Sexism is rampant in the world of media. You would think that an industry that caters mostly to women wants the best for its viewers and customers. But we don't live in a society that profits through our healthy self-esteem and empowerment. The unhappier women are, the more money they make as we buy their clothes, oils, soaps, pills, diet books, and cream to try and get a perfect body that 98% of women could never achieve. Don't be fooled by the recent change to the feminist girl boss narrative that most media companies are projecting. They still make billions through our unhappiness and by putting other women down while propping up a select few that they approved of.

Not all of the female empowerment in the media helps equalize women in the end. But what if we could use the commodification of female sexuality to help women whose government is actively oppressing them? A supermodel decided to use the power of shock and sexuality to create a stunning magazine article cover. Anja Rubik's jaw-dropping magazine cover article isn't just a gimmick to sell more magazines. Her controversial magazine cover was devised because another controversy is tearing Poland apart: the criminalization of abortion.

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How do we define what sexism is?

Let's start with a textbook definition. According to Britannica, sexism is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on sex or gender. The main function of sexism is to force beliefs on a certain gender about themselves and cause the other gender to view their opposite gender differently. There are a few types of sexism, including positive and negative sexism. For example, men are seen as capable leaders more often than women are. This would be an example of positive sexism for men and negative sexism for women. Because of these two sets of beliefs, some incompetent men are often promoted to leadership roles over some women who have excellent leadership qualities.

One sexist belief is that men are nowhere near as capable or important as parents as mothers are. This is an example of negative sexism towards men and positive sexism towards women. While women are the only gender that gives birth, just because a person can give birth does not mean that they will automatically be good mothers. Because of these two sexist beliefs, women are taught about babies and motherhood whether they want to be mothers or not. Also, society does not pressure men to be fathers in the same way that it forces women to be mothers.

Another example of negative sexism towards women is that society allows and even encourages companies and industries to use women's bodies to promote their products while the same society denies women their basic humanity and autonomy over their bodies.

To improve the magazine industry and make it more female-friendly, we will have to deconstruct the industry from the ground up. That will take decades and generations to do. But we are in 2021, and we don't have the time or the energy to dedicate to this cause because there is a more dangerous and violent war raging around Poland and the world, which is the War against Women.

Medical sexism

All around the world, even in the most liberal countries, women face medical sexism whenever they need help with a medical issue. Because women have periods and can give birth, it is not common for doctors to supply an anesthetic or a numbing agent to a woman in a gynecological exam.

Doctors routinely dismiss the pain and odd symptoms to their period, even if it has nothing to do with her period, and they've never had a symptom like that during their period before.

Once I learned about medical sexism, it made complete sense why there are so many laws and sexist beliefs around women's bodies.

Some of the most critical services a woman can get are pregnancy services, and that includes prenatal care, fertility treatments, routine ultrasounds, birth control, and abortion. To find out they are pregnant, some women do not want to be pregnant anymore. They will go get an abortion in a certain amount of time before the law from allowing abortion services.

Women who require abortions do not want to be pregnant anymore. They don't want to be mothers, the doctor told them they could die if they remained pregnant and gave birth, and they were raped and now have their rapist's fetus growing inside them.

Abortion is a medical service, and it needs to be given to all people who ask for the service. If someone does not want to have an abortion, they don't have to get one, and they cannot be forced to get one.

And now we can talk about Anja Rubik and her gasp-inducing naked magazine cover for Vogue.

Who is Anja Rubik, and why is her Vogue magazine cover so controversial?

Anja Rubik is a model who was born and raised in Poland. She now lives in New York City. She has been extremely successful throughout her career and has recently started her own magazine. Because she has a job as a model, she is used to posing for magazine covers and photoshoots. Models are also used to not having very many clothes on.

As long as no one touches them in a disrespectful way or forces them to do a nude photo shoot, there's nothing wrong with being semi-naked on the cover of a magazine. When many conservative people saw her completely nude magazine cover, they were shocked and appalled. However, we do not understand why the cover was considered shocking, as she did not show any of her private parts. Although done nude, the photo was done tastefully.

But this Polish supermodel probably knew about the massive firestorm her nude photo was about to ignite. Not only is Poland an extremely conservative country, but there have also been many riots and demonstrations happening in major cities across the country for a few weeks.

