Is Modern Pinup Culture Sexually Empowering — Or Oppressive?
By Naomi Elster
‘Classic’ pinup culture seems to be experiencing a modernized resurgence. Whether that’s to be heralded or not is up for debate.
I f professional pinup Enea Adam’s wit and self-respect could be captured in a photograph, I’d recommend teenage girls everywhere to pin it up on their walls.
A former nurse, Adam moved from her native Slovenia to Ireland two years ago and is now a senior bookseller at Hodges Figgis, Ireland’s oldest bookstore, and arguably its finest. Outside working hours, she is Miss Enea, a finalist in the Miss Pinup UK competition, an annual contest “celebrating the beauty, glamour, and essence of Pinup.” This year, more than 60 contestants will vie on August 13 at the Dublin International Tattoo Convention for a coveted spot in the final competition on September 24 in London, where one woman will be crowned Miss Pinup International.
Although Enea is indisputably attractive by conventional standards, it’s still difficult to imagine her as a beauty contestant. We live in a world, after…
