Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit cover goes low but is it pornographic?

That's a little too low, Sports Illustrated.

As the creator of the Daily News' popular, annual Sexy Singles spread, I understand the need for the magazine to up the ante in terms of hotness each year, but the magazine finally crossed the proverbial line by all but baring a model's nether regions.

I'm referring to the 2015 cover of the magazine's popular swimsuit edition that this year features a model baring a whole lot more than we're typically used to seeing in non-men's magazines. The cover, which features 24-year-old Hannah Davis sexily pulling her swimsuit bottoms almost off and nearly baring her pubic mound, is being accused of being "pornographic" among other charges.

Davis, who happens to be the girlfriend of baseball great Derek Jeter, defended her provocative pose on NBC's Today Show saying, "I think this year, it's the year of the torso."

Er sweetie. If you think it's your torso that people are talking about, then you need an anatomy lesson.

I hate to be on the side of conservatives but some the people doing the tongue clucking have a point. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation sent out a press release accusing Davis' pose of normalizing "genital display, not just within the pages, but also on the front of the magazine. This will be at ground level display in most supermarkets, gas stations, bookstores, and airport kiosks for any 10-year-old child to see." The organization wants retailers to remove the offending issue from public display shelves, particularly checkout lines, and also be wrapped "like any other pornographic magazine."

Still, labeling something "pornographic" is a strong charge. Davis' bikini bottom is startlingly low and the photo perhaps is better suited for one of the magazine's inside pages. But railing about this kind of thing is futile. Sex sells and SI needed to up the ante on previous swimsuit covers, many of which featured skimpy bikini bottoms inching lower and lower. It's clear why in this age of intense competition for online clicks that editors picked that particular image out of all of the thousands of others they could have selected. They wanted buzz and with this mons-exposing picture, they got it. Next year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover will be even more racy.

Bet on it.