Vogue’s Beyonce Cover, Racist?
Posted by: Annika Harris
Filed in:
news
2:30PM, Tuesday March 17th 2009
Some folks have gotten their panties in a bunch over Beyonce’s cover for the “Shape Issue” of Vogue. Beyonce is one of only five black women to grace the cover of Vogue since it was founded in 1892, but blogs like Jezebel and Sociological Images think the magazine was being sexist and racist by putting her on the cover. I agree to some extent, but not for their reasons.
Sociological Images blogger Lisa writes that the cover story, “Real Women Have Curves: Beyonce At Her Best,” is sexist because curves only refer to boobs and ass. Well that sounds about right to me. Curves is just another way of saying a woman has an hourglass figure. If a woman has big boobs, a big ass, and a protruding stomach, then she really just has one curve—one that starts at her shoulders and continues to bow to below her butt.
The blogger also asserts that the story is racist because it reinforces the stereotype that black women are especially curvy. I’ve never met a black woman, or man for that matter, that didn’t enjoy a little something extra in the trunk and thighs. I’m not saying we should reinforce stereotypes that have some truth, but I think most people only find fault with this stereotype when black women are hyper-sexualized as a result of their curves. Vogue didn’t sexualize Beyonce, in any way, as her body is hardly visible on the cover. Oh, and by the way, Beyonce is in no way “extremely thin” as the blogger writes.
What I do find racist about this cover is that Beyonce fits an accepted ideal of black beauty. She has slightly Anglo features and light skin, like Halle Berry, who has also graced the cover. And she wears a long weave/wig of hair that most black women can’t grow naturally. Couple her appearance with her success and you realize Beyonce was a safe, unsurprising choice for the cover of the “Shape Issue,” which is an absolutely ridiculous concept for Vogue anyway, whose motto should be “thinner is better.”
I’m not so sure who this blogger and others think would have been a better choice for the cover. Maybe they think Vogue should have kept their black cover models to an even four, you know, to stay politically correct.
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pennybadday
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 02:50 pm: [report]
The problem is that so few Black women are shown on the cover of Vouge that when they are it is seen as being representational of something bigger about how we see Black women- they become tokenized. Also, it makes sense that the shape issue would be an “acceptable” time to have a woman of color grace the cover because it is more acceptable for a WOC to have curves than white women in the celebrity world (ie Queen Latifah, Sarah Ramirez, Jennifer Hudson, America Ferrera, etc).
Goldfinch86
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 03:01 pm: [report]
I totally agree, the only agreeable “curvy” woman in the media is a woman of color. When a white woman has curves she’s just another fat-ass. Thank-you media for making my life a living hell as a fat white woman, you have told me I am ugly and will never be considered beautiful the way a beautiful “curvy” black woman is.
sklut
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 03:22 pm: [report]
I dislike Beyonce as much as one can dislike someone. I would have rather seen someone like Sarah Ramirez or Queen Latifah on the cover of Vogue. Then again I don’t bother to look at Vogue because nothing in it caters to me.
fallenangel915
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 03:29 pm: [report]
The true reality is that a Black woman will never be considered to be truly “beautiful” to the majority of non-Blacks because she is, regardless of her curves and good looks, still a BLACK woman. A White woman will always be considered more beautiful than a Black woman. I agree with Annika when she says:
“What I do find racist about this cover is that Beyonce fits an accepted ideal of black beauty. She has slightly Anglo features and light skin, like Halle Berry, who has also graced the cover. And she wears a long weave/wig of hair that most black women can’t grow naturally. Couple her appearance with her success and you realize Beyonce was a safe, unsurprising choice for the cover of the ‘Shape Issue’...”
I’m not trying to start any kind of debate here. This is simply my opinion, and I am sure that others will agree.
Chelle
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 03:45 pm: [report]
Wow, I had to read this article because before I read it, I saw absolutely nothing racist about the magazine cover. I studied it too! Maybe they had an article about being curvy because Beyonce is known for her curves (and looking good with them) not because she’s black with curves. Everyone’s so racially paranoid in this country it’s no wonder race issues won’t disappear. However, I do agree that it’s a bit odd they’ve only had 5 black women on their covers in over 100 years. Makes you wonder.
justme
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 04:01 pm: [report]
I agree with Chelle. I see nothing racist here and this is no more sexist than every other magazine on the market.
At what point do we quit counting the number of black people that get the cover? Once the barrier is broken, its broken.
