Are they beautiful or just sexy?

The first image is of Jennifer Aniston, a powerful and beautiful actress who is a symbol of strength to many women. She is charismatic, smart, and funny, yet in this magazine cover, she is nothing but sexy. She loses her sense of strength for the sake of sexually pleasing men. She is completely naked besides the man's tie that she has around her neck. The tie makes the cover even more gendered than if she were wearing nothing at all, in my opinion. The fact that she is wearing a man's piece of clothing automatically puts sexual thoughts in the viewer's mind. Commonly, women put on a man's shirt or something after sex, so the tie could be thought of in that way. Also, people often confine each other with ropes, chains, and even ties during sex, so the neck tie could be seen as a sex toy. Either way, it is purely sex oriented. Stereotypically, Aniston is blonde, white, and thin which is the common trend for all cover girls.

http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2008/12/jennifer-aniston-does-gq-magazine/

In the second image, the Vogue magazine cover, the woman is completely topless and covering her breasts. She has a mask on which automatically makes the viewer think that the woman's actual identity is unimportant, it is her body that really makes the photo interesting. She has red nail polish covering on her hands, so the attention is extra focused on that area of the photo. Her lips are red, and her mouth is partially open. This draws the attention to her mouth, and obviously the female mouth has the ability to be very sexy to a man. The woman is a typical magazine cover: blonde, white, thin, and beautiful...or at least the viewer assumes that she is. Her face is not completely visible because of the mask, so the viewer does not get the full effect of the woman's beauty. She assumes the feminine gender role because her face is covered and her mouth is open while her entire body is exposed. She is in the photo strictly to be a sex symbol for a man. She has no other purpose; moreover,she is not trying to sell clothes or participate in an interview. The most ironic part of the cover is the fact that Vogue is a fashion magazine. The woman, however, is not even wearing any clothes, let alone high fashion.

http://www.theinsider.com/news/888443_Still_Sexy_Claudia_Schiffer_On_The_Cover_Of_Vogue_Magazine

Both magazine covers depict naked women who are extremely beautiful, but this would be visible if they were not trying so hard to be sexy. The sexiness takes away from the beauty. These images, especially if seen by a young girl, are very harmful. For one, these women are showing their entire bodies to the world. There is no conservation or modesty whatsoever. Also, both women have what is considered to be the "ideal figure," so young girls will be very disappointed to find that they may not have this "perfect body" that the cover girls have. At a young age, all young girls think that they will look like this model or that actress, but when the time comes that the body should be developing in that direction and it does not happen, it will be very disappointing.

In the third image, Beyonce is on the cover of Vogue. Beyonce is a black, curvy, successful woman-not white, blonde, and thin. She is wearing a beautiful blue formal gown, and only her neck and upper chest and arms are exposed. Her body is covered but not to the point that she is hiding it. Her hair is pulled back, not falling around her face in a sexual way. She looks classy, elegant, and sophisticated. The caption says "Real Women Have Curves...BEYONCE." This issue features a real woman, a real black woman at that. If I were to design an ad for a magazine, I would incorporate men and women, black, white, Asian, and everything in between. All of the people would be on the same level-no one would be seen as "above" or "more powerful." The ad would be full of equality in all shapes and forms which would empower both men and women and create and equal playing field for all.

http://cignasightandsound.blogspot.com/2009/03/beyonce-graces-vogue-magazine-cover.html