Let's be honest. Rihanna is a dumb industry sex slave. There's no intention behind her posing nude. She does it for attention. She's allowed to do it if she wants to, but let's not act as if it's somehow a liberating statement to do something that Josephine Baker did 60 years ago.
TLC DIDN'T need to sell sex. I think they had a message that was geared towards female empowerment. They had songs about HIV and safe sex that were coupled with being comfortable with their sexuality. I don't get any kind of consciousness from Rihanna's end. TLC offered street smarts while all Rihanna offers is physical beauty and sex, but without depth.