How Jet Democratized the Thirst Trap

When I was growing up, in the early two-thousands, I knew of only one way that a mere mortal could be pictured in a bikini for paying subscribers.

- Jennifer Wilson

It was to submit a picture to Jet, a weekly magazine for Black news and entertainment.

Each issue included an ad for "beautiful models between the ages of 18-25," along with instructions to fill out a "coupon" with contact information and "a current snapshot of yourself in a bathing suit." If the magazine liked your photograph, it would connect you with a professional photographer. From Jet's inception, in 1952, until the magazine ceased its print operation, in 2014, it published pictures of these women in a column called "Beauty of the Week."