Okay, here’s how this works.  First, look at this image and take a note of your initial reactions.  Second, look at this image and then take note of your secondary reactions.  Third, read this article about whether or not the image is racist.  The following paragraph will only make sense once you look at the images, above, so do that first.

I was struck less by the stereotypes at play than by its erotic value: It’s a hot image, and what’s sexy about it is more a matter of celebrity than race. Bündchen doesn’t look terrified. She looks exhilarated. And James looks neither mad nor simian: He looks triumphant. Vogue could have put one of the issue’s more friendly, less suggestive photos on the cover. But they’re comparatively dull. In the other shots of James and Bündchen, the two look like old girlfriends. The fun and sex that leap off the cover are gone. On the cover, the superstar and the supermodel have surprising chemistry, the kind that makes you stop pushing your shopping cart and pick up the magazine.

What do you think?