Picture of the Day: Manly Beach

I was interested in this Good Friday photo of the Duchess of Cambridge which led both the Reuters “Editors Choice” photo gallery on Saturday and was featured in their social media news gallery, as well. It was taken as part of the royal couple’s 19 day official tour to Australia and New Zealand and their first trip abroad with their son George. Of course, it’s a typical example of sex as a news photo selling device, but it’s notable, too, for the way it reads differently in the more prudish US.

Accentuating this difference are the photo’s textual assets, “Manly” being the name of this North Australian beach. Once the photo leaves the market down under, social and visual norms in The States governing manliness, as compare to the representation of boys as well as girls by “butt shots” and tight pink tops, makes the photo that much more scintillating as a foreign sale.

(photo: David Gray/Reuters. caption: Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, talks to junior surf lifesavers during a visit to Sydney’s Manly beach April 18, 2014. Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate are undertaking a 19-day official visit to New Zealand and Australia with their son George.)