As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.
GQ Magazine switched things up a bit this year and decided to add tennis great, Serena Williams amongst those chosen for their annual Man of the Year issue.
Williams’ GQ cover shows the athlete sporting a black leotard with the words “Woman” of the year next to her. Since news broke, many people have criticized GQ for having the word women in quotations.
@GQMagazine Please explain to me why GQ Magazine’s Editorial Team felt that quote marks were necessary on the Serena Williams’ Woman of the Year Cover. I Really Really Need to Know. I’m Expecting an Answer😡🙄🤷🏽♀️🤔👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾 pic.twitter.com/qGNPNJI4Rq
— Y•S•A•N•N•E🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@YsanneBueno) November 13, 2018
The quotations were meant to look like the handwriting of art director, Virgil Abloh. Virgil is also a frequent collaborator with Williams.
Mick Rouse, a research manager for GQ, addressed the issue via his Twitter page tweeting, “because it was handwritten by Virgil Abloh of Off-White, who has styled everything in quotation marks as of late, (see Serena’s US Open apparel that he designed).”
Okay but why is woman in quotation marks @GQMagazine
— Anna Wagner (@Anna_F_Wagner) November 12, 2018
Yet, critics further pointed out that when Gal Gadot was named Woman of the Year, the title didn’t come with any quotation marks.
https://twitter.com/e_alexjung/status/1062013753686925314
Serena is known to have addressed the issue of people calling her a man in the past, stating:
“I’ve been called a man because I appeared outwardly strong… It has been said I don’t belong in women’s sports–that I belong in men’s–because I look stronger than many other women do. (No, I just work hard and I was born with this baddass body and proud of it.)”
Serena hasn’t commented on the GQ cover.
