Offended? Don't be – Begg isn't. Never mind the world champion stuff: Begg is perfectly happy to be treated as an object. She's a babe. Leer all you like.

Begg, from Timaru, has released a set of nude photos taken for overseas magazines and websites to increase her chances of finding a sponsor and to raise the profile of inline skating. I don't know if she's found a sponsor yet – is Hugh Hefner keen on skating? – but she has certainly raised the profile of inline skating. And not in a bad way, apparently, given that I haven't heard a single criticism of her decision from inside or outside the world of sport.

There certainly weren't any complaints from a skating web magazine reporter who interviewed Begg. What was her goal, he asked – a Playboy centrefold? Did she have any tattoos, and, if so, where? Did she "properly epilate" herself before the shoot? (Memo to younger female readers: always beware men who inquire about your shaving habits). Then there was this stomach-churning exchange: Interviewer: Talking about these saucy pictures: we congratulate you for the courage to give our speedskating world a much-needed shock.

Begg: Thank you. Yes, the speedskating world does need a shock every now and then. Speedskating-related pictures are usually always the same: skater, skates, skinsuit and helmet. I just made it a little more interesting by removing the skinsuit from the equation.

Interviewer: "And you definitely did! Go on and tell your female colleagues it wasn't so hard to take your knickers down and pose for our lucky photographer (the bastard was even paid for it!) . . ." Begg: "It was a little nerve raking (sic) at first, but all the right areas were covered up . . . and come on, you can probably go down to the beach and see more than this!"

Interviewer: "Well, I had my fair share of meat back in the days, I must admit . . . Perhaps they do beach culture differently in Timaru, but in my neck of the words it's very rare to see heavily made- up women strutting along the sand naked except for a pair of pink inline skates. The photos are, it's true, cheesy rather than gynaecological, but this isn't something you'd see on a beach; it's something you'd see in a men's magazine."

One interpretation of the sexual liberation of the 1960s is that rather than enabling women to feel free to have sex, it enabled men to feel free to demand sex. It's hard not to see something similar happening now: is the explosion in what American writer Ariel Levy termed "raunch culture" an opportunity for women to claim back their sexual power, or are we degrading ourselves just as much as men ever did? Women who raise the subject risk being labelled anti- sex and anti-fun, but I'd like to know if Begg feels at all disturbed that her soft-porn shots made an interviewer feel able to refer to women as meat.

These issues might have occurred to those with an interest in Begg's welfare – her coach, say, or her father. As it happens, her coach is her father, and he was all for it. Bill Begg says Nicole is "proud of being a Kiwi" and "wants to get her hands on the money men earn". Is it just me, or is there something queasy about a father approving of his teenage daughter's decision to get her clothes off for the money?

The growing number of woman athletes who strip off – Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson, photographed for Sports Illustrated wearing nothing but boots and swim pants; soccer player Brandi Chastain, shown in Gear magazine naked but for a couple of soccer balls – do nothing to encourage sportswomen to be valued for their talent and athleticism rather than their pretty hair.

Nicole Begg, however, has made her decision. Once, she had a reputation as a skater: now, she has reputation as a hot body on a pair of skates. When she grows up, I wonder if she'll think it was a price worth paying?

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