Social media's favourite designer's take on GQ's Men of the Year with Williams on the cover has received flak for body shaming
Tennis sensation Serena Williams has often spoken about her body image issues. The 37-year-old sports star had shared previously in an open letter how trolls would body shame her saying that she should compete in the men's category since she is built like a man.
On that note, GQ magazine's Men of the Year issue, sketched by designer Virgil Abloh and with Williams on the cover, is being pulled up for body shaming. The cover showcases Man of the Year written alongside Willaims which is scratched out to read "Woman" of the Year in designer Virgil Abloh's handwriting. Abloh and Williams had collaborated earlier for a Nike collection 'Queen' that had clothes featuring capitalized texts in quotation marks.
In light of Serena's body shaming battle, netizens are taking offence to Abloh's handwritten 'Woman" on the cover. Some users have pointed out, "That context definitely helps - it’s definitely off putting especially for an athlete who has been critiqued for not being womanly/not a real woman in all sorts of racist and problematic ways" while others sais, "Everyone knows Virgil. We know his designs. We get the quotations. Doesn’t mean putting quotes around woman makes it any less insensitive esp. considering the masculinization of Serena and black women in general!"
Here's my hot take: I get that Serena and Virgil apparently collabed recently, and the quotations have a meaning, but... MAYBBEEE the cover of a magazine wasn't the best place to use quotations around the word woman. I mean... did no one think ahead on this? Marketing 101, yo.
— Miss Adria If You're Nasty (@MirandaAdria)Yay! Something insignificant that everyone can have fake outrage over.
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