Serena Williams 'Woman' of the Year Cover Sparks Massive Outcries
“Scare quotes” can be a powerful tool of rhetoric, instantly delegitimizing the subject of whatever’s being described within the quotation marks.
Done right, they’re vicious, the kind of takedown that shows off the power of the English language.
But with great power comes great responsibility, as the late Stan Lee taught us through the Spider-Man comics, and that’s where GQ may have run afoul of good taste.
The magazine referred to Serena Williams, the tennis star, as “Woman” of the Year.
Your GQ’s 2018 Woman of the Year: Serena Williams ??? pic.twitter.com/wDL0ILsMTh
— Luis. (@serenapower_) November 12, 2018
There’s no reason to put “Woman” in quotes like that. Williams was born female and gave birth to a daughter last year. This is not “Caitlyn” Jenner we’re talking about here.
On other versions of GQ’s cover highlighting its Men of the Year, including Michael B. Jordan and Jonah Hill, it was not deemed necessary to raise questions about their status as “men” by using a rhetorical device where everyone knows what it means.
Furthermore, GQ didn’t use quotes around the word “woman” when the magazine named Gal Gadot its Wonder Woman of the Year in 2017.
MY FRIEND GOT ME THE GAL GADOT GQ COVER pic.twitter.com/YPkJg0qrIR
— ????? ????? ? (@leighsearp) December 25, 2017
In response to the criticism, GQ’s research manager explained on Twitter that the artist responsible for the Serena “Woman” graphic, Virgil Abloh, “has styled everything in quotation marks as of late (see Serena’s US Open apparel that he designed).”
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)
— Mick Rouse (@mickrouse) November 12, 2018
That included Williams’ gear at the U.S. Open.
That was enough to assuage some of those who took offense.
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
— Anna Wagner (@Anna_F_Wagner) November 12, 2018
Woman or “woman,” the blunt fact remains that Williams is one of the greatest female athletes of all time.
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