(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Even at the top of the world, it seems like Serena Willams can’t catch a break. The 23 time Grand Slam winner, was recently featured on the cover of GQ for their ‘Man of the Year’ Issue. Many of Williams’ fans immediately pointed out some issues with the cover.
The GQ cover shows Williams dressed in a black bodysuit with a Chanel belt. In the right-hand corner of the cover, the word men is crossed out, and the word woman is handwritten over it. This illustration caused fans to start a debate over racism and sexism.
For years, Williams has faced scrutiny from the media in regards to her being too muscular or looking too masculine in which she was accused of using drugs, for her attire on the tennis court, etc. She even wrote a letter discussing these previous issues.
GQ’s headline was written by Virgil Abloh, the designer of Off-White and according to GQ’s research manager Mick Rouse, the quotation marks are a part of Abloh signature, but to fans, especially women its much more than that. Many of them went to Twitter to express their frustrations with this cover. See tweets below.
GQ has four “Men of the Year” covers (and one of them is a shout out to Serena Williams as the “Woman of the Year”) but how great would it be if they could just abandon the list of men and make the whole issue about women pic.twitter.com/SDIjPig1tb
— Alexis Benveniste (@apbenven) November 12, 2018
Serena Williams made it on the cover of GQ and rises controversy because Woman was written in quotations. What do you guys think? Given our history with gender inequality was it insensitive? #USUJCOM2010 pic.twitter.com/ScRubyJDdc
— Priscilla ॐ (@PRodPriscilla) November 13, 2018
@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