Beyonce is beautiful, I don’t care what color she is.
I do think what Goldfinch86 is saying is interesting. The thickest white women that are ‘beautiful’ are Kate Winslet and apparently now Jessica Simpson. Neither one of them really have curves like JLo or Beyonce.
eden
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 04:55 pm: [report]
I don’t see how the magazine is being called racist when Beyonce herself chooses to wear a wig/weave. Commenting on her slightly Anglo features also seems a bit off to me… She is who is she, which a beautiful young black woman who is appropriate to put on the cover of Vogue. If we’re going down that route then one could say Michelle Obama was *only* put on the cover of Vogue because she was the first black first lady, as opposed to being a beautiful, smart, intelligent mother, which is more racist than Beyonces bloody wig.
Pamela
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 06:23 pm: [report]
i just dont get it. if there isn’t a black woman in the cover, they are racist. if there is a black woman in the cover, they are racist. is there really a way out? i mean, people will see what they want to see and if they want to see a racist cover they will see it 8-)
ShortyDooWop
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 07:52 pm: [report]
Michelle Obama “was” only put on the cover because she in the First Black First Lady. If she had been put up there because she is “a beautiful, smart, intelligent mother” then there would be more than 5 Black women ever on the cover of Vogue. Just think about that for awhile. 1892-2009…I’ll round and say that they’ve been in business for 120 years, that’s 1440 months…and only 5 Black women. Do those numbers not alarm you any? How many of those were in the last decade meaning that before the 90s there was a smaller percentage of Women of Color gracing the cover of Vogue.
I wish people could realize that no matter how much people want to “ignore” color and race, it’s impossible. Just because we can see it does not mean we have to treat it differently. One can acknowledge race without being racist, just take the time to learn about other races, even your own. The range of knowledge in infinite, get all you can!
ClatieK
wrote on March 17 2009 @ 08:21 pm: [report]
Why is nobody applauding that Vogue has Black women on the cover two months in a row?? I’m shocked that Anna didn’t “space them out” more. Maybe change really is in the air…
shanka
wrote on March 18 2009 @ 05:41 am: [report]
i didn’t really regard the cover as racist, but there is something quite interesting about curvy is beautiful on women of color (i hate that term! are whites “women without color”? pink is at least one color that comes to mind! lol) or white women who look exotic (i.e. catherine zeta-jones) whereas a whole news segment featured the fat size 4 that is jessica simpson…
if we want to talk about beyoncé‘s anglo features as an indication of vogue’s racism we only have to look back at some previous covergirls, such as oprah (who looked like a freakin’ model on that cover! you go girl!), jennifer hudson, and first lady michelle, who are darker and have fuller facial features. all of us women come in different shapes and sizes and colors (which is very obvious among us blacks!) and it’s beautiful.
develange
wrote on March 18 2009 @ 10:53 am: [report]
“Curvy” has become such a skewed term. I hear about VS models and Jessica Alba being referred to as “curvy,” and that is absurd. I’ve also seen obese celebrities being referred to as “curvy,” which is equally messed up. What the hell?
CreoleInDC
wrote on March 18 2009 @ 12:41 pm: [report]
Racists can make ANYTHING seem racist with their logic or lack thereof. Remember the game of pool in “Boomerang?” Dude…REALLY?
saysay
wrote on March 18 2009 @ 07:00 pm: [report]
This gives me a headache… why must EVERYTHING be over-analyzed. Beyonce is on the cover of vogue… she’s a curvy lady, hence the title. And p.s. Beyonce looks like that all the time, Vogue didn’t style her to look any different than she already does. So just calm down ladies, let’s focus our efforts on more important issues.
kristy1584
wrote on March 19 2009 @ 08:04 am: [report]
The only problem I see is that EVERYTHING concerning a black person these days is considered racist. Im so sick of this crap. If someone put a white woman on the cover of Essence saying shes boney and not curvy would people scream RACISM?? NO! com’on people seriously there are bigger more important things in this world to be concerned about than the color of a person’s skin. Have you heard of Obama-fingers? Thats now being called racist bc it supposedly links obama to chicken! And he’s 1/2 white. This really irks my nerves!
Fizzy
wrote on March 19 2009 @ 08:37 am: [report]
I have to agree with Goldfinch here. My ex and I actually had an argument once about this. I told him to name one curvy White women in the media and he couldn’t name one. He tried to argue back saying that all Black and Latina women in the media were curvy, but I was able to name several thin ones, and the argument ended there.