Forgive me my outrage, but this sh*t really burns me up. How is this the best you can do? How is this the first impression you choose to deliver to visitors of your site? Are you even aware of what you are doing?

I sincerely hope not, so let me break it down for you:

Man as subject, shredding waves. Woman as object, back arched and head dropped back for ultimate titillating effect on the viewer. This doesn’t even pretend to be an image of a woman having fun on the beach, actually enjoying her beautiful body in the perfect swimsuit. It’s just straight objectification.

Here women, this is what we think of you. Welcome to our site.

You are ostensibly an athletic apparel company, yes? And you presumably have a fleet of badass female surfers you could photograph and display actually surfing? Or even just frolicking on the beach in their perfect bodies and pretending to have fun? You know, images of women as actual people who have experiences in their bodies, rather than the female body as simply an object to be viewed and consumed by others.

You could even pick out just the right action shots to make sure you don’t lose the sex appeal. You know, wet hair sexy and tousled, models looking extra focused and a bit pouty, perfect bums on display as they wait for a wave. But at least get one of these girls on an actual surfboard, would you please?

You’re not the only surf company guilty of this, I realize. Going to buy booties at the Rip Curl Outlet, I was confronted with photos of Alana Blanchard, surfboard under her arm, looking coyly back over her shoulder so we can stare at her bum while she walks the beach. In another, a close-up of her unzipping her onesie to emphasize optimal cleavage visibility, not a surfboard, or even any water, in sight. Great stuff.

Naturally, photos of guys actually surfing dominated most of the walls at Rip Curl, while the few lone representations of women were purely voyeuristic and sexualized. Standard practice, really.