‘Why Quotation Marks?’: Serena Williams’ ‘GQ’ Cover Under Fire

Tennis legend Serena Williams was named ‘Woman of the Year’ by the magazine.

‘GQ’ magazine cover featuring Serena Williams.

(Photo: Twitter/@GQMagazine)

Serena William has been featured on the cover of GQ magazine’s ‘Man of the Year’ issue as their ‘Woman of the Year’. The cover has been criticised for being distasteful after readers questioned the publication’s editorial decision-making.

Tennis legend Serena Williams was the magazine’s sole ‘Woman of the Year’ candidate, while Michael B Jordan, Henry Golding and Jonah Hill were adjudged ‘Men of the Year’. Though the decision to name Serena as the ‘Woman of the Year’ has been lauded, the idea to put the word “woman” in quotes on the magazine cover, as handwritten by designer and Williams collaborator, Virgil Abloh, has stirred some controversy on Twitter.

Meanwhile, many Twitter users defended the cover. They pointed out Virgil Abloh, who is an American fashion designer, puts quotes around every word which is his style.

This is for the second year in a row that the publication has decided to go for a woman on the cover of such an issue. Last year, actor Gal Gadot featured on the cover and was referred to as “Wonder Woman of the Year”.

In fact, writer E Alex Jung highlighted this stark contrast in one her tweets where she put last year’s cover woman Gal Gadot next to Serena’s this year to drill in her point.

Mind you, the magazine referred to Gadot as “Wonder Woman of the Year” while Williams has been referred to as “the champion” in this year’s edition.

But this is not the first time that Serena has been questioned over her physical attributes and colour. Many a times, the winner of 23 singles titles has been called a man due to her appearance.

Last year, in a post on Reddit, Williams opened up and wrote a post addressed to her mother.

“I’ve been called man because I appeared outwardly strong. It has been said that I use drugs (No, I have always had far too much integrity to behave dishonestly in order to gain an advantage). 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 badass body and proud of it),” Serena wrote.

In an interview to Harper’s Bazaar, Serena spoke about the same issue.

“People would say I was born a guy, all because of my arms, or because I’m strong,” she said. “I was different to Venus: She was thin and tall and beautiful, and I am strong and muscular — and beautiful, but, you know, it was just totally different,” Serena said.