It bewilders me why it still needs to be explained, but it is not appropriate to use half naked women as clickbait. Is that quite clear? Unless your story is about half naked women, or they are part of your art and your website/story is about that, lose the naked women.
So why this statement now?
Well, quite a while ago I read an article on a blog about a friend. The article was cycling related. The blog was cycling related. Yet I had to scroll through picture after picture of women in various stages of undress, in various poses with a bike. Few of these women looked like they knew how to ride the bike, given the way that they were posing. Few of the pictures seemed to have anything to do with the articles they were paired with. By the time I got to the article I was really irritated. This man thought that cycling was all about men! And by the pictures he included he thought women couldn't cycle. As a woman who is a cyclist and who knows lots of women who are cyclists, this really offended me. So I provided some feedback, noting that the article was excellent, but the pictures were unnecessary and offensive. 
Just recently I got a response. This is probably best summed up as that he considers his pictures are on par with things like bachelor/ette, firemen calendars and Who Magazine, so he doesn't see the problem. Further, he thinks this won't satisfy me and I should stop reading his blog.
Damn straight this doesn't satisfy me! Sure, you can put what you want on your blog and likewise I can choose not read it. This doesn't diminish the fact that you, and through the examples you gave, mainstream society, see women as mere eye candy. They are seen as less competent, less powerful and generally less than men. Unless they are being pretty or sexy. Then they are valued.
That's not good enough. Women are human, just like men. They are competent, capable and powerful. They are strong, brave and amazing. And they should be valued for what they do not what they look like. And here's a hot tip, if you're talking about a women as a pro cyclist, or as any athlete, I don't care what they look like. I don't care what the men look like either. Any athletic endeavour is about what you do, not what you look like. So talk about what they do, it's really that simple.
I must admit it's not all bad news. The number of sites that are objectifying or belittling women in the cycling world are dying day by day as women vocally tear them apart. And rightfully so.
People are learning. Hats off to sites like Apres Velo, who recently posted something inappropriate and acknowledged it, apologised for it and strive to do better. Or better still, sites like Cycling Tips, that recognise that women that cycle deserve their own voice, and created a site specifically to allow for that (Ella Cycling Tips).
There are also bloggers out there that celebrate the tough women who they cycle with. Fat Cyclist regularly writes about how tough the women in his life are, on bike and off. His nicknames say it all; his wife is known as 'The Hammer', his daughter 'The Monster', not to mention ex-pro mountain biker Rebecca Rusch aka the 'Queen of Pain'.
If you really want examples of companies that simply get it, take a look at Strava and Wiggle. Strava recently put out a series of promotional videos focused on team work, perseverance and friendship. Wiggle are the driving force behind a strong women's pro-cycling team as well as supporting initiatives like the Amy Gillett Foundation, which aim to make it safe for everyone to ride. Their advertising focuses on people. All sorts of people. People with all different capabilities actually using their products. Not one sexy women pic. Full disclosure - I'm a Wiggle fan girl and they accidentally sent me a free pair of socks once.
So where does that leave us? It goes without saying that I'm not going back to his blog. His response has made me realise that there is still a lot of work to do to make people realise that women have value for more than their looks. So I will do what I can to promote the many women I know who do awesome things. I will stop sitting quietly in my corner of the internet, for fear of offending someone, and stand up and call out when things are not right.
To the guy behind the blog, you mentioned you were getting a CX bike? Well, if you're brave enough to come out to CX, you'll have to meet the CX bros. They're the toughest bunch of women out there and I guarantee they will leave you, and your outdated thinking, in their dust!
