I'm also not entirely sure how this relates to LGBT issues, let alone health ones, I may be missing the point (can you clarify further?)
She is, also, not quite a swimsuit girl. For one, not many swimmers swim without a top. For another, I have never seen anyone stands in such a pose naturally for long without having severe back pains.
This is a sexualized objectified picture and it was taken for this exact purpose.
We may argue whether such photos should be included, but let's not pretend this is a professional woman representing her sport... ;)
(and yes, I know 'swimsuit model' is a term, I am just rejecting the general term to make the point I think is more important)
In any case, out of sheer curiosity I went out and did some research on the Picture of The Day list.
As a representing example I went over the entire 2013 year and tagged each picture with a general category (Animals, Locations, Events, etc) and if I found pictures, I tagged them with either "male" or "female" unless the photo was a general one.
There's also a pivot table and a graph in the second sheet.
I think the conclusion should be obvious: Commons pictures are mostly about animals and vistas. There aren't many pictures of people, and when there are, they're in a professional setting -- either pictures of people in the middle of some sport activity (mostly men, but not a lot anyways) or people doing something professional. All are fully dressed, none are objectified, including the men. All poses are natural or picture-natural (staring at the camera, etc) and none are overly objectified, especially not in a sexual way. None.
We could, of course, say that the model is doing something professional -- but the picture is not of her being a model, it is of her posing in an unnatural pose that is *purposefully* sexualized and objectified. It's the sort of picture we see all around us trying to sell us something.
Now I, too, don't have a problem with reducing shame, and I (very much) appreciate the image of beautiful women and men. I think having honest and non-shaming discussions about sexual behavior is important for both men and women, same with healthy sexual behavior.
But I also think that the context and audience *matters*. Picture of the Day isn't it -- clearly, according to what Picture of the Day usually represents.
To be perfectly honest, considering this picture is of a woman that is posing in an unnatural position (anyone ever found herself posing this way casually?) that's aim is strictly for sexualizing and objectifying her, and considering that PoTD didn't put any *type* of similar pictures like these *and* that PoTD picture choices are supposed to represent the Commons community because of their public nature, I am really quite disappointed that this is even a discussion on Commons.
Not only that, but the discussion seemed to have moved towards the "if we put this up it will be a shitstorm" rather than thinking *why* it might be a shitstorm, what it represents, what goals the community states it has, what other pictures it posts, and whether the potential "shitstorm" is just panicky women crying foul over nothing, or something a little bit more substantial going on.
The whole point of voting about something like this is also problematic, by the way, but that discussion is a whole new nest of snakes that should be discussed separately.
This whole thing is very disappointing.