Science Magazine Cover's Depiction of Trans Sex Workers Sparks Outrage
Callie Beusman
For the cover of its special HIV/AIDS issue, Science magazine chose to use an image of transgender sex workers in Jakarta. While the purported intent of doing so was to raise awareness about this "key affected population," many have taken issue with the fact that the photo in question is pretty damn objectifying and offensive.
At Slantist, A.V. Flox unpacks the myriad issues with the cover choice: "Instead of showing viewers a humanizing glimpse into the lives of these women, the reader's eye is drawn directly to their thighs, which are placed almost dead center on the cover," she writes. Furthermore, she notes, of the forty-two Science covers to feature humans in the past decade, this was the the only one to sexualize and objectify its subjects (looking through the archives, it's quite evident that this is a big departure from the typical Science cover). Furthermore, as Flox argues, this is also the only image visually "decapitate" its subjects — which is a particularly insensitive choice, given the fact that trans women are 28 percent more likely to experience physical violence than cisgendered women.
http://jezebel.com/science-magazine-covers-depiction-of-trans-sex-workers-1606854820