But the cover is not controversial just because it has nudity in it. The main reason it's so controversial is what the entire article represents. The magazine is Vogue Poland's Power of Women. And this magazine comes to the public at a crucial time. Poland has been dealing with waves of protest due to the brand new unbelievably strict laws surrounding women's access to abortion.

What about Vogue's responsibilities?

All of the blame cannot be laid in the lap of Anja Rubik. There are many different areas in the publication of the nude photo that only Vogue's editors have complete control over. Ultimately, Vogue is responsible for what they print in their magazines and on their magazine covers. So we need to know if the magazine and the photographer and editor told Rubik that they were going for a nudity angle for the magazine cover, and if she did not comply, would they find somebody else?

Did they take many different pictures and finally settle on a nude pose? Or did they ask Rubik if she was comfortable with nudity, or was it just assumed that she would do it? Or did Rubik request the possibility of a nude photo? These circumstances are important to the narrative that the magazine article may have been sexist. Also, how often do they publish completely nude men on the covers of their magazine?

But if magazines are going to commodify women, they should at least be able to use their bodies to make a statement. And that's exactly what this amazing educated supermodel did. When male lawmakers are hurting Polish women, she is speaking out against the conservative government.

Why did Polish Lawmakers ban abortion?

Poland has free unrestricted abortion access since 1956. However, its increasingly conservative government is now making decisions for women based on religion. Poland is a Catholic country, and Catholics believe that life begins at conception. So Polish lawmakers change the abortion law. Now the only type of pregnant woman who can get an abortion is about to die or become pregnant through an act of rape.

The protests in Poland are due to the death of a woman who desperately needed an abortion because she was about to die from complications due to her pregnancy. Technically, the law did make exceptions for women who have been raped and became pregnant as a result and women who are dying from pregnancy. But the guidelines are strict, and she was technically past the window of time where it is legal to have an abortion.

The doctors knew she qualified for abortion as per the guidelines as her life was at stake, but they were still afraid to perform one because they did not want to get arrested and have their licenses pulled by the state. The last text she sent to her mother said, "I'm going to sleep now." Hours later, she died. Her death is a direct result of anti-abortion law.

Once her story broke out onto the news, tens of thousands of women and men in major cities all across the country started marching. The people know that it is only a matter of time until another woman dies due to complications with her pregnancy, and they do not want their sisters, cousins, mothers, and female friends to be next.

Polish women need access to abortion because life is extremely hard in the country. Lawmakers have done nothing to improve life in the country, and yet now unwanted children will be born, and their lives will be much harder. Will every child have a happy home life and access to good schooling and medical care when they are born?

Women are not born to be incubators for babies. If a woman wants to be a mother, she can be a mother. But if a woman does not want to be a mother and becomes pregnant, she should get access to abortion services. The presence of the uterus in her body does not automatically mean she is destined to be a mother.

And the anti-abortion law is just the beginning of the putrid iceberg that is women's rights. The policing of women's bodies is getting worse in Poland. In addition to the new anti-abortion bill, lawmakers propose a bill that forces doctors to report all pregnancies to the government. In addition to this, the bill also forces doctors to report if a woman has a miscarriage in the hospital.

Polish lawmakers are doing this because they know that if abortion is criminalized, women who need abortions will still get them, but they will do it secretly or in other countries. By reporting all pregnancies to the government, they can keep track of women who gave birth or experienced real miscarriages.

But the register's main purpose is to find pregnant women and then several months later are no longer pregnant. The government knows that women who are considering abortion will go to a secret abortion doctor or go out of the country to get an abortion.

As you've already guessed, this is a startling violation against Polish women and their right to privacy and the right to bodily autonomy.

Conclusion

There will never be a definite answer as to if the naked photo of Anja Rubik was sexist or not. We do not know the whole story. In the spirit of feminism, Rubik can do whatever she wants with her own body, and it should be the magazine's responsibility to let her be on the cover without forcing her to be naked. But since she is the perfect example of society's beauty standard, we can see why some people believe that her naked photo of her body is not empowering.

Society already rewards her for her looks, and she most likely did not have to work as hard to become a model as someone who does not look anything like her. But that is a conversation for another day. Since the beautiful polish supermodel has her own magazine, perhaps she can use her magazine to promote different types of bodies and beauty on the cover of her next few articles.