Women’s Health Bans Term ‘Bikini Body’ From All Covers

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Women's Health's editor-in-chief Amy Keller Laird penned a New Year's resolution to readers yesterday, promising that the fitness and health magazine will never again run a cover with the tagline "Bikini Body." The ban was a direct request from Women's Health fans, Laird writes:

You told us you don’t love the words shrink and diet, and we’re happy to say we kicked those to the cover curb ourselves over the past year. But we’re still using two other phrases—"Bikini Body" and "Drop Two Sizes"—that you want retired. Since our goal is always to pump you up, and never to make you feel bad, here’s our pledge: They’re gone. They’ll no longer appear on Women’s Health covers. (Whew, that felt good!)

She notes that any body wearing a bikini is a bikini body. "When one reader said, 'I hate how women’s magazines emphasize being skinny or wearing bikinis as the reason to be healthy,' it became so clear: We never want to be that type of women's magazine," Laird writes. She also acknowledges that the "Drop Two Sizes" in a month promises on covers didn't seem "super practical, or even all that healthy."

This might be a tough breakup for Women's Health. A quick scan of covers over the past few years includes plenty of cover lines like "Beach Body Now," "Bikini Body Now," "Bikini Ready in 7 Days," and "Drop Two Sizes!" with the all-important exclamation point. The magazine seems to have been easing up on putting the words "Bikini Body" on the cover this past year, though. It appeared on the June 2015 Gwyneth Paltrow cover, but covers this year have included variations on the "Drop Two Sizes" theme like "Lose One Size" and "Drop Five Pounds" and "10 Pounds Gone."