GQ Suggested Serena Williams Isnt a Woman and Everyone is Angry

GQ Suggested Serena Williams Isnt a Woman and Everyone is Angry This year isnt the first time that GQ has announced a woman among its annual Men of the Year honorees, but it may be the first time people are this mad about its implications. Plastered on the cover of the magazines 2018 iconic Men of the Year edition is tennis extraordinaire Serena Williams, with the words Introducing the 2018 WOMAN OF THE YEAR.At first glance, readers might applaud the magazine for putting a fierce female face on the cover of their magazine. But the kurs marks surrounding woman have deep-rooted implications, even if they were innocently placed.Virgil Abloh, who collaborated with Williams on a line for Nike and is known for incorporating quotation marks in his clothing designs, reportedly designed the typeface for the magazine cover. But because Williams has been called a man for appearing outwardly strong time and time again, some readers have interpreted the punctuation as a sexist slight against the tennis all-star.After all, when Gal Gadot was named last years Wonder Woman of the Year, therbeie were no quotes around woman.It has been said I dont belong in Womens sports that I belong in Mens because I look stronger than many other women do, Williams once wrote in a public letter on Reddit. (No, I just work hard and I was born with this badass body and proud of it).Twitter bentzers have promptly chimed in, criticizing GQ for not catching the qualifikation interpretation before publishing the punctuation.I cant believe no one at GQ thought perhaps with misogynistic and violent trans insults that Serena (and Venus) have dealt with for the last almost 20 years, to not put woman in quotation marks, one Twitter user wrote. Editorial rooms are a f****** disaster, all over this country. Im offended for her.Photo via TwitterAnother tweeted Its 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 probl ematic ways.Photo via TwitterWhen one Twitter user tweeted that they couldnt tell if the quotations denoted racism or if were all just too woke. Another user responded In the context of serena williams, a person who has been mocked for her appearance and deliberately misgendered for years... this aint it, virgil.Another Twitter user who rebutted the comments suggesting that not everything is a thing, wrote Everyone knows Virgil. We know his designs. We get the quotations. Doesnt mean putting quotes around woman makes it any less insensitive esp. considering the masculinization of Serena and black women in generalDont miss out on articles like these. --AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about womens empowerment from around the world. You can follow her work on her blog, HerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram her_report, Twitterherreport and Facebook.