Pin-up model
A pin-up model is a figure in popular culture whose mass-produced photographs or illustrations, typically portraying women in alluring yet non-explicit poses emphasizing glamour and femininity, were designed for informal display by pinning to walls or other surfaces.[1][2] The genre originated in the late 19th century with illustrations such as Charles Dana Gibson's Gibson Girl, representing an idealized American woman, and evolved through early 20th-century risqué photography of actresses and burlesque performers sold to the public.[3][4] It reached its zenith during World War II, when such images proliferated as morale boosters for American servicemen, appearing in magazines like Esquire and Yank, the Army Weekly, on aircraft nose art, and in personal lockers, symbolizing homefront normalcy and escapism amid combat hardships.[5][6] Iconic examples include Betty Grable, whose 1943 swimsuit photograph—featuring her looking coyly over her shoulder—became the most requested and reproduced pin-up of the era, surpassing others in popularity among troops.[6][7] The pin-up aesthetic influenced mid-century advertising, fashion, and visual arts by promoting a teasing sensuality that distinguished it from pornography, while later evoking debates over objectification despite its empirical role in sustaining soldier motivation and cultural continuity.[8][9]