ETA: Slate XX Factor readers, go here.
The latest issue of Ms. Magazine has Barack Obama in a Superman pose, wearing a tee shirt that says “THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE,” as follows:
Obama can greatly advance the status of women during his Presidency, and I very much hope he will. But I don’t remember hearing Barack Obama describe himself as a feminist, though maybe I missed something. This seems designed to mock people who supported Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Primary. Why does Ms. want to do that now? Polling data shows persuasively that most Clinton primary supporters voted for Obama in the general election. I think the magazine cover was a really bad idea.
–Ann Bartow
ETA: Katha Pollitt has written that Obama has the potential to be feminist President, and I agree. So maybe in a year or two the cover would be appropriate. But not now.
ETA2: Ms. representatives explain the cover here, and assert that Obama said privately that he is a feminist.
ETA3: In 1972, the cover of Ms. featured Wonder Woman with the tag line “Wonder Woman for President”:
In 2008, Wonder Woman was on the cover of Playboy, and Ms. is instead symbolically looking to a male superhero to “rescue” feminism? Very problematic imagery, in my view.
I find this cover really baffling. And a little insulting. Have you read the issue? I wonder if it mitigates (or at least explains?) the cover somewhat…
One can hope something in the issue explains the cover. I have not read it. My first reaction upon seeing the cover was to remember Tania Modleski’s book, “Feminism Without Women: Culture and Criticism in a Postfeminist Age” which you should read if you haven’t.
Regardless of the magazine’s explanation, I still think the cover is problematic, as you say, but it does help quell some of my immediate annoyance. I’ll have to check out the issue itself before judging further!
I have read Modleski. She’s fantastic.
[...] 12, 2009. Filed under: Women’s Studies | Lest you think I’m the only party pooper around, Feminist Law Professors has an excellent commentary on the cover of the latest issue of Ms. Magazine, shown [...]
[...] Feminist Law Professors: This seems designed to mock people who supported Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Primary. Why does Ms. want to do that now? [...]
[...] “This seems designed to mock people who supported Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Primary. Why does Ms. want to do that now?” writes Feminist Law Professors. [...]
This begs the question: how should Ms. have presented the president-elect on the cover, as a fem-positive guy? I will note here that controversy sells. No doubt the editors at Ms. are aware of this.
[...] commentary about this, as Knitting Clio pointed out in the comments below, both at her blog and at Feminist Law Professors, where Ann Bartow writes, “In 1972, the cover of Ms. featured Wonder Woman with the tag line [...]
I’m sure you’ve seen Jezebel’s obnoxiously-glib response to your post? And Shakesville’s much more thoughtful response to Jezebel’s response?
Melissa McEwan at Shakesville is fantastic, as usual. Megan at Jezebel, well, her post, and decision to run one sentence from the above post out of context, speaks for itself. The commenters who actually came over and read the post in full can see what a hatchet job she did.
[...] Historiann and the links she provides for comments on the Ms cover from Shakesville, Feminist Law Professors and [...]
[...] I know I didn’t. Nor would I, in a million years. What the hell is Naomi Wolf talking about? [...]
[...] people think Obama being on the cover of Ms. Magazine is elitist and exploitive and that it mocks those who supported [...]
[...] My concern about the Ms. cover is that it is divisive, and seems designed to spite the 18 million people who, unlike me, voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Obama and Clinton have mended fences. It’s time the rest of us did. Ms. editors seem to be making trouble to get publicity, and folks like you are serving them well. [...]
[...] XX Factor for having my “knickers in a twist” over the current Ms. magazine cover (see this, this and this). Choice quote: “Feminism lies like a beached octopus, tentacles thrashing in [...]
[...] voted for Obama in the general election. I think the magazine cover was a really bad idea. – from Here The current women’s rights movement, embodied by the planned “special Inaugural [...]
[...] http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=4565 [...]
[...] generated a lot of controversy. Many feminists feel that Obama’s feminist credentials are not nearly as strong as they could be, while the cover has generated an escalation in panic-mongering and [...]
[...] cover featuring Barack Obama in a “THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE” t-shirt caused a controversy to erupt in the feminist blogosphere. But certainly women who want to see equality will need men as [...]
[...] ladykillingest undergraduate menfolk. Or maybe it’s that the man can cook. As that already infamous cover of Ms. suggests, we fall all over ourselves to congratulate men for doing what multitudes of uncelebrated [...]