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Serena Williams 'Woman' of the Year Cover Sparks Massive Outcries

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“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.

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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.

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).”

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That included Williams’ gear at the U.S. Open.

That was enough to assuage some of those who took offense.

Woman or “woman,” the blunt fact remains that Williams is one of the greatest female athletes of all time.

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Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Birthplace
Boston, Massachusetts
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting from University of Nevada-Reno
Location
Seattle, Washington
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Sports




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