The satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo has come under fire for choosing to - you might want to put down your hot drink if you're holding one - a picture of female genitalia with a football in it on it's front cover. And yes, If you're currently having to re-read that last sentence in confusion, you're doing so with all of the rest of us.
The cover was created just as France is about to host the Women's World Cup for Football. 2019 is a big year for the sport, and marks a shift in how women's football has been traditionally perceived, for example - for the first time ever the England women's team will have their own kit rather than wearing the senior design of the men's team. It's also the first time in years that has seen the English team progress to be among the favourites to win. Nonetheless, when it comes to the inbuilt gender discrimination that followed close on the heels of women's football in achieving equal coverage and recognition, a player in the team exclusively told Grazia 'We're not asking for more money, we're just asking to be treated in a way that is more respectful so that young girls can aspire to be footballers'.
Out of respect, we've chosen not to include the Charlie Hebdo cover for the Women's World Cup in this article. Underneath the image is the caption 'On va on bouffer pendant un mois' - which translates to 'we're going to eat it up this month'.
Nobody is quite sure what the cover - or it's caption - it's supposed to imply, but there's one thing we can all collectively agree with (mostly on Twitter) and that's that it's unacceptable. Especially given the climate of women's football, which is still struggling to gain recognition against the weight of sexist discourses and stereotypes pervading women's sports. Several users have taken to Twitter to express their opinions on the cover's artwork:
With many calling for the magazine to make a public apology (and rightly so) it appears the publication have fallen woefully behind on the times. Did anyone give the cover artist the memo that it's tone-deaf, offensive and just generally not ok to reduce female sports to a lewd, sexualised cover for a bit of cheap controversy?
We're with the rest of Twitter here, the time is ripe for Charlie Hebdo to issue an apology and start showing more respect and basic decency towards the players participating in the Women's World Cup (while we're at it - there are a few other media titles that would benefit from learning this lesson too).
Presently, neither Charlie Hebdo nor the Women's World Cup have issued a statement regarding the cover.