THE 25 SEXIEST WOMEN OF 2000
The Nude Millennium!
-- Rank
04 25 JADE JAGGER
08 24 SUSIE PORTER
12 23 ANGIE HARMON
14 22 MARLIECE ANDRADA
18 21 JOANNA GOING
22 20 EMMA S.
26 19 CATHERINE BELL
28 18 MARIE GILLAIN
32 17 THEO of LUNACHICKS
36 16 BAI LING
40 15 JENNIFER RINGLEY
44 14 OPHELIE WINTER
48 13 TORI AMOS
52 12 LILLIAN MULLER
56 11 BOBBIE PHILLIPS
60 10 DEBRA JO FONDREN
64 9 LEONORVARELA
66 8 JOSIE MARAN
70 7 ANNALISE BRAAKENSIEK
74 6 ASIA ARGENTO
78 5 ADRIANA KAREMBEU
82 4 SANDRA BULLOCK
86 3 CAPRICE
90 2 REESE WITHERSPOON
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EDITORIAL
THE SLEUTHSAYER
"What's sexy? What's slutty? What's the difference?" Allure asked in
August. To which Daily Show snidekick Jon Stewart responds: "You've got me
on that one. I didn't know there was a difference."
We've la diffErence!, as SLEUTH strives to highlight taste and diversity in its
style and selections ("Sexy works," Allure reminds us; "slutty
works too hard"). And what's more individual than ranking the "25 Sexiest
Women" in the world? "What makes a woman sexy?" one foreign mag
muses. "Well, the long-necked people of Burnt reckon it's the size of her
neck. The short-necked builders of Bristol reckon it's the size of her tits. The
endangered dudes of the Amazon think it's the width of the wooden plate she lodges
in her bottom lip. Some tribe in Africa gets the horn for chicks with really big
holes in their ears. Go figure."
We figure that this Millennium edition is herstoric, and as we enter a new era
the Victorian veil of the E.R.A. has lifted: "When an actress or model appears
nude now {as opposed to N.O.W.), the last thing on her mind is money or a career
move," Elle equates. "Today, taking your clothes off is about Making
a Statement (hear, hear!). Few could have foreseen the day so much female nudity
was on display—and most of it under the flag of feminism. For men have seen
more breasts and behinds fin this space, 50 of the former, 25 of the lat-ter)
of beautiful women because of feminism than were ever exposed in the course of
old-fashioned sexism."
"Out of the doghouse and into the mainstream," Vogue validates, "the
male eye is back. The ogling eye, the leering eye, it is making the world SEXY
again. In regaining such a central cultural place, the ogling male eye has surely
undergone a reconstruction. Jennifer Lopez has become a bona fide movie star,
and an inspiration to designers, with what would seem to be 40-inch hips (Lopez
was last year's #3 Sexiest...once again, we were ahead of the curve}. Very womanly
sexiness indeed," in Vogue's view, "with a global panache. Latin sensibilities"—embodied
by Jen, fellow Rican Rosie Perez and Mexican mam-bo Salma Hayek—"have
helped promote the image of the womanly woman." Sneers one Spanish scribe:
"What do these three actresses have in common? The answer is: tits. Or, in
the case of Lopez, ass. The point is Hollywood 2000 wants sex. And in our post-modern
daze, sex has been conveniently reduced to tits-and-ass."
We prefer to reduce it to numbers: Our "25 of 2000" can be split into
12 blondes, 12 brunettes and a redhead. "Tori Amos is quite sexy," equally
titian-tressed "Ginger Spice" Geri Halliwell raves of our #13. "She's
provocative in a very sensual way, and she's pushing buttons." Like her love
button: "I don't see myself as a sex symbol," Tori is tormented. "How
can I be a sacred being and a hot pussy?"
From Amos to Angie, Caprice to Reese, and Bell to Ringley, Sleuth count hers with
blazing beings—more than half of whom are being uncovered for the first
time( (is nothing sacred?). "Nothing," Self magazine proclaims, "not
Naomi Campbell's legs nor Liv Tyler's lips, matters more than the ability to feel
your own sexuality, without needing a response. We often fall into the trap of
waiting for our partner's Sexy Seal of Approval." And now they have Sleuth's...
2000 and Wonderful,
