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1. �Should she win the U.S. Open next month,� wrote Kerry Howley in her cover story on Serena Williams, �she will have swept all four grand slams in a calendar year, cementing her reputation as the greatest women’s player of all time and making her a serious contender for the greatest athlete of her generation� (�The Unretiring Serena Williams,� August 10�24). Some readers used the article as a launchpad for their own assessment of Williams’s storied career, arguing that the tennis star is chronically underestimated by the media and sports fans. �Like many people who are the best at something,� wrote commenter sraw, �Serena doesn’t get enough credit because she makes it look easy.� Writing for the website Mic, Jamilah King argued that the photographs accompanying Howley’s story were a powerful rejoinder to the misogynistic online criticisms of Williams’s body. �Her prolonged greatness became a particular focus this summer,� she wrote, �with critics body-shaming her muscular physique on social media.� Her recent wins �also cemented Williams’ dominance in the sport. To cement her place in pop culture, Williams absolutely slayed in the New York cover story.� Salon’s Shannon M. Houston saw the photos as �a perfect amalgamation of the athletic, the erotic, and the out-of-this-world.� She continued: �If we weren’t living in a time and place reeking from the foul odor of misogyny in every arena, including that of the sports world, her body would have no reason to be under critique or attack. The question of Williams’ �beauty’ (read: usefulness to the (white) male, heterosexual gaze) would have never come up.� The Washington Post’s Robin Givhan wished that the images could have �seen her power captured in a way that does not rely on leaving readers gobsmacked over her washboard abs � the images, with Williams in bodysuits, swimsuits, and a clingy black dress, speak more directly to her muscular physique rather than her athletic grace.�
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2. �This is what cool looks like right now,� wrote Alexis Swerdloff in her story on Shop Jeen, the �Generation Z�whispering web shop� (�Shop Jeen Is So Scene,� August 10�24). Some readers felt baffled by the appeal of the youthful brand run by two 20-somethings. �Tank tops that say ASK YOUR BOYFRIEND HOW MY ASS TASTE,� wrote commenter LvV. �I never wanted or even needed to say I was officially old. Today, I proudly state that I am officially old.� �I’m not sure this is really all that different from the tight �jailbait’ spaghetti-strap tank tops that were around in the ’70s,� wrote whydoesnt�nymag�remember-me. �Aesthetic is different, but to some degree it’s about the same stuff. It strikes me that this society has gotten more conservative and overly serious since then, though.� Commenter LGato argued Shop Jeen represented a societal shift toward even more commodification of youth: �I do not recall any previous generation ever being so obsessed with the young among us. They’ve always been with us, making the same mistakes and engendering the same sort of envy. Seems to me they’ve simply now become an industry in themselves, spurred by the omnipresent media.� �I agree with LGato that the media worships this silliness and makes an industry out of it,� responded LaurieAG. �But you know why they do that? To get more hits from that generation.� Gizmodo’s Kate Knibbs couldn’t tell whether the story was meant to be read as a criticism of the company or a celebration. �New York Magazine profiled young entrepreneurs running Shop Jeen,� she wrote, �and I’m not sure if it’s meant as a glowing profile or a provocation to generation-gap-induced despair. And look: It’s great that two women in their early twenties are establishing a successful retail business. Even if it’s a retail business selling horrible scene-kid flotsam of objectively low quality! That said � and I don’t know if it was deliberate or not � the interview reads like a demented Bret Easton Ellis story about two young, beautiful, meme-lovin’ sociopaths.� Still, many readers thoroughly enjoyed the read. �Will be quoting from this great Shop Jeen story all day/forever probably,� tweeted BuzzFeed’s Jessica Testa. Ana Lopez felt the women deserved credit for their success: �A new generation of #girlboss,� she tweeted.
3. Rebecca Traister’s column on the recent anti-abortion videos meant to attack Planned Parenthood and to �let us in on the fact that abortion is disgusting� argued that women are already aware of the realities of the procedure � and that no video could �reverse thousands of years’ of women’s needs, desires, and lived experiences� (�The Big Secret of Abortion: Women Already Know How It Works,� August 10�24). TexasMom3 thought the story spoke to her personal experience: �As someone who has had three miscarriages, one ruptured ectopic pregnancy, and three healthy children, I am just amazed by the outrage at abortion providers talking frankly about the medical aspects of aborted fetuses and how the aborted fetuses are treated. All of my pregnancies were very much wanted and planned for, yet two of my fetuses went down the toilet, and the other two, which were resolved in the hospital, I’m sure had the same fate as the fetal remains at Planned Parenthood. They certainly didn’t tell me what they were doing with them. I never asked.� Commenter ellen.michiel agreed that women know what they’re getting themselves into: �I underwent a legal abortion, in a hospital, performed by a gynecologist in sterile conditions. I didn’t need anyone to tell me what I was aborting. I was already the mother of two children. I had miscarried years before and fished the tissue the size of my thumb out of a toilet bowl, dropped it in a baggy and carried it to the hospital where I had a D&C to remove residual tissue and prevent infection. I also needed no help in making my decision. I was divorced and my responsibility was to the children I had. I have no regrets and had none then.