Vogue faces backlash for implying Delevingne’s sexuality ‘a phase’
By Will Stroude
A writer from US Vogue has come under fire for ‘harmful and false’ bisexual stereotyping in an interview with model and actress Cara Delevingne.
In the recent interview with the publication, Delevingne speaks candidly to writer Rob Haskell about her relationship with singer St. Vincent – real name Annie Clark – admitting that she felt confused and uncomfortable about her bisexuality before falling in love with a woman, at which point she “had to accept it”.
However, some of Haskell’s comments about the 22-year-old model and actress’s sexuality in the feature have sparked outrage and led to an online petition for the fashion magazine to apologise, The Telegraph reports.
In the article he writes: “Her parents seem to think girls are just a phase for Cara, and they may be correct.”
He goes on to say: “When I suggest to Cara that to trust a man, she might have to revise an old and stubborn idea of hers – that women are perennially troubled and therefore only women will accept her – her smile says she concedes the point.”
The petition ‘Tell Vogue Magazine: Being LGBT Isn’t a “Phase”!’ was launched by Julie Rodriguez demanding an apology to the LGBT community for the “dismissive and demeaning language” in the article.
Rodriguez explains that Haskell’s words promote stereotypes about bisexuality and women in same-sex relationships.
“The idea that queer women only form relationships with other women as a result of childhood trauma is a harmful (and false) stereotype that lesbian and bisexual women have been combating for decades”, she says. “How could Vogue’s editorial staff greenlight this article and publish it without anyone raising concerns about this dismissive and demeaning language?”
She continues: “[This is] an attitude which can cause depression, result in families rejecting their daughters (or forcing them into abusive conversion “therapy”), and even put young women at risk of suicide. Vogue should have taken this opportunity to combat negative stereotypes, not reinforce them.”
The petition currently has over 12,000 signatures.
WORDS: ROBERT GOULD
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