For its upcoming August issue, Vogue magazine's cover is sparking some controversy over its portrayal of model Gigi Hadid and her boyfriend, former One Direction member Zayn Malik, as examples of "gender fluidity," Buzzfeed reported.
The headline teasing the cover story notes that the couple "shops each other's closets." They are featured wearing each other's clothing, People reported.
The story notes that Hadid and Malik are part “of a new generation embracing gender fluidity,” adding that they have a “blase attitude toward gender codes” since they share clothes.
Malik said he liked a particular shirt he borrowed from Hadid’s closet. “And if it’s tight on me, so what?” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it was made for a girl.”
“It’s not about gender,” Hadid said. “It’s about, like, shapes. And what feels good on you that day. And anyway, it’s fun to experiment.”
On Twitter, fans responded that labeling Hadid and Malik's clothes borrowing shows a misunderstanding of what gender fluidity actually means, AOL reported.
"Zayn and Gigi are profiled in this piece on gender fluidity because ... they borrow each other's clothes sometimes?" Hannah Orenstein of Seventeen magazine tweeted.
“Wearing your gf’s T-shirt does not make you gender fluid,” Colette Fahy tweeted.
Seventeen reported that according to a representative of GLAAD, "Use [of the term] gender fluid within the LGBTQ community has declined in recent years."
The group said a more common term now is for someone to describe themselves as “non-binary” or “gender non-conforming.”
The magazine will be published July 25.
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