People are asking why GQ used quotation marks to name Serena Williams as 'Woman' of the Year, and the magazine has responded

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

Serena Williams.

• Serena Williams was named GQ's "Woman" of the Year.
• GQ published four separate covers to celebrate it's Men of the Year, with one unusual one for Williams.
• Twitter users were quick to question why the men's fashion magazine used quotation marks to describe Williams as a "woman."
• Williams had previously given a heartfelt interview where she admitted she had read internet conspiracies that say she was "born a guy."
• GQ has responded saying it all comes down to style of the artist who did the cover's handwriting.

People are questioning why GQ used quotation marks to herald Serena Williams as its "Woman" of the Year on its cover, and the brand has responded.

The popular men's fashion magazine confirmed its "Men (and Woman) of the Year" in a Twitter post on Monday.

The winners include the "Black Panther" actor Michael B. Jordan, the "Crazy Rich Asians" star Henry Golding, the Hollywood funny-man Jonah Hill, and the 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion Williams.

Jordan, Golding, and Hill are all lauded as Men of the Year. However, Williams is listed as a "Woman" of the Year, with quotation marks prominently displayed around the word "woman" on the magazine's cover.

Look at the cover photos below.

The quotation marks attracted the attention of people on Twitter.

Twitter user Anna Wagner said: "Okay but why is woman in quotation marks."

Another Twitter user said: "Why 'woman' and not WOMAN?"

Perhaps anticipating the negative reaction the Williams cover art might receive, GQ added an annotation to the cover.

Next to "Woman," on the right-hand side of the second quotation mark, there is an asterisk. A second asterisk is found below the sub-head "The Champion, Serena Williams" on the bottom left-hand corner of the cover. It says: "Handwriting by Virgil Abloh."

Mick Rouse, the research manager of GQ, explained the significance of this in his own post on the Twitter thread.

He said Abloh "has styled everything in quotation marks as of late (see Serena's US Open apparel that he designed)."

Rouse added: "It quite literally has tags/quotations around it because that's Virgil's own style/branding, including in his partnership with Nike and Serena herself. That's the only 'message' behind it."

Williams has had to fend off accusations she was "born a guy" in the past.

Considered the queen of tennis, she admitted in a May 2018 interview with Harper's Bazaar that she had read internet conspiracy theories that she was born a man. In the interview she even wore a jacket that said: "Queen. Don't be afraid to rule like a king."

Her "strong and muscular" appearance caused people to say such things, Williams said.

Four months later her appearance was once again headline news when Australian newspaper The Herald Sun published a cartoon that depicted her as an angry baby with grossly-exaggerated weight, lips, and nose. The paper also attempted to discredit her character and call her "no feminist hero."

Williams' husband, the Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, slammed the cartoon for being "racist and misogynistic."