Long time readers of this site are aware of my history not only being happy to share celebrated jocks in underwear, but also the ESPN nude

Athletes feature, and various nude calendars of college or team players. You're welcome. However, as a society that is trying to muddle through social media and "unanticipated consequences," the issue of posting certain images on-line has become an important one. For example, a woman was fired from her position based on negative remarks she had made on her personal Facebook page about her employer. In the resulting lawsuit, the judge determined posting on your Facebook page is no different than standing on a public corner and yelling about how awful the company that employs you is. College graduates and experts in employment report the majority of major companies will now sort through an applicant’s Facebook page or other sites. A drunken photo of the applicant from a holiday party can result in losing a job offer. Ironically, a number of major companies these days reportedly will not hire an applicant who lacks social media connections, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, with the idea such an potential employee is “out of touch” with contemporary life. The danger is particularly clear with homophobic organizations, where, for example, a rigid Christian college or school may attempt to fire employees because they’ve posted support for gay issues, or some of their photo albums show them at a LGBT event, since this is seen as a “violation” of the organization’s moral standards. In fairness, some homophobic employees have been fired for using the social media in ranting against the LGBT community, or against marriage equality.

 

That’s why I found a recent article interesting on the potential damage posing in a nude calendar for a college, or charity might cause. According to Queerty:

The University of Warwick’s rowing team set gay hearts aflutter again this year when it released its annual nude calendar and accompanying behind-the-scenes video. But England’s National Union of Students says the project, and similar ones around the world featuring clothing-free co-eds, demean students.

“Not only do the women in these calendars find their photographs on pornographic websites without their consent, they also receive on-going harassment on campus,” Kelley Temple, the NUS women’s officer told The Times. “More generally they contribute to an increasingly toxic air of misogyny and objectification on some campuses.”

 

Firstly, it’s the male calendars that get all the buzz, Ms. Temple—and while the same warning about photos winding up on porn sites apply, it’s 2013: Who doesn’t have a naked photo buzzing around the Internet?

 

More importantly, most of the calendars support respectable charities. The Warwick calendar raises funds for rugby star Ben Cohen’s StandUp Foundation, which combats bullying and homophobia.  “We have had a huge amount of support from the gay community over the last four years, and this is our way of saying thank you,” said the team in a statement.

It would be downright rude of us not to appreciate such a nice thank you.

Btw, the video on the making of the Warwick calendar may be NSFW, but hey--I work for a company that publishes the only LGBT Sports magazine, so my office may have a different level of standard than yours in terms of how to define "NSFW." The video shows a lot of rear-ends of males who have removed their underwear, and there is a final still from the calendar where the team members are facing the camera, but are using their hands to cover up the "dangly bits" as they say in England. In the same way, the calendar showing both nude male and female team members proving exactly how creative a photographer can be in positioning hands, life preservers, and oars in concealing "dangly bits," so there's no complete nudity to be seen (even if you zoom in--trust me).
 

Ironically, on this side of the Big Pond, here’s the Christmas Card sent out by the Yale Freshman Rowing Team’s Heavyweight Crew. I wonder if this might cost some team member a job offer after college? These days it’s tough for even Santa to know who’s been naughty or nice.