Newsweek Slammed for Cover Photo of Phallic Balloon
Newsweek is getting widely criticized after sharing a sneak peek of the cover on the November 17th issue of the magazine. To illustrate the lead article about sexual harassment, the magazine decided to use a photo of a feminine hand sticking a needle into a phallic balloon.
New cover story: How Donald Trump rules America's Garden of Dicks and sparked the #MeToo movement https://t.co/yOwHK8O4Aq pic.twitter.com/cR9V6mAKJj
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 9, 2017
“Pop go the weasels. #MeToo is taking down powerful men in all fields. Is Donald Trump next?,” the cover asks.
How Donald Trump sparked the #MeToo movement – this week's @Newsweek cover pic.twitter.com/3YdFfTuMiP
— Alfred Joyner (@alfredjoyner) November 10, 2017
Reaction to the cover was swift, and the choice of cover photo appears to have received more attention than the story itself. Here’s a sampling of the criticism on Twitter:
Terrible cover in so many ways.
The painted nails, the popping of the inflated penis and the comic book styling.
Bravo. You just turned exposure of sexual assault into satire.
Recall this cover.— LisaFromEarth (@LisaFromEarth) November 9, 2017
If @Newsweek was trying to pay homage to the hundreds of women who have bravely come forward about sexual assault, a balloon penis was NOT how to do it. https://t.co/tIZ26eIE0w #MeToo @Slate
— NARAL (@NARAL) November 13, 2017
"It perfectly illustrates the juvenile, adolescent male snickerings that have endlessly floated around locker rooms, golf courses and topless bars for years." @JudyWalgren on @Newsweek's travesty of a #sexualharassment cover. https://t.co/JbBTUV3SCd pic.twitter.com/qXXhvz9sy4
— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) November 12, 2017
Thank you. This is a MAJOR ugh. Why does every attempt at female empowerment and safety-seeking get equated with castrating or otherwise "harming" men? Enough.
— Lily Burana 🗽 (@lilyburana) November 9, 2017
The. Worst. Cover. Ever. #tonedeaf
— chris pederson (@christina39ap) November 9, 2017
Terrible cover in so many ways.
The painted nails, the popping of the inflated penis and the comic book styling.
Bravo. You just turned exposure of sexual assault into satire.
Recall this cover.— LisaFromEarth (@LisaFromEarth) November 9, 2017
I assumed (and was hoping) this was a @Newsweek parody account. This cover is garbage and a disgrace to the brave women who are standing up to the men who violated them.
— Laura Fedoryk (@LauraFedoryk) November 10, 2017
Publications have also been putting out opinion pieces denouncing the cover photo choice, calling it “wrong“, “awful“, and “nope.”
“I am of a certain age to remember a time when Newsweek was an award-winning outlet for powerful news photography,” writes former SF Chronicle photo director Judy Walgren at Reading the Pictures. “Over the past decade, we have all been forced to bear witness to the slow and painful decline and demise of print publications in the United States.”
