Sunday Times 2
M.I.A. named ‘Hottest Pregnant Sri Lankan’
View(s):GQ in race row over Sexiest Women List which includes ‘Hottest Indian Chick’ and ‘Hottest Chinese Chick’
By Matt Blake
‘World’s sexiest’ polls have been a staple of Men’s magazines for decades, titillating readers with pictures of scantily clad celebrities while reminding them of the year’s most talked-about stars. But GQ’s US edition has become embroiled in a racism row after it included a series of new race-specific categories to its ’100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century’ poll.
M.I.A., real name Mathangi Arulpragasam won the title of GQ’s 'Hottest Pregnant Sri Lankan'
Critics have slammed the lads’ glossy for suggesting some women ‘are only attractive in the context of their own ethnicity’ after awarding titles for ‘Sexiest Chinese Chick’, ‘Sexiest Indian Chick’ and, most tenuous of all, ‘Sexiest Pregnant Sri Lankan’.
The periodical, which stands for Gentleman’s Quarterly but comes out every month, published the list this week in its US edition with R&B superstar Beyonce emblazoned on the front cover under the title ‘Miss Millennium’.
‘And no,’ readers are reassured in bold blue lettering, ‘we didn’t forget Katie Upton, Megan Fox, Mila Kunis and all your favourite Jessicas.’
Awards are dished out for a range of tongue-in-cheek categories, including Hottest Scene in a Movie (Can’t believe that actually happened category) and Hottest Blue Chick as well as the expected roll call of the ‘hottest’ starlet of each year since 2000.
But GQ has also added a selection of new categories, the winning criteria of which is apparently based only on the contestant’s racial background.
Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto was crowned ‘Hottest Indian Chick’, while Ziyi Zhang was named ‘Hottest Chinese Chick’ while the somewhat dubious title of ‘Hottest Pregnant Sri Lankan’ went to British rapper M.I.A.
Critics argue that, while there is nothing wrong in principle with saying somebody is an ‘attractive Chinese or Indian woman’, singling some out for their ethnic roots and others not suggests they ‘are not beautiful simply because they are beautiful… but are only attractive in the context of their own ethnicity’.
For example, while Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto was crowned ‘Hottest Indian Chick’, there is no mention of Beyonce’s African-American heritage, Mila Kunis’ Ukranian roots of Kim Kardashian’s Armenian ancestry.
‘If the magazine were saying, “These are all the beautiful women from every country in the world”, that would be a bit different; that’s what the Miss Universe pageant is all about,’ Prof. Ruth C. White, from Seattle University’s Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Work told Shine.
‘But by calling out certain women’s ethnicity and not others, what they’re implying is that these women are not beautiful simply because they’re beautiful; they’re only attractive within the context of their own ethnicity.
‘This is qualifying their beauty and dismisses the idea that beauty comes in many different forms.’
© Daily Mail, London
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