Katie Couric of NBC's "Today" show questions Brandi Chastain of the World Cup-winning women's soccer team, July 12, 1999:

And we're back with a couple of members of the U.S. women's soccer team. You know I just had to ask you all this question because I'm sort of conflicted about it, and I know you all are too. Brandi and Julie. But I know Brandi, for example, you posed. It was a beautiful photograph. I mean you have an incredible body, may I say that on national television? [shot of Gear magazine's rather tame nude photo, from her side with vital parts hidden] But you know, I'm wondering about some of the mixed signals that little girls might be getting. I asked somebody earlier this morning. Sex sells. So in order to sell soccer, do you have to sell sex? But what about the whole concept of "booters with hooters" and not "soccer moms, soccer mommas!" And kind of making you all appealing on that level. Do you feel completely comfortable with that, or should you tell me to lighten up?

...and Ms. Couric questions team member Julie Foudy on the same show:

Is that how you feel, Julie? I know you were in Sports Illustrated in a bikini running with your husband, which is a completely innocent photo, but I'm sure some hard core feminists are gonna say, "Wait a second, what's going on here?"

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter displayed no such inhibitions when speaking on the next day's show:

Women's liberation in the early 1970s: The most visible sign of defiance against male oppression was burning your bra. Women's liberation in the late 1990s: The most visible sign of achievement is showing your bra, well, your sports bra anyway... Women's undergarments are still often about selling sex. That's Victoria's Secret. But for now on, thanks to Brandi Chastain's little gesture, they also represent strength, success and a new comfortable place for the women's movement, one of the great social movements of the 20th century.

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