Aly Raisman Poses Nude for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue: ‘Women Do Not Have to Be Modest to Be Respected’

Gold-medal Olympian Aly Raisman posed nude for the 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, saying that “women do not have to be modest to be respected.”

See The Photos Here

In one of the photos, Raisman is completely nude while sitting with one leg stretched out and the other bent up at the knee. She leans forward so as to strategically hide anything sensitive.

Her body is marked with statements such as, “Trust Yourself,” “Abuse is Never Okay” and “Live 4 You.”

Raisman made headlines recently when she and several of her teammates from the 2012 Olympic Games in London detailed the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of their doctor, Larry Nassar.

She spoke at Nassar’s trial, and when all was said and done, he was sentenced to up to 175 years behind bars for abusing over 160 girls.

Speaking about the photo shoot, Raisman said, “I would like to remind everyone that being a survivor is nothing to be ashamed of, and going through a hard time does not define you.”

“I hope that we can one day get to a point where everyone realizes that women do not have to be modest to be respected. We are free to draw confidence and happiness in our own way, and it is never for someone else to choose for us or to even judge us for that matter,” she continued.

The shoot is a part of a new Sports Illustrated Swim franchise called “In Her Own Words.”

“For me, ‘In Her Own Words’ serves as a reminder that we are all humans, we are all battling something, and it is ok to not be ok,” Raisman explained. “We are not alone and we need each other.”

“The ‘In Her Own Words’ project is the evolution of the messaging of the SI Swimsuit issue that we have been consistently promoting in the issue for years,” SI Swim Editor MJ Day told PEOPLE. “The idea of allowing women to celebrate and evolve and harness their own power in a creative environment and allow them a platform to speak to who they truly are and who they want to be.”

“It’s so simple, yet so difficult for many in this industry to find control over how their identity is portrayed or interpreted or judged. We want to give this control directly to the women to own their story and image throughout the whole creative process,” Day added. “The results are inspiring.”