sports weekly despite never having won a professional tournament, why not Gambill? He's got comparable good looks and one title tucked away in his professional dossier, for good measure.

Then again, if achievement was the only consideration, golfer Karrie Webb and track star Marion Jones would have graced the cover of my favorite national sports weekly by now.

It's not just about performance anymore, it's about personalities and newsstand sales and the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. I understand that.

What I don't think the editors at my favorite national sports weekly understand is that they bare - pun intended - their view of female athletes whenever a profile on one is accompanied by a photo that's more sexy than sporty:

It's not whether you win or lose, girls, but how you look playing the game.

The message is unfortunate because it sabotages the bigger picture, which is that sports doesn't just build muscles, it tears down walls. To put yourself on the line in the athletic arena is liberating, empowering, emboldening. Women (and men) should participate in athletics because of how good it can make them feel about themselves, not because of how good it makes them look to others.

On the eve of her 100-meter freestyle preliminaries on Sunday, Thompson, 27, was taken to task by a couple of female reporters for having agreed to pose for the suggestive picture in my favorite national sports weekly. With all due respect to them, I think their indignation was misplaced. They couldn't see the systematic sexism for the suggestive pose.

They would have been better off venting to the editors of my favorite national sports weekly. The editors are the gatekeepers of the magazine, deciding which stories get published and which ones die on deadline. Until enlightenment breaks down the doors to their gilded offices, the few female athletes approached to be in my favorite national sports weekly will face a dilemma:

Do they refuse to play by the magazine's rules, at the risk of being excluded from the magazine entirely or being re-routed to its stepsister of a publication?

Or do they overlook the magazine's agenda and use the incredible, uh, exposure they'll receive to advance their own agendas?

Thompson chose the latter, believing that in this ``Thin is In'' world it would be beneficial for young girls to see buff females for a change.

``I'm proud of my body and the work I've done to get it like this,'' said Thompson. ``I'd like for young girls to have an image of strong, muscular women as a positive thing . . . I'd just like portraying strong women, not flimsy models.''

Maybe one day my favorite national sports weekly, in its offices and on its pages, will embrace strong women. Until then, I feel compelled to tell you: I subscribe to my favorite national sports weekly for the articles. I swear.