People are angry about this Rolling Stone cover.

Ladies, leave your bra at home.

One of the things that Netflix series Orange is the New Black has been lauded for is its racially diverse, realistic cast.

Which is why it seems odd that Rolling Stone chose to put two of the show’s white stars, Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon, on its June cover.

Oh, and they’re braless and nipply. BOOBS, you guys!

There’s a couple of things going on here.

First, the aforementioned neglect to include any of the women of colour who star in the show, despite actresses who portray some of the show’s most popular characters, including Uzo Aduba (Crazy Eyes) and Laverne Cox (Sophia) being interviewed for the cover story.

Don’t know Orange is the New Black? YOU ARE MISSING OUT. Post continues after video…

Second, the sexy, pouty, lipstick-lesbian-y vibe of the whole thing.

Sure, the picture could be playing with the storyline involving the two characters of Piper and Alex (former lovers, current jailbirds), but judging on past form, probably not. This is just how Rolling Stone deals with women on its covers.

While men will be pictured in any number of diverse arrangements, women are shot almost exclusively only in a bra; without a bra; or completely naked.

An extra category is close-up of their faces, but that’s only if they’re “serious” types (think Joni Mitchell, Sinead O’Connor, Tori Amos).

I mean, you can’t pose Carly Simon in her undies, amirite? But any other woman who is deemed fuckable? That’s the go-to.

This is an observation made on Fusion by Kelsey McKinney, who examined the covers of years and years worth of the magazine and found that of the more that 1200 covers produced, only about 300 of them feature women, and of those, there are very distinct ways in which women are depicted.

McKinney notes that Schilling’s white-singlet-without-a-bra look has been used over and over on covers, as has Prepon’s open-shirt-without-a-bra styling.

She also points out that of the 59 women who managed to be dressed in both shirts and bras at the same time, 25 of them were appearing on covers with male co-stars.

What do you make of Rolling Stone‘s depiction of women on its covers?

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