Featuring, not surprisingly, pinups, New American Pinup has vaulted “Emma The Amish Model” as their new Miss April. Is Emma The Amish Model really Amish, and is New American Pinup going to discover itself at the center of a religious controversy? Rather indecisively, the answer is that both of these things may be true. What is for sure is that “Emma The Amish Girl” has now secured loans for herself if she does leave the sect. What is the story behind the New American Pinup layout of Emma The Amish Model?
New American Pinup does an Emma The Amish Model layout
”Emma The Amish Girl” is the featured Miss April on New American Pinup, an online pictorial magazine. Though the site tends to feature tattooed and pierced girls, seems like that Emma has neither – though she is “due to be re-shot” for a book that features both.
Is the claim of Emma The Amish Girl true?
Emma The Amish Girl, according to The New American Pinup, “REALLY is Amish!” – and in order to “prove” their point, involves a couple of pictures of her dressed in traditional Amish dress. In most Amish communities, a period called “Rum Springa” or “running around” is typically accepted. This is a time period, typically around 16 years old, where rules on adolescents are relaxed. The adolescent can then choose to commit to the Amish lifestyle, or leave the religious sect. It is possible that Emma The Amish Girl was raised Amish and left after her Rum Springa. It is also possible that she is still Amish — though if this is the case she is surely breaking numerous religious taboos. Either way, U.S. law says that Emma would have to be 18 to pose in this layout – which is following the time Rum Springa usually ends.
Emma The Amish Girl is not without company
She may be the first to pose nude, but Emma The Amish Model is not the first Amish foray into American pop culture. There have been a couple of high-profile individuals who have experimented with culture outside their religious groups. Sometimes, these individuals leave the group — sometimes they return. The documentary Devil’s Playground follows youth Faron Yoder as he explains why he did not return after his rum springa. Curly Oxide is a man that, for a while, became a rock star before recommitting himself to the Hasidic Jewish lifestyle. As Miss April, Emma The Amish Model is making news of New American Pinup, but she probably will not be the last.
Resources
This American Life
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/213/Devil-on-My-Shoulder
New American Pinups WARNING – Contains nearly-nude photographs
http://www.newamericanpinup.com/Month_April2010.html
