by Imran Siddiquee and Margarita Diaz
Yesterday Chris on Twitter sent us this picture of the most recent cover of Newsweek:.
Really,
@newsweek? WTF?@representpledge twitter.com/cakvt/status/2…— Chris Killam OGorman (@cakvt) August 6, 2012
Here we see an unknown woman reduced to nothing more than perfect photoshopped skin and red lips, meant to attract readers with her “sexy” suggestive pose.
When a picture features only parts of a woman’s body, it erases the “individuality communicated through face, eyes and eye contact,” as put by Dr. Caroline Heldman. Such images saturate popular media and make it easy for women to be perceived as “nothing more than a body.”
(Sidenote: can we imagine a national magazine like Newsweek – which reaches over 1 million homes a week – running a similar image with a man in her place?)
What’s the relevance of such a sexualized picture for a restaurant-themed article anyway? (You’ll be disappointed if you open it up looking for a feature on “asparagus as an aphrodisiac” or anything like that). There are any number of eye catching ideas that Newsweek could have gone with instead (that took us 15 seconds to Google): food that looks really good, food in the shape of a heart, or you know, a chef cooking or something. The possibilities are endless.
Perhaps even more troubling is that this isn’t the first time Newsweek has run cover images that diminish women. Earlier this year they ran a very similar image of a naked woman whose face was blindfolded – again reducing her to merely an anonymous body. And last year, the magazine received some flak over their election-related cover image of Michele Bachmann, which many felt was sexist.
Outraged? Want to speak your mind? Let Newsweek know you’re #NotBuyingIt by tweeting at them (@newsweek) or just clicking the button below:
UPDATE: Tiffany H. let us know that Newsweek’s Art Director is on Twitter as well. Let her know what you think: …
UPDATE: We can direct our tweets to Editor-In-Chief Tina Brown @theTinaBeast
Not Buying it.
The interesting thing about the Newsweek picture isn’t its sexual aspect. What actually makes it compelling to look at is that there’s something wrong with it, in a subtle way tht makes the brain obsess over figuring it out – a well undersood but often quite disturbing advertising technique. Look at those lips again and ask where the rest of the mouth is. It’s missing. It’s been edited out and replaced with a void.
The world’s view of beauty is whored
Not to mention the penis shaped veggie!!!
Disappointing! Please help change this lindsay Ballant! You have the power girl…go for it
Yeah, they should totally use magazine covers that don’t sell as many issues as possible!
Newsweek cover w/ red-hot lips on supine gal, asparagus spears? & in the “College Ranking” issue! Newsweek, SHAME ON U. I’m #NotBuyingIt
Keep up the great work at exposing these distorted views. Just hope my sons will not be swayed and will respect women and value equality. It’s hard work for a parent these days -
It’s about time for women to be seen as full human beings, not a combination of mindless bimbos, dangerous temptresses, or prey animals.
Lindsay, Want to raise the clout of your employer as a serious news publication? Step 1: Stop demeaning woman on the cover. You have the power to be better than this.
I am a woman who does not have a subconscious need to be dominated… I suspect there are others, in fact, perhaps the majority.
Has anyone canceled their Newsweek account?
[...] Apparently it was not only me who found the latest cover of Newsweek extremly startling. First I thought they “only” featured this cover photo for the international edition, but then I found out that the US national edition was exactly the same. Not surprisingly, it caught other people’s attention as well. [...]
Will keep this in mind, thanks!
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