The organizers, models and supporters of this year’s swimsuit calendar have the notion that the women posing are not being objectified while raising money for cancer research. This notion, as some have said, is false.

The release of “College QTs of EC” this fall will make it the third swimsuit calendar aimed at raising money for the Eau Claire chapter of the American Cancer Society. The calendar’s new organizers held a Facebook event in which women could post their pictures and receive votes to become one of the 17 models featured, according to the September 24 article in The Spectator.

The 42 candidates, the 500 voters and the consumers successfully transform the women on the pages from college students into sex objects, an idea the Women’s and Gender Equality Center has correctly pointed out since the calendar began in 2005.

The calendar features women because men want to look at them and for no other reason. Our society is centered on sexual objectification of women, which this calendar perpetuates, whether the girls feel exploited or not. The incorporation of voting takes the objectification to a new level.

The most difficult part of the controversy is the good cause the profits go to. It’s hard for people to see the symbols the models represent through the beneficial nature of the sales.

The issue of sexual objectivity aside, WAGE also needs to step up, retire their repetitive rhetoric and do something more aggressive in making their point. They need to get creative and plan if they want to combat the nature of the calendar.

The project is not wrong. The women being treated as sex objects is wrong. The calendar has proven effective in donating to the ACS, and it should continue doing so. However, we need to open our minds to new ideas and ask ourselves, “What do these girls really mean to me?”